Justin Catanoso reveals over at his blog that yesterday was the 100th anniversary of the prodigious earthquake that affected eastern Sicily and also Calabria at the southern tip of the Italian peninsula. The natural disaster occurred December 28, 1908.
It is estimated that well over 100,000 people perished as a result of the earthquake. It is difficult to imagine the enormity of the loss and suffering that the people of those regions experienced during the earthquake and in its aftermath. (The loss of life was much greater, for instance, than that which we experienced in the United States with Hurricane Katrina).
Few know about the humanitarian assistance provided by the American people at that time to southern Italy, initiated by then-President Theodore Roosevelt. Even then, Americans led the world by providing aid to foreign nations going through various tribulations.
And the Italian people were effusively grateful to Roosevelt for what he had done. I am taking the liberty of excerpting heavily from an article recently written by Rodrigo Praino that appeared over at i-Italy.org. It describes Roosevelt's triumphant visit to Italy the following year:
Roosevelt left from New York on board the S.S. Hamburg on March 23, 1909. Waiting for him on the pier at 23rd St. and 6th Ave. was a teeming crowd of Italian/Americans, accompanied by an entire band playing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”. The President was presented with a bronze tablet from the Italian Chamber of Commerce and was warmly saluted by the cheering throng. It was their way of showing gratitude to a man and a country that had helped the populations of Calabria and Sicily, stricken by a terrible earthquake not long before. After crossing the ocean, the Presidential party had to change ships in Naples before reaching Mombasa. Roosevelt stayed in the Southern Italian city only a few hours, but the locals were so thrilled at his arrival they had wanted to greet him with mirthful affirmations of friendship. A number of boats, yachts and warships converged in the Gulf of Naples ahead of his approach, and the newspapers at the time reported that Roosevelt was “astonished” by the enthusiasm of well-wishers, who had filled the streets. The few hours he spent in Naples were only enough to meet with some local notables and institutional figures at his hotel, and then to pay a visit to the Duke and Duchess of Aosta at their magnificent castle, Capodimonte.
After Naples the next stop was Messina, where Roosevelt could inspect the ruins of the recent earthquake and the efforts – also by workers sent by the U.S. government and coordinated by the U.S. Navy – to rebuild the destroyed city. Meanwhile, the King of Italy Victor Emmanuel III sailed from Rome to the Sicilian coast to “casually” meet with Mr. Roosevelt on board his battleship Re Umberto. The King had said he was glad to meet with “the man who had earned the esteem of the whole American people and had rendered valuable service to Italian emigrants”. The city of Messina welcomed Teddy Roosevelt crying “long live our President!”
The following year, after his hunting tour of the African
continent, and before going back to the United States, the former
President decided to return to Italy. Roosevelt met his wife there and
wanted to relive with her the golden moments of his Italian honeymoon –
yes, Teddy and Edith Roosevelt’s honeymoon had taken place in Italy!
After another brief stay in Naples he moved to Rome, accepting an
invitation made by King Victor Emmanuel the year before. He was
welcomed at the Quirinal like a head of state and saluted by the people
of Rome like a hero. Ernesto Nathan, the mayor of Rome, compared
Roosevelt to the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the warrior-philosopher
famous for his imposing equestrian statue. A few days later in Liguria,
while visiting the city of Porto Maurizio – which today is part of the
city of Imperia – Roosevelt was proclaimed an honorary citizen and had
a street, Corso Teodoro Roosevelt, named after him.
The Italian people, public officials and institutional figures were greeting Roosevelt as a national hero. The New York Times wrote on April 3, 1910 that “the great hunter is now a more popular man
in Italy than any other foreigner has ever been, and can be compared
only with some of the great heroes of the National epoch”.
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