EDITORIAL
M
ario Cuomo, who died on January 1st in New York, served as Governor of the State of New York for three consecutive terms, from 1983 to 1994. He was a lawyer and leading figure in the Democratic Party and a man of great human value. He is remembered for twice refusing to stand in the presidential elections (in 1988 and in 1992), an idea that had made Italians, in America and elsewhere, dream of seeing for the first time an Italian American at the White House.
Born in 1932, in the district of Queens, in New York, of parents from Salerno, he graduated in Law at St. John’s University and was a promising baseball player in the Pittsburgh Pirates. Married to Matilda Raffa, he had five children. The second, Andrew, who has also chosen a career in politics, was sworn in for his second term as Governor of New York State on the very day of his father’s death.
“We have lost a giant, Mario Cuomo was a man of unwavering principle who possessed a compassion for humankind without equal”, said the New York mayor, Bill De Blasio, who ordered all the American flags in New York to be flown at half-mast for a month. And the US President, Barack Obama, paid tribute to him saying he was “a determined champion of progressive values, a resolute voice for dignity and inclusiveness”.
Well-known for his progressive liberal political vision, Mario Cuomo campaigned tenaciously against the death penalty. His most famous speech was the one he made at the 1984 Democratic Convention in San Francisco, in favor of the presidential candidate Walter Mondale. Responding to Ronald Reagan, who talked about America as a “shining city on a hill”, Cuomo stated that he should know that America resembles a tale of two cities more than a “shining city on a hill”. He was referring to the novel by Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities , about the division between the rich and the poor. This interest in the common people and the problems of the have-nots would be a feature of his entire political career.
Once when asked how he would like to be remembered, Cuomo replied: “When it’s over, I want people to say: now, there was an honest person”. A simple, penetrating testament left by the most respected American politician of Italian origin, which from America resonates in Italy at the start of this new year to augur – hopefully – a new direction.
365 days a year Between America and Puglia
A time of foreboding, taking stock and making plans Puglia “best value travel destination in the world”
Besieged by kings and stars The railroad disaster in Puglia
that has shaken our summer The other Puglia.
The harsh reality of the gangmaster system a world away from the glossy magazine covers If spring starts with the tragedy in Brussels 2016: a year in the sign of Puglia, also in the US TEDx Lecce
The extraordinary lives and the “revolutionary” choices of ordinary people Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci
Icons of Puglia on the world scene Puglia
A hot summer of culture Lecce in The New York Times again
The love affair of the American press with Puglia and the South continues… Ben Hur in Matera
Italy’s revival may start from the South TEDex
From a conference comes inspiration for designing the future Puglia taken by storm by the stars
A train not to be missed Web
Vieste and Gallipoli the most-clicked by Italians Blue flags
In Puglia ten beaches with top marks Buried waste dumps, searches for oil, and a gas pipeline in the crystal-clear waters.
Let there be a stop to the misdeeds in Puglia Renata Fonte
30 years since her murder.
She was defending Porto Selvaggio Pugliamania Nebraska
An unsettling story of the other America Otranto’s tree of life
symbol of Italy at Expo 2015 End of the year with great expectations for Puglia TEDx
From California to Lecce the courage of ideas Bill de Blasio.
The most likely candidate in the running for New York mayor is an Italian American If Lecce appears in the New York Times,
if the “Notte della Taranta” attracts 130,000 people… Pianos in the streets of New York The Great Gatsby...
If, by way of the silver screen, the American dream breaks into our lives “If you see something, say something”
Considerations after the Boston attack Salento “Territory of the year 2013” 2013, the Year of Italian Culture in the United States Good resolutions at the end of the year Obama re-elected
“Dreams and pragmatism”
America’s lesson for Europe The Passing of Cristanziano Serricchio, poet of the light Ten reasons to come on holiday to Puglia “Extremely loud and incredibly close” Zeppole in California Those tears on the death of Dalla “Totally awesome” 9/11
ten years later The first time on the web