At its 45th annual meeting, the American Society of the Italian Legion of Merit (ASILM) elected Lucio Caputo, as its new president. Caputo takes over from outgoing president, N.Y. State Judge Dominic Massaro. Judge Massaro, who has been president of ASILM since 2005, is widely credited for having revitalized the Society. Caputo is founder and president of the Italian Wine and Food Institute, and of the Gruppo Esponenti Italiani (GEI), an association of representatives from major Italian business and financial concerns operating in the United States, as well as Italian leaders in industrial design, international affairs and other professions. GEI was founded in 1974.

Born in Monreale, Italy, Caputo received a doctorate in Law, followed by a degree in Journalism and a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Palermo. He was an editor of the Giornale di Sicilia, one of Italy's major daily newspapers, and was a correspondent for numerous other newspapers and magazines in Italy. He eventually joined Italy's Foreign Trade Institute. In 1967, he was appointed Italian Trade commissioner in Philadelphia and five years later became Trade Commissioner in New York. In 1981, Caputo opened the Italian Trade Center in New York and in 1984 founded the Italian Wine and Food Institute, which sponsors the annual "Gala Italia" in New York City.

The American Society of the Italian Legions of Merit serves as the chief reference point in the United States for all links between the chivalric world of the Italian state and its decorati resident here. - Now in its fifth decade, the Society is comprised of more than six hundred individuals who, because of some personal quality or the rendering of some special service, have been decorated by the Republic of Italy. These decorations have been conferred in one of five Ordini Onorifici: Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Order of Military Merit, Order of Labor Merit, Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity and Order of Vittorio Veneto. Awarded by decree of the President of the Republic (who by virtue of office is "Head" of all Italian Orders of Knighthood), each is internationally recognized as rooted in the umbilicus of Italian history and as a prerogative of Italian sovereignty.

(Pictured above Lucio Caputo with Simona Ventura a the 2010 Gala Italia in New York City)

12.28.2010 | CiaoAmerica.net |