“Allegria”

Photo Courtesy of “Tic Tac alla Menta” at Flickr

On Saturday, September 12th, thousands of mourners filled Milan’s Duomo for a state funeral. Didn’t hear about it? Then it might surprise you even more to learn that the nation’s highest burial honors were in celebration of the life of an Italian American!

It’s true. His name was Mike Bongiorno, and although he was born in America he was nothing short of an Italian icon to generations of Italians.

Don’t worry if you don’t know who he was, though. I didn’t either. I had just came back from running some errands in Napoli along with my fidanzata when we heard the news. Seeing her mother on the couch almost in tears, Fil turned to the TV and gasped, “Mike Bongiorno è morto!?!”

…Who?

We immediately began to watch the news together – and as soon as I saw his face it hit me. He’s the “game show guy!” I tried to think of people reacting like this if Alex Trebek had died, but no luck. So what gives? Was this just Italians being emotional, or was there something more to the man?

It turns out there was much, much more to him. After chatting more with Fil and doing a little research myself, I discovered that not only was he a mainstay of Italian television, having appeared on RAI on the first day of television transmission in Italy in 1953; he has since been a part of their lives ever since, with dozens of game shows, talk shows and even as host of the San Remo Festival for 11 years.

However his notoriety is much broader than just being a game show host for over 50 years. He was an icon in every sense of the word. Some even credit him with the linguistic unification of Italy! Each region in Italy had its own dialect – and three (including Neapolitan and Sicilian) are so interlaced with their respective cultures and histories that they are actually considered languages, having written forms in addition to spoken. Although most Italians now know both dialetto and italiano, until recently this wasn’t the case. Many Italians, particularly in the rural south, only spoke their native dialect! But with the birth of television and the massive popularity of Bongiorno, many say that Italians forced themselves to learn Italian – not only to be able to understand what was being said, but to be able to participate as contestants as well!

Learning his life’s story, it’s no wonder he captured the hearts of millions of Italians. After moving to his mother’s hometown of Torino from his birthplace in America, he became active in the Italian resistance during World War II and actually spent time in a German concentration camp before being released in a prisoner exchange program – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

What is most amazing is that almost all the things he did in his life, he did as an American citizen. Bongiorno did not become an Italian citizen until 2003. But, as it is in Italy, once they love you – they love you for life, no matter where you’re from!

Mike Bongiorno lived a captivating life, and I’m sorry I didn’t learn about – and appreciate – him more while he was still alive. I can honestly say that he has one more fan now – and a fellow Italian American at that!