From Rocky Balboa to Botticelli, the City of Brotherly Love is one of America’s proudest Italian American locales, and this week’s guest is just the person to tell us how it came to be.
Andrea Canepari is an Italian diplomat currently serving at the Directorate General for Country Promotion of the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Rome. He was Ambassador of Italy in the Dominican Republic from 2017 to 2021 and Consul General of Italy in Philadelphia from 2013 to 2017. Andrea is the co-editor of The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia: History, Culture, People, and Ideas, as well as the author of The Italian Legacy in the Dominican Republic: History, Architecture, Economy, and Society and The Italian Legacy in Washington D.C.: Architecture, Design, Art, and Culture.
Andrea’s experiences as Consul General of Italy in Philadelphia have helped him discover a side to Pennsylvania’s largest city that stretches beyond Ben Franklin and the Liberty Bell. In this week’s episode, Andrea tells us about how certain Philadelphia staples, such as cheesesteak, have an Italian influence and how the city’s Italian influences are often found in the most unexpected of places!
We also talk about the philosophical influence of Italy on pre-Revolutionary War America, including the works of Filippo Mazzei, and how the Italian contribution to the Cradle of Liberty might be more than you’d expect.
It’s a visit to colonial America with an Italian flair that you won’t want to miss!
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