Umberto Mucci, Editor of the international “We the Italians” online magazine, invited Cav. Dame Gilda Battaglia Rorro to be a presenter at his conference on “Italians in Diaspora,” in Rome. The NJIHC Chairperson, Robert DiBiase, attended the event with Dr. Rorro at Parliament in the Palazzo San Macuto’s Chamber of Deputies on 17 June 2024.
Dr. Rorro spoke on the new video project for “The Universality of Italian Heritage” curriculum, a program she spearheaded with the New Jersey Italian Heritage Commission (NJIHC) from 2003 to the present. She also spoke on efforts of her Trenton Columbus Statue Restoration Committee to restore the Trenton Columbus statue, which was vandalized and moved to a warehouse in 2020. She was pleased to add that, thanks to Hamilton Township Mayor, Hon. Jeff Martin, a commemorative Flag Raising ceremony will take place after a five-year hiatus, on Columbus Day, 14 October, in Hamilton Township, New Jersey.
While in Italy, Drs. Gilda and Mary Rorro received honorary citizenship from the seaside city of Margherita di Savoia, the place where Dr. Gilda’s father was born, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the region of Puglia.
Dr. Rorro presented the mayor of the city, Hon. Bernardo Lodispoto, with a pin and pen from the Mayor of Hamilton Township. The Italian Mayor organized a presentation ceremony for the mother/daughter duo, in which all staff of the City Hall attended. The visitors were awarded plaques bestowing honorary citizenship from the city, after which Mayor Lodispoto signed a book for Mayor Martin on the history of the salt industry of Margherita di Savoia, the largest in the European Union.
