Last night my daughter invaded my home office and computer. After two hours of zapping channels and finding absolutely nothing worth watching, I went to see what she was doing with my computer. Was she checking out profiles of boys? No! Was she watching video clips of the new boy wonder Justin Bieber? No! She was making research for her homework about the lives of famous Italians. Do I usually help her with her homework? I usually don't. Her mother is more patient and to tell you the truth better versed with her lessons. However this time I wanted my computer back. So I decided to help her and checked her notes of the people she would write about.
One: Leonardo da Vinci, famous Italian painter, inventor, sculptor, anatomist and master of all the other professions available in his era...
Kitchenaid Food Processor
Two: Antonio Vivaldi, famous Italian composer of Four Seasons...
Three: Federico Fellini, famous Italian director of movies like Amarcord and La Dolce Vita... And there was a fourth name. This is a trick I learned from my painful experience in front of the TV: (Read with a serious newsreader voice) Now is a very good time for a new paragraph. If you want to learn the fourth name, read on...
Four: Angelo Vitantonio... Who is Angelo Vitantonio and what is he doing in my daughters notebook? I'm not a conservative father but I don't like strange men to be around my little girl. If his name is among the other three, he must be really famous. Maybe I'm also not well versed with famous Italians. I went to my daughter and asked her without losing face: "Could you find enough information about Angelo Vitantonio?" So she gave me my Italian history lesson. Let me share it with you.
Angelo Vitantonio is the founder of VillaWare, a famous Italian manufacturer of kitchen utensils. Her mother, who is at the same time my wife, makes my coffee with their Espresso maker every morning. She makes those delicious Panini sandwiches and Belgium Waffles with their appliances. After coming to America, Vitantonio invented hand crank pasta machine, which would become the first of many kitchen utensils VillaWare would produce to be used in our kitchens.
I can really understand my daughter. Anyone who had the fortune to taste those Panini sandwiches or waffles can understand why she considers Angelo Vitantonio one of the most important Italians in the history.