In 1909, Assemblyman Rocco Maria Marasco led the crusade to petition New York State to declare Columbus Day a statewide holiday. That Oct. 12, he served as the grand marshal for the inaugural Columbus Day parade up Fifth Ave. He was my great-grandfather.
Today, 117 years later, I, too, will be marching in the same Columbus Day parade. And this year, I, as well, am running for election to the New York State Assembly.
My great-grandfather, orphaned as a boy, immigrated to the United States from Savoia di Lucania, Italy. He started his life here as a bootblack, cleaning, polishing and waxing leather boots for pedestrians.
In due course, he invested his hard-earned savings and bought properties, chiefly apartment buildings, accumulating enough to grow wealthy as a real estate developer. He rose to be vice president of the Italian Savings Bank and donated generously to Italian charities.
For example, he founded a hospital for Italian immigrants. And, after a 1908 earthquake devastated Messina on Sicily, he contributed a relief check believed at the time to be one of the largest from the U.S. ever.
My great-grandfather parlayed his business success into community leadership and political advocacy, too. He was elected to serve the 3rd Assembly District, representing Manhattan’s Lower East Side, including the Bowery. He was also an elector in the presidential campaigns of William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson.
In the summer of 1913, he came down with pneumonia, and his physicians advised him to recuperate at his country home. Instead, true to form, so strong was his commitment to his constituency, he returned to his district on election day to vote, hastening his death.
Two years later, his son, Carmine — my grandfather — was elected an assemblyman as well, keeping his family legacy alive, and served three terms before eventually becoming a Kings County Court judge.
Allow me a little extra context here. I’m an opera singer and actress who has performed and produced internationally with Tony Bennett, Andrea Bocelli and others. Starting with annual Italian Christmas concerts, I’ve also organized programs for underprivileged children, most recently through my foundation, to promote the healing benefits of music for the last 23 years.
So my Italian roots have shaped my entire career. In marching in the Columbus Day parade this year, and in bidding for a seat in the Assembly, I’m trying to keep two flames burning. I’m seeking to honor traditions forever close to my heart — on the one hand, my cherished family heritage as an Italian American in New York City and, on the other, my profound wish to follow in my great-grandfather’s footsteps and serve the public at large as a force for good.
In the process, I plan to address the same issues he tackled more than a century ago and no less important today, namely public safety, education, housing, the cost of living, healthcare and art and culture.
This year, the Columbus Citizens Foundation, the parade’s organizer, expects more than 35,000 participants and up to a million spectators to join the festivities. The procession will showcase all manner of pageantry, from tricolor flags waving to singing, dancing, floats and marching bands. And as I step into history writ both small and large, the spirit of my great-grandfather will be marching right alongside me.
Fontanelli, an opera singer and actress, is a candidate for the New York State Assembly’s 75th district in Midtown.