By Lavinia Pisani

The doors of the National Italian American Foun-dation (NIAF) opened up to current President & Operating Officer John M. Viola when he was 16 years old. It was Diana Femia, a family's friend, who first took Viola to a Gala Weekend, which inspired him to stay involved for 12 years before taking the reins of the community. It was during that event that Viola felt the beat of his "Italianess," as he likes to refer to his origins.

More specifically, it was the after party of the Gala Weekend that still has a special place in Viola's memory. He remembers the moment he was gathered together with other young Italian-Americans around a piano in the lobby. It was "full of thousand of jubilant paesani that sang the Lou Monte and Neapolitan standards, which my grandparents taught me with the likes of Tommy Lasorda and Jerry Vale."

Read more

Fonte: L'italo-Americano