07-15-14
My cousin, Bruce Bencriscutto, contacted me via email about spending some time with Rick Bonanno, current president of Roma Lodge, and the subject of our Bencriscutto Family Directory blog came up in connection with his wish to develop a more thorough history of the early days of Roma Lodge.
I referred Rick to our Family Directory and specifically to:
http://lafamiglia2014.blogspot.com/p/herman-irene.html
as the Diane Porcaro & Frank Maritato Family would be a good choice to gather more information.
My mother, Adeline Bencriscutto, confirmed that the original family, my grandparents, Gregorio & Caterina, were among the original Roma Lodge members during the years when the Lodge was located on South Memorial Drive by the Belle City Foundry where Gregorio worked for many years.
Adeline described Diane's parents, Herman Porcaro & Irene Bencriscutto, as being instrumental in providing the push to move Roma Lodge to its present location. Irene, as a member of the Vittoria Colonna Lodge (the women's branch of Roma Lodge) was one of the original organizers of fund raisers such as cookie sales and the annual festival. The Vittoria Colonna group put out at least one calendar, Italian Immigrants, in 1987, featuring Italian recipes and historical photos of Italian life in Racine.
Their daughter, Diane, married Frank Maritato, and they have always been Roma Lodge members, whereas some of the other children of the original Bencriscutto family were not, so they should know the most about the history of Roma Lodge.
Bocci was my grandfather's favorite pastime at the Lodge, as well as enjoying the food, fellowship, and festivals. My mother & father, Louie & Adeline Bencriscutto, were married at the roma Lodge hall and a picture of their wedding cake was syndicated across the coutry!
I let Rick know that we support his goal to gather more information and stories about the history of Roma Lodge, a beloved institution for so many Italian in the Racine area. To that end, I've set up this Roma Lodge History page on our blog where blog administrators can post new stories right on the page and others can leave their stories in the comment section at the bottom of the page.
Rick plans to set up a committee to refine the history chronicle for Roma Lodge and over time, that group can harvest information from our blog, contribute to our blog, and eventually set up their own online place to gather stories from their many Lodge members.
Another piece of the original Roma Lodge neighborhood memorabilia, Louie Bencriscutto, my father, Gregorio's son, played the accordion at Kelly's Corner for many years before moving to the Spinning Wheel in the late 1960s. Here are links to his music and more information about his career in music.
http://louisbencriscutto.bandcamp.com/releases (for information)
https://soundcloud.com/lafamiglia2014/louis-bencriscutto-accordion-medley (listen)
So, here's the start of the Roma Loege History project and hearty "Grazie" to Rick Bonanno and all that Roma Lodge has meant to our Italian community.
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