New York's Columbus Club celebrates 66th
The Columbus Citizens Foundation/ aka/ The Columbus Club of New York City celebrates its 66th anniversary this weekend starting Saturday, Oct.9th, with a gala black tie Italian dinner reception at New York’s Waldorf Astoria. 880 guests will be attening including a number of leading dignitaries from Italy and the U.S. These include Francesco Tallarico, President, Regional Council of Calabria, Paolo Romano, President, Regional Council of Campania, Aniello Cimitile, President, Provence of Benevento, with Francesco Maria Talo, Counsel General of Italy in New York, the Hon. Gian Lorenzo Cornado, Deputy, Chief of the Italian Embassy, Minister Antonio Bernardini, Deputy, Italian Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Maj. General Leonardo Aleso, Military Advisor, Italian Permanent Mission to the United Nations, and Aniello Musella, Chairman, Italian Trade Commission in the U.S. Governor Luis Fortuno of Puerto Rico is being recognized in light of the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s
landing in Puerto Rico. NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Archbishop of Brooklyn, Nicholas Di Marzo, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, and U.S. Senatorial candidate, Joseph DioGuardi, are also being recognized. This year’s Grand Marshall to the annual Columbus Day Parade is Maria Baritiromo, Emmy Award winner and anchor of CNBC’s “Closing Bell,” host and managing editor of the nationally syndicated “The Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Baritiromo” who will
honor the pilgrimage of Italian-Americans to the U.S. in a traditional wreath laying ceremony on Sunday, the 10th, at Columbus Circle, at 59th Street and Broadway, in New York City.
On Monday, the 11th, a solemn high mass of the Roman Catholic rite will be
celebrated at St. Patrick’s Cathedral
starting at 9:30am. This will be followed by the annual Columbus Day Parade on Fifth Avenue starting at 11:30am and which will be televised by WNBC in New York. The parade is
expected to run over four hours.
The Columbus Citizens Foundation is a non-profit organization that encourages an appreciation for the Italian culture in the U.S.and the achievements of the generations of Italian-Americans who have settled in this country these last 400 years. It also supports a number of educational activities for students of Italian heritage. Last year it awarded over $2 million in scholarships and grants. Frank G. Fusaro leads the holiday weekend program as the foundation’s president and chief operating officer.