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oakland — The night started with Puccini, of course. An aria from the opera "Turandot" was only fitting to open the festivities Saturday at the 75th anniversary celebration of the Ligure Club, one of Oakland's original Italian associations.
The tenor Christopher Pucci carried the aria "Nessun Dorma" (no one sleeps) nearly to the end. "I brought sheet music because I'm not about to mess up my Italian tonight," he told the audience.
Pucci hit a snag on one of the difficult soaring notes but recovered to a burst of applause. "Bravo! Bravo!" Even the Columbus Day Princesses Chelsea and Brianne Spencer in their red sashes and tiaras looked pleased.
Naturally, the night would not have been complete without accordions, red wine (though not Italian) and stories by members. Tony Vigneli recalled being interned with fellow Italians during World War II at Fort Missoula, Mont.
Then he performed a little shimmy as he belted out a version of "Eh, Cumpari."
"This is about keeping it going — the memory, the passion, the food, the whole experience," 27-year-old Matt Castagnola said. "You can't get this anywhere else."
Originally, associations like the Ligure Club created an oasis for families with little else but each other and the Italian community to rely on, said Jasmin Labarile, whose great grandparents arrived from Italy in the 1920s. She is active in the Ligure Women's Auxiliary club (at least 220 other women are
"I wanted to learn about where I came from and "... know who my family was. I feel like I am honoring them," said Labarile, whose tattoos and spiky short hair blended into the medley of fashions, ages and styles of the 360 men, women and child gathered at the Fratellanza Clubhouse off San Pablo Avenue for the anniversary.
The anniversary might have been sweeter if the club still had its original beloved home in the Temescal District. But there was still plenty to celebrate. "It is with legitimate pride that the Ligure Club can celebrate 75 years of caring for the social well-being of our community," longtime member Joe Brignole said in an old-fashioned rat-a-tat-tat staccato.
Dan Paggi's grandfather brought him to the club many afternoons after school. "I learned how to play bocce and twist the cards from him," said Paggi, who stayed on in the social club to keep the link to his Italian heritage. That connection comes through the food — monthly dinners and luncheons, bocce ball tournaments, scholarship drives, fundraisers (the club donated $5,000 to the families of the four Oakland police officers killed in March) and other events.
"The dinners are a time to get together," said attorney Gerry Niesar. Tortellini and prime rib is the classic dish, but Italian soul food is on the menu once a month: tripe, rabbit, polenta and Italian salt cod, called baccalà. "They're a throwback," Niesar said, "to before women civilized the men."
The club started out with friends from the Liguria region of Italy, who gathered in the Temescal District basement of Joe Mangini. The Temescal was the Little Italy of its day. The men would sit around and share stories over a glass of their homemade wine and cold cuts. The meetings evolved into a weekend ritual and the group into a club.
Giulio Biggi offered his basement for the first official meeting Jan. 27, 1933, of the newly baptized Ligure Club.
Like Italy itself — independent and united for less than a century — the social clubs were factionalized and most people spoke the dialect of their region. Men from the Piedmont region joined the Fratellanza Club, those from the Liguria region joined the Ligure Club.
Less than a year later, the Ligure Club members raised the $25,000 needed to build a hall, which opened Dec. 7, 1934 at 4899 Shattuck Ave. The club sold the building in 1980 because the neighborhood was getting seedy and membership had dwindled too low to support the cost — $250 a day just to open the doors, according to Ligure Club President Joe Scodella.
Membership stood at more than 900 when he joined in 1962, a newly married man who had left Italy as a teenager only seven years before. Today, there are 357 members.
Many Italians and their children dispersed to the suburbs, and there is less need for the connection that Italians sought at clubs like the Ligure, Madeline Petri, 77, said. Her father "Baci" Accinelli was one of the early members and, like many of the Ligure Club men, worked for the Oakland Scavenger Company. Founded by Italians, the co-op was sold to Waste Management in the 1980s.
"It's not just Italian clubs" that are losing members over the years, Petri said. "All ethnic groups do that."
The recruiting of young members has been a top priority for years. The club now allows 10 percent of members to be non-Italian, and everyone is welcome at the monthly events. Little by little, the efforts appear to be succeeding.
"It's getting better," Scodella said. "A lot of people of Italian descent are coming back to their roots."
