Once again, this week, Nonantum — known as “The Lake” — will be the site of its annual Italian festival. Festa Italiana reflects a close-knit community, many of whose families emigrated from San Donato Val di Comino and neighboring villages. Once again, Pellegrini Park (11 Hawthorne Street) will be the site for a wide range of carnival rides, booths, food, and raffle-ticket sales to benefit the St. Mary of Carmen Society Scholarship fund. Once again, there will be nightly entertainment — and dancing for the inspired. Once again, the median strip on Adams Street will be painted red, white, and green. And once again, the festival will include the Sunday afternoon march through the neighborhood with the Society’s statue of St. Mary of Carmen.
But this year will be different in one heartbreaking way. This year, the Society and the Nonantum community are mourning the loss of three cherished members: Lucia Arpino, her daughter Gilda (Jill) D’Amore. and Jill’s husband, Bruno D’Amore — all three killed in their home on Sunday, June 25. Their horrific murders have been reported across the country and across the globe.
Chuck Proia, Chair of the St. Mary of Carmen event and third-generation Nonantum resident, explained that this year’s festival is going to be for the slain family: “This neighborhood needs to be together to celebrate their lives and a sense of community,” he explained. Noting that Newton has been designated one of the safest cities in the country, Mr. Proia feels people needed to be part of something safe and familiar. He emphasized that the traditions associated with Festa are more important this year, and he believes they will help bring some normality to the shattered neighborhood.
As part of this year’s commemoration of the family, the traditional Sunday afternoon parade — which includes members of the Society, people who join the march with the Madonna, and a band — will stop in front of the house on Hawthorne Street that the family owned but no longer lived in. The band will play Ave Maria, as is the custom when a community member has died.
This year, the emphasis on the festival’s long-standing traditions will help people, said Terry Sauro, President of the Nonantum Neighborhood Association and a second-generation Nonantum resident. She agreed with Chuck Proia that the emphasis on familiar traditions would serve to comfort people. Ms. Sauro described the five-day Festa, July 12-16, as a homecoming, when family members who no longer live in the area come back to join their relatives and friends and be part of the Sunday afternoon family barbecues that are a feature of the celebration. It’s an opportunity to share family stories and traditions, she said. This year, “it’s a way to remember the [Arpino/D’Amore] family for how they lived, not the way they died,” she said.
As evidence of Festa Italiana’s enduring legacy, Terry Sauro provided a picture of the Society circa 1945. Her father is the man on the left kneeling in front of the statue. Family, friends, and community will help the community healing process, she said.
Recognizing the community’s grief and anxiety, the City’s Health & Human Services Department is offering two local “coping” sessions for those impacted by the recent tragedy in Newton. One was on July 11, and the second will be on Monday July 17, 6PM-8PM at the Ciociaro Social Club (144 Bridge Street, Nonantum). RSVP at health@newtonma.gov to attend.
The sessions will be led by the Riverside Trauma Center, which helps people recover from the overwhelming stress caused by traumatic events. The Riverside team is specifically trained in disaster and critical incident response and in grief support.
Questions? Call Newton Social Services at 617-796-1420.
