Monday, January 13, 2025
“My uncle picked me up in a 1966 Oldsmobile,” Filippone, now 60, the 2nd vice president of Per Sempre Lodge No. 2344, in Lynbrook, recounted recently. “Do you know how big that car is? That car was bigger than a truck in Italy.”
Gerardo’s aunt and uncle, Angelina and John Cirilli, sponsored the new immigrants — the boy’s parents and his three siblings— and the Cirillis’ house in Ozone Park, Queens, became his home.
Filippone’s parents had had trouble finding jobs in Italy, and commuted to jobs in Switzerland, but work dried up there too, he said. At the time, more than 1 million Italians — roughly 5 percent of the labor force — were reportedly unemployed.
So the Filippones settled in a small home on Lafayette Street in Queens, where meatballs in sauce simmered on the kitchen stove alongside semolina bread on the counter. The aroma of fresh tomatoes, basil and garlic wafted into the dining room, where Gerardo did his homework.
His mother regularly helped him with his English, and he admired how she managed to raise a family in a new country with a busy schedule as a seamstress.
“What my parents taught me by coming here is that you can try to accomplish what you want to accomplish,” Filippone said. “And you really can accomplish it.”
He inherited an affinity for working hard, he said, from his father as well, who worked two jobs, in a cable factory and in construction.
But a new school curriculum was challenging, Filippone said. Despite having learned some math and science in Italy, he was placed in first grade because of his limited English.
He remembers the culture shock of seeing his fellow students eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, while he brought traditional meatball sandwiches to school. At times, he said, he felt excluded.
But he eventually not only acclimated, but found success in America. He became a field technician lead, and took the oath of U.S. citizenship in 2008. Now he serves as an officer of the Order of Sons and Daughters of Italy lodge.
When his parents died, Filippone said, and his family drifted apart, he found companionship at the lodge — particularly with Vice President Robert Baccari, his best friend since 1989, whom he talks to at least once a day.
“Robert was there for me when my parents passed away, and I was there when his parents passed away,” Filippone said. “He’s like a brother to me.”
He promotes the Lodge and its activities, he said, because he wants to share the joy of community with others who might not be in touch with their own families or culture. “They say you can’t choose your family, but you can choose your friends,” Filippone said.
Per Sempre Lodge hosts a variety of events focused on promoting Italian culture and weaving it into community service. Filippone and Baccari both say they want to build a comfortable, inviting space for Italian-Americans in Lynbrook and the surrounding area.
They have found that they have much in common. “He’s just like me,” Baccari said. “He doesn’t stop talking.”
For the Christmas season, the organization is hosting a toy drive for families in need. At its meeting on Tuesday, at the Knights of Columbus headquarters on Hempstead Avenue, the agenda included planning a traditional Italian celebration, the Feast of the Seven Fishes, later this month.
The feast, or La Vigilia, remains a cultural fixture for many Italian-American on Long Island and beyond. Traditionally celebrated on Christmas Eve, it has roots in Catholicism and typically features seven seafood dishes that symbolize the wait for the birth of Jesus and the practice of abstaining from meat on holy days. The focus is on spending time with family and friends, with multiple courses served over several hours.
“We want to be welcoming to everyone,” Baccari said. “And sometimes, we do touch people’s hearts.”
Filippone said he honors his immigration story by remaining involved in the community, and preserving Italian culture. “When my aunt and uncle passed, and then my mother and my father passed, a lot of the stuff went away,” he said. “Sunday dinners, family events … I want to bring it back.”
In a 2008 essay that appeared on the Herald’s editorial page, Filippone reflected on his life in the United States. “To this day, I miss Italy and will eventually go back one day,” he wrote. “But America is my country now.”
A few years ago, he returned to the Avellino province.
“When I got off the plane and I touched the soil … It was strange,” he said. “An overwhelming feeling came over me, like I was home."
