Advertisement

New York mayor to be honoured in Italy

Author thumbnail
New York mayor to be honoured in Italy
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio will next week become an honorary citizen of Grassano. Photo: Public Advocate Bill de Blasio

New York mayor Bill de Blasio will next week become an honorary citizen of Grassano, a town in the southern Italian region of Basilicata.

Advertisement

Francesco Sanseverino, the proud mayor of Grassano, where de Blasio's grandmother was born, was quoted in Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno as saying that the honour was being bestowed on the New Yorker due to the "feeling of pride and belonging" he has to his roots.

De Blasio, who replaced Michael Bloomberg as mayor of New York, will receive the honorary citizenship during a ceromony in Grassano on July 24th.

He will visit the town as part of a nine-day holiday in Italy, which will also include a visit to his grandfather's home town of Sant'Agata de' Goti, near Naples.

His grandparents, Anna Briganti and Giovanni de Blasio, emigrated to the United States in the early 1900s.

The ceremony in Grassano will begin at around 2pm and will be attended by the town's mayor as well as Marcello Pittella, the president of Basilicata. A local singer called Vittoria Sigillino will sing the US national anthem.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also