The New York Times  Weekly Desk; Section 14CN 
By William Cockerham
Page 6, Column 3 
12/30/2001 
  
Connecticut hardly conjures up images of ravioli or cannoli. But according 
to the 2000 Census, Connecticut has more residents claiming to be of 
Italian origin per capita than any other state in the nation.

Walk across Vernon Street from the Trinity College campus in Hartford 
to a three-story brownstone, a former fraternity house, and you are 
technically on Italian soil.

Except for the red, green and white Italian flag out front, you would never 
know this is the Vice Console Onorario d'Italia, one of only 10 Italian 
consulates in the nation.

The building was given rent-free for an indefinite period for use by the 
Italian consulate.

''Why are we here in Hartford and Connecticut?,'' said Riccardo F. 
Ambrogio, the honorary vice consul. ''Because we have an enormous 
number of Italian nationals in the area. We are the official diplomatic 
liaison for these resident aliens.

''Dr. Ambrogio, an Italian - American oral surgeon who practices in the 
Hartford area, where he was reared from childhood, said he was not 
surprised that one in five Connecticut residents who completed census 
forms claim some Italian heritage.

Dr. Ambrogio said a group of Italian - American residents, led by the 
developer Tony Aurtorino, is raising money to help build a 10,000-square
-foot Italian Cultural Center on the Trinity College campus.''I'm spear-
heading the fund-raising,'' Mr. Aurtorino said. ''Hopefully I won't be the 
only one involved. But I think we're on track.''

Mr. Aurtorino said the proposed center would cost $5 million, and he 
said he was aiming to raise half by the end of next year. He said that 
when the building is completed, in four or five years, the vice consulate 
will also occupy the space in the building.

Dr. Ambrogio said the proposed center would also include a library and 
media center, offices for Italian history professors and Italian language 
classes for kindergarten through the eighth grade.''This will be really 
great,'' Dr. Ambrogio said, ''considering that the first Italians at Trinity 
were the stonemasons who built it in the 1800's. It took a while before 
they were finally admitted as students.

''The influence of Italian-Americans runs deep in the state.''The University 
of Connecticut was the first school in the United States to offer a doctoral 
in Italian - American history. Ella Grasso was not only of Italian origin, 
but the first woman to be elected governor in the country,'' Dr. Ambrogio 
said. ''Ann Uccello was the first woman mayor of Hartford.'' Ms. Uccello 
served as mayor from 1968-70.Gennaro Capobianco, the owner of a 
Hartford funeral business, has been collecting historic materials on 
Italian-Americans in Connecticut for more than 40 years.

''I always thought a third of the state was Italian of one degree or 
another,'' he said. ''As a funeral home, I've done 150 different ethnic 
groups, so I should know.''Mr. Capobianco has a list of Italian- Americans 
who stand out in Connecticut history that rivals those in the state archives.

''There's Sylvester Poli, an immigrant who came here with nothing, and ended 
up owning a theater chain that stretched from Boston to Philadelphia,'' Mr. 
Capobianco said. ''He started out in New Haven. And Dom Delucco, the first 
Italian mayor in Hartford. He was a very colorful character, wore a Homburg 
hat and always had a flower in his lapel. Drove an Edsel, of all things.

''Included in his list are the hugely successful Italian - American 
construction contractors in the Northeast, the Roncari and Manafort 
families, and Tony Zazarro, the late parking lot magnate and influential 
Hartford political boss.There are also such present luminaries as the 
former Hartford Mayor Mike Peters, now a radio talk-show host, and 
Geno Auriemma, coach of the national championship women's basketball 
team at the University of Connecticut.

''There's nothing Italian-Americans have not contributed to in Connecticut, 
from food to religion to politics, sports and business,'' said Mr. 
Capobianco, who himself is a fifth generation Italian - American .

Italians started immigrating to the United States in large numbers at the 
end of the 19th century, arriving first at Ellis Island and then heading to 
Connecticut, where they found work as field hands, stone masons and 
factory workers. Within a few generations, Italian culture flourished.

There are areas in Hartford, New Haven and Stamford that call themselves 
Little Italy, but they are waning as more and more Italian-Americans marry 
those of other ethnic groups, move out of urban areas and leave their 
distinct Mediterranean culture and language behind.Father Nicholas Cesaro, 
pastor of a once Italian-dominated St. Augustine Church in the Hartford's 
South End, said he stopped Masses said in Italian a year ago because ''there 
was not enough real interest.'' He said most of the Italian parishioners 
moved out of Hartford to the suburbs years ago. ''We get so few Italians now, 
and they come mostly out of nostalgia.''Achille D'Aprile, the second 
generation owner of the D & D Market on Franklin Avenue, a popular Hartford 
area Italian food store, said that 20 years ago 90 percent of his Italian - 
American customers lived in the area. Today, he said most live in the 
surrounding towns of Wethersfield, Newington, Rocky Hill and beyond.''Hey, 
nothing will ever be the same, but I'll tell you one thing, the offspring, 
they're getting into cooking like their parents,'' Mr. D'Aprile said. 

''That's one thing you won't ever lose. The Italian food.''And there's the 
music. An Italian music show out of WICC in Bridgeport called ''Italian House 
Party With Johnny LaBaro'' is on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.But except 
for a few social clubs and the Columbus Day parade, there are fewer and 
fewer signs of Hartford's once cohesive Italian neighborhoods. Aside from the 
red, green and white painted median stripe on Franklin Avenue and a few 
markets, social clubs and restaurants, there is little evidence that this was 
once a bustling Italian neighborhood. Today one is more likely to hear people 
speaking Spanish than Italian.''Sure we're losing it, but how can it not 
happen in the land of the melting pot,'' Dr. Ambrogio said. ''Yes, Italians 
are marrying into other ethnic groups, Irish, Polish, whatever. And why not? 

That's the beauty of this country, to be able to live amongst each other, 
harmoniously. You know, Italians are actually pretty liberal. They don't want 
to just hang out with Italians.''Don Mancini, the owner of Kenney's 
Restaurant in Hartford, and a third generation Italian - American , said he 
regrets that his own children do not speak Italian and probably would not 
enjoy many things about Italian life that he experienced in Hartford's Little 
Italy.''It's not just the language,'' said Mr. Mancini, who married a 
non-Italian and like many others of his young generation moved to the 
suburbs.''It's the family thing, everybody, grandparents, uncles, aunts, 
cousins getting together on Sundays, the wine making, putting together 
sausage, the backyard gardens,'' Mr. Mancini continued. ''I love that stuff, 
but more and more we're being Americanized. I used to love going to the 
D & D with my grandfather. Just to smell it.''But it's changed. The 
neighborhood, the people. It's still Italian, but it's not the same.''