A Short Biography of One of our Authors

Here is a short account of the life of Adolfo Rossi, the author of one of our vintage books in translation entitled In the Land of Dollars: Three Years in New York.

Adolfo Rossi was born in a community known then as Valdentro , five kilometers from present-day Lendinara, in 1857. After a short stay in Occhiobello he moved to Lendinara in 1864, where he became a student of Alberto Mario, Garibaldi's right-hand man. He was a postal employee when he left the area in 1879, headed for New York, where, after trying his hand at a number of different jobs, he began a career as a journalist for the Italian language newspaper Il Progresso Italo-Americano. Here he learned the American style of journalism, short and to the point, without fancy embellishments, and always verified in person, a style completely different from that of Europe at the time.

Upon his return to Italy several years later, and by then known for his journalism and writing, he was invited to become a war correspondent for the large Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera. He covered the Greco-Turkish war, but was expelled from Istanbul when he wrote of Turkish massacres of Armenians.

He was then offered a position with the Roman newspaper La Tribuna, and covered the social unrest in Sicily in 1893. Following that he spent time in the Italian colony of Eritrea reporting on the government's political policies. Because he denounced these policies, which his paper supported, he was expelled from the country. However, after the humiliating defeats of the Italian forces in East Africa, he was summoned by the prime minister, Francesco Crispi, to give his observations and criticisms on the organization and operation of the Italian army in Eritrea.

At the same time he accepted the position of managing editor of the Corriere della Sera, but in 1901 he left journalism to become a traveling inspector for the Commission for National Emigration. He toured Brazil, Argentina, the United Sates, and South Africa in this capacity, voicing harsh criticism for the Italian immigrants' conditions, calling that community "The Italy of Shame."  His efforts were noteable, however, since shortly afterwards the Prinetti decree was enacted, disallowing Brazil from offering free one-way passage to Italian immigrants.

In 1908 he became a diplomat, first as a consul in the United States, then Paraguay, and finally the plenipotentiary minister in Buenos Aires, where he died in 1921. His body was brought in a naval vessal back to Italy where he was given a state funeral.

Among his other works are Nacociù, la Venere Americana (Nacociù, the American Venus), Un italiano in America (An Italian in America), and Alla Guerra Greco-Turca (The Greco-Turkish War). 

Source: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfo_Rossi

Public Advisory Regarding the Emigration Law

For those who have ancestors who emigrated to another country, or anyone who wants to experience a small part of what it was like, reading this actual historical artifact from the time of the great migration from Europe to America will give you a taste of what the early 20th-century emigrant experienced. 

This fascinating booklet is a bulletin published by the Royal Emigration Commission of the Kingdom of Italy, explaining the requirements of the new (in 1901) law for emigrating, and advising potential emigrants in order to protect them from unscrupulous agents. 

Thousands upon thousands of people received this booklet after making the fateful decision to go, and prior to actually embarking on the ships. Wonder at how they must have felt reading these lines, with hopes and dreams for their new life.

Available now for Kindle at $.99:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PIWYRQ8