Greenwich Celebrates Columbus Day With Italian Flag Raising

GREENWICH, CT — The Greenwich community gathered in front of Town Hall on Monday morning for the St. Lawrence Society's 34th annual Columbus Day celebration and Italian flag raising.

The group traditionally honors one member of Italian descent each year who has contributed greatly to the Greenwich community. This year, the ceremony was dedicated to SLS members past and present.

Fred DeCaro, Greenwich's Republican Registrar of Voters, spoke briefly before the flag was raised by Tony DeVita and his son, Tony DeVita Jr.

DeCaro paraphrased a 2020 column written by U.S. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) in which she amplified the importance of Columbus Day.

"When the Italian-American community celebrates Columbus Day, we are celebrating the accomplishments of those of Italian descent," DeCaro said, quoting DeLauro. "We are celebrating our parents, our grandparents and their contributions to our lives, our heritage and our country... None of our celebrations focus on conquest of the Americas or the triumph of colonialism."

DeCaro went on to say that Italians came to the United States many years ago and faced discrimination and many challenges.

"Yet today, in 2021, is there anyone more welcoming, more willing to lend a hand up, than the descendants of those immigrants. So today, we focus on the Italian-American immigrant experience," added DeCaro, "but truly we focus on the American immigrant experience, and perhaps just as importantly in a country like America, we recognize and respect that we stand on the shoulders of all of those who came before us, and together, let us lift up and inspire each other so that one day our children, and our children’s children, although perhaps far removed from their own immigrant ancestors, will recognize and honor the struggle of every generation."

First Selectman Fred Camillo, who is of Italian descent, said Columbus Day is a time to reflect on those who came to this country from Italy looking for a better life.

"They came here under pretty tough circumstances. They didn't speak the language, they didn't look like other people," Camillo said, pointing out that old Greenwich Representative Town Meeting minutes from the early 1900s reflect the fact that Italian students were oftentimes taught in the parking lot and not allowed in school.

"It shows how far the Italian people have come. I believe they're still the biggest ethnic group in Greenwich. Eighty years ago, they were building buildings and houses and they were stonemasons and landscapers. While they still do that and do a really good job, they also now are doctors and lawyers and first selectmen and BET members," Camillo said. "It's a great American story, not unlike other ethnicities. But here in Greenwich, particularly so because we celebrate a sister city relationship with two towns in Italy."

About eight years ago, the Town of Greenwich established a sister city relationship with the town of Rose, Calabri — where Camillo's family is from — and Morra De Sanctis, Campania.

Bea Crumbine, Greenwich's Ambassador at Large, helped foster the relationship. When her husband, Peter, served as Selectman several years ago, she began to hear a lot of Italian names in Greenwich being talked about at Town Hall.

"I kept wondering where they came from and why. It was just quite wonderful to begin asking questions to people," Crumbine said Monday.

She looked at the 1880 census, the year when there was a boom of Italian immigrants coming to Greenwich, and found people came from only two towns in Italy.

"I began doing a study of what was going on here in those days and what people were really hoping for, and why they came. It was all for work," Crumbine explained, noting that there was a demand for stonemasons to build estates.

Crumbine spoke to the Greenwich Historical Society and then-First Selectman Peter Tesei in 2013 about forming a sister city relationship.

"I decided I wanted to have the Town of Greenwich say 'thank you' to the Italian immigrant community and to those towns that sent them here," Crumbine said.

She contacted the mayors of the two towns and their board of directors. During a meeting that decided whether or not one of the towns wanted to partner with Greenwich, Crumbine, who speaks Italian, recalled a board member saying, "Oh, this is a rich city. We've got to do this, it's going to be very useful. Tourists will come, they'll learn more about Italy."

One woman on the board spoke up and disagreed.

"She said, 'That's not why we should do this. We should do this because when our ancestors came in the 1880s-on, they came with a cardboard suitcase filled with old clothes and an immense spirit of hope.' That's what we're celebrating today," Crumbine said.

Afterwards, members went to the St. Lawrence Society in Cos Cob for a breakfast to close out the celebration.