Addison Trail celebrates Italian-American Heritage Month

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By Addison Trail senior Danielle Palladino

From Oct. 25 to 29, Addison Trail students, staff and community members recognized and celebrated Italian-American Heritage Month.

According to https://www.nypl.org/italian-heritage-month, “This special heritage month was first celebrated in 1989, when it was proclaimed by President George H.W. Bush and the United States Congress to honor the achievements and contributions of Italian immigrants and their descendants living in the U.S.”

Addison Trail Italian Club co-adviser Laura Calo said the importance of this week is “to provide exposure of the Italian culture that is represented not only here at Addison Trail, but throughout the world.”

The event is hosted annually by Addison Trail’s Italian Club. Seniors Enzo Ciaccia and Antonio Bruno serve as this year’s club presidents, and they, along with other members, came up with themes for each day of the week, including pajama day; green, white and red day; twin day; a day with a pasta-eating contest and an opportunity to watch the movie “Luca”; staff cannoli day (which were provided by Elio Bartolotta from Elio Pizza on Fire in Addison) and Blazer apparel day. Ciaccia said those themes were chosen because they show what Italians hold close to their heart – food, music, art, history and language.

“What I enjoyed doing the most for Italian Heritage Week was getting to interview Elio Bartolotta from Elio Pizza on Fire in Addison for the AT student news channel,” Ciaccia said. “He brought such an awesome insight on Italian culture and talked about why it’s so important.”

Italian music also was played in the hallways throughout the week.

“(The music) helps set the ambiance for the upcoming week and activities, exposes students to the language and helps raise awareness of Italian culture,” Calo said.

Addison Trail Italian Club co-adviser Enza Spilotro said the event is an exciting time for students to learn about and experience new things.

“This gives us the opportunity to stop and celebrate all of the accomplishments and the things that make us so proud to be Italian-Americans here in America,” Spilotro said.

For more information about Italian-American Heritage Month, go to https://www.italianheritagemonth.com/mission.html.