About Us
Frank Cannonito
Ph.D. President of L’Altra Sicilia USA
- Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus
- University of Californis, Irvine
- Candidate for Vice-Mayor of Palermo, 2006 for L’Altra Sicilia
- Dual USA-Italy Citizenship
- Board Member Sicilia Culturale Society of Los Angeles
Roots
My family were wealthy land owners in Sette Cannoli, a quartiere of Palermo, in the early 20th century.
My grandfather Francesco, my omonimo, sold water from his wells to Palermo, according to my father; I never knew my grandfather as he died a month before I was born.
Sometime before 1908 two attempts were made to assinate my grandfather and in 1908 he left Sicily and came to New York, although there are no records
of his entry in the US. In 1910 my father Giovanni and his brother Antonino and Sister Domenica arrived at Ellis Island accompanying my grandmother Rosaria Vitale and were met by grandfather Francesco who was then living in the Sicilian section of Little Italy.
My father told me often about the family estate in Palermo with its huge wooden doors abbandoned when the family left Sicily for the new world.
One of the high points of my visit to Palermo in 2007 when I ran for Vice mayor of Palermo was the discovery of grandfather’s abandoned house situated on what is now called in the Palermo street directory “Fondo Cannonito.”
For this I have to thank Fonso Genchi and Massimo Costa of L’Altra Sicilia who drove me around Sette Cannoli until we finally stumbled on the narrow entry to Fondo Cannonito of Via Sacramento.
