Dr. Fiore’s Talk About Her Sabbatical Project in Floridia (Siracusa)

Dr. Teresa Fiore was invited to present on the subject of her sabbatical project (The Allied Landing in Sicily) at a community talk in Floridia (province of Siracusa) on Nov. 19, 2025. Organized by the local museum Nunzio Bruno, devoted to traditional craftsmanship, whose mission is to engage the town’s residents as part of collaborations with several associations, the talk included a presentation by Giuseppe Caramma, a historian affiliated with the University of Catania, and Daniele Valvo, an engineer-turned-WWII-guide whose approach with the audience is interactive. Particularly effective was Valvo’s guessing game about vintage photos of the Allied soldiers’ arrival to Sicily, where the participants had to identify locations and people depicted in the images.

Dr. Fiore shared information about the condition of Italian Americans at the time of Pearl Harbor and described their paradoxical experience of being at once “enemy aliens” in 1942 and supporters of the military efforts as soldiers in large numbers, while also being concerned about the fate of their relatives back in the country of origin, since Italy was an enemy up to the Landing. Dr. Fiore also illustrated how the 82nd anniversary of the Landing was celebrated in Licata as part of the programs of Agrigento Capital of Culture 2025. Since the main topic of the evening was indeed the cultural value of the memory of the Landing, she provided a model that embraces a multi-disciplinary approach (see SBARCO).