"The Stonecutter's Aria" Another
Italian-American Returns to
The ANNOTICO
Report
If we know
Not from Whence we came, How can we know Who we
Are????
Carol Faenzi's grandparents died in 1996, four months apart. At
the time, she was ill and weary, after years of keeping pace with the corporate
world. The success of the office real-estate business she started here in the
mid-1980s eventually took her to
That set
in motion the wheels of self-discovery for Faenzi,
who traveled by herself -- on a one-way ticket -- to
"The
Stonecutter's Aria," published in 2005, is a tribute to Italian-Americans
in the
WOMAN HONORS FAMILY'S JOURNEY
Ruth
Holladay
Carol Faenzi infused the room with light, literally, when she
addressed The Propylaeum Club luncheon last week.
In a brief
slide show, she presented numerous bright images of sun-struck
The
mountains there glitter with what she calls "white gold" -- marble.
Even the stone's dust is precious, she told her audience of 60 on Wednesday.
"It looks and feels like stardust," said Faenzi,
52, an
How a
sophisticated Manhattanite career woman unearthed
within herself a fascination for the gritty labor of stone quarrying and the
art of sculpting in
Faenzi
tells it in "The Stonecutter's Aria," published in 2005, a tribute to
Italian-Americans in the
"She
puts flesh on a lot of generalizations about immigrants," said James Divita, a historian and president of the Italian-American
Society in
Italians
came to the
Presented
in three acts like the opera so beloved by her great-grandfather, Faenzi's book traces the journeys of her forebears.
Her
great-grandfather came to
Dearest to
her were her grandparents, the late Olga and Otto Faenzi.
He was chef at the Columbia Club for 35 years. Faenzi
spent many happy hours in their
Her
grandparents died in 1996, four months apart. That set in motion the wheels of
self-discovery for Faenzi, who traveled by herself --
on a one-way ticket -- to
At the
time, she was ill and weary, after years of keeping pace with the corporate
world. The success of the office real-estate business she started here in the
mid-1980s eventually took her to
Besides
that, Faenzi had an identity crisis. Although most of
her family is Catholic, she was raised by her parents as a Jehovah's Witness.
That church was not a good fit for Faenzi.
Still,
leaving the Witnesses as a young woman was emotionally painful and created a
rift between herself and her parents. Her grandmother was the bridge between
the generations -- a wise woman who became the muse for Faenzi's
journey home.
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