Back in the days when Readers sent their “Italian Connections” to me via “snail mail,” Signora Madeline C. of Utah wrote it was Fortunato Anselmo, a gentleman with “roots” in Calabria (province of Cosenza) that was responsible for establishing Columbus Day as a National Holiday after WWII.

I remember Fortunato as a warm, congenial friend who was very debonair and intelligent, and the warm friendship he, his wife Anna and their daughters Emma, Gilda, and Annetta, extended to me and my family. I remember the dolci they had for me….the almond cookies, wrapped in colored paper, the confetti… I still remember the smelly dried cod fish Mamma would purchase every Christmas from Fortunato’s import store.