Ustica’s Mayor and Centro Studi greeting Messages.

What made United States of America Great ? Probably being able to hold together people from different countries and different languages of origin. What’s the secret? Have made it possible to each of them to maintain their cultural identity and have requested in exchange the use of one language.
Even our brothers usticesi of California, from San Diego and San Jose, many of whom have never walked on the lava rock of our island, are Americans who maintain theirs, in this case our own, identity that is not only geographical but also linguistic, historical, cultural: the joy of being usticese We deliberately used the word joy, and not the easiest like “pride Usticese ” perhaps because we know in our hearts, like Shakespeare, that only the poor show pride and at the same time because we believe that the pain is brief while the joy is eternal.
The usticesi in California show that this is true: the United States allow the respect of their identity, the native usticesi retain their own identity, which is a source of joy for them ..eternal. How eternal it is and will be the love that binds us to those residing in Ustica, retains its identity and maintains a high honor.
To you our embrace and our thanks.

Aldo Messina

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My Dearest Friends

How beautiful it is knowing how many are meeting today to remember their common Usticese origin. For me it’s always touching to note how great is your relationship with this island of ours.
And it is even more so now that you have gathered at the home of Marlene, whom I know to be very attached to Ustica. And today you have with you Peter and Pina Bertucci who will convey to you our feelings of friendship while they tell you of Ustica. So the distances that separate us physically no longer exist, at least for today.
We want to thank Fred for his hard work as he carries out his duties while acting for the “Centro Studi West.” In a few years he has been able to bring together many Usticese living in California and in neighboring states. Suffice it to say that this year there are two meetings of the great family of Ustica. It is truly wonderful!
I also want to thank Chris Caravella for his work in Louisiana and the South and Maria Compagno, always cheerful and festive, who with her enthusiasm never misses a chance to be with you and talk about her childhood in Ustica.
I am sure you will spend a beautiful day exchanging information about your families and about our island, and that you will feel close to our fathers, as well as those of us who continue to live in Ustica, a small and beautiful island where lie our common roots.
I beg you all to feel my presence, and together with our President Franco Foresta Martin and all the friends of the Centro Studi Ustica, I embrace you all, one by one, with brotherly affection, and I hope, God willing, to meet you once again in Ustica or in the States.
With an embrace,

Vito Ailara