Fran Costantino Honored by bor Opti-Mrs. ITALIANHOLYDAYS From theimmatcuatConception to the

 Epiphany, the fusion of sacred and profane during Christmas
 (Continued from page 8) to the Lord.
 cut their own spruce pine and. During the Advent, streets
 use it as a holiday decoration. are full of lights and colors,
 In 1605 during Christmas, in and the air is filled with sweet
 Strasbourg they began to deco- Christmas songs, such as the
 rate their Christmas trees with popular "Tu scendi dalle stelle"
 different colored paper roses, and "Bianco Natale" (White
 apples, sugar and golden balls. Christmas).













 Fran Costantino's Family Cindy (sister, Estelle (mother), Fran, Tristin
 Villa (grand daughter) and Francine (daughter) gathered for the event.
 The Opti.-Mrs. Club of Ybor Costantino Monument Com- ration, Tampa and Ybor Street
 City named Fran Costantino pany where she spent a great Railway Society, L'Unione Ital-
 their 2006 Woman of the Year deal of her youth. ian, L'Unione Italiana Ladies Santa adorns the Christmas decorations in Corso
 at their 56 Annul Christmas Costantino works tirelessly Auxiliary, and more. Italia, ne of themain streets of Catania.
 Dinner Dance on Sunday, De- to improve every aspect of Ybor She hosts a number of so-
 cember 3 at the Hilton Hotel on City. She is actively involved in cial gatherings throughout the From there, the tradition of the The bagpiper is a typical
 Westshore Boulevard. the Ybor City Chamber of Com- year, including the Ybor City Christmas tree spread all over Christmas figure. He is an
 Costantino is president merce, Ybor City Rotary Club, Lions Club Annual Bocce Ball Europe and became associated itinerant musician who walks
 and owner of Costantino and YborCity Opti-Mrs. Club. Ybor Tournament to raise money with the Christmas holidays. in the srets playing Christ-
 Company Real Estate Ser- City Lions Club, Ybor City to purchase seeing eye dogs, It arrived later in Italy and mas' songs with his bagpipe.
vices in Ybor City. Her office is Museum Society, East Ybor purchasing seven to date. was Christianized by Italians, Usually families-invite him into
located in the same building Historic & Civic Association, If there is an event in Ybor who. related the lights and the their houses and he plays in
that housed- her father's and Barrio Latino Commission, City, Fran Costantino is sure colors of the Christmas tree to front f the nativity, blessing it
grandfather's business Frank Ybor City Development Corpo- to be involved. a special form of thanksgiving with his religious music.
 On the night of Christmas
 Eve, families gather together
 for dinner. After they have
 eaten pasta, flat bread and
 roasted meat, the meal finishes
 with walnuts, hazelnuts and
 the typical Christmas desserts:
 panettone and pandoro.
 TAM P A sweet legend is relatedEL Eto


 S*bago, at the court of Ludovico
 the Moorish Duke of Milan,
 during Christmas Eve, the
 cooks were preparing desserts
 for Christmas. Unfortunately,
 those sweets got burned and
 the cooks started to worry. A
 scullion, Tony decided to take
 the risk and prepared a dessert
 with sweet bread, candied fruit
 and butter, the only ingredi-
 ents he had. The new dessert
 became so popular that it was
 name after Tony panettone

 bread").
 Instead, the origins of pan-
 doro are different. Pandoro is
 a typical dessert of Verona that
 competes with the panettone
 for the title of tlie "most popu-
 lar Italian Christmas dessert."
 Its origins are still unsure but a
 recent popular belief connects
 s anL d? it to the court of the Hapsburg.
 There, since 1700 and 1800,
 they knew how to make crois-
 sants and "Vienna Bread,"
 which are the basic recipes
 for pandoro. This dessert is
 very similar to a croissaht and
 it is covered with powdered
 sugar. In the last few years,
 pandoro became more popular
 than panettone because kids
 prefer it.
 After December 8, some
 Italian cities celebrate Santa
 Lucia (Saint Lucy), patron of
 light and of sight. According
 to the tradition, this saint,
 whose origins are from Sir-
 acusa in Sicily, brings gifts to
 -obert J. ClarIk Jr., President children in the night between
 the 12 and the 13 of December,
 which is the shortest night of
 JOhn M. Clarn, Vice President the year.
 On Christmas Eve, lots of
 Donna Clark Carte, Secretary/Treasurer Italian families go to church
 to attend the midnight ser-
 vice. Others watch the service
 Robert J Clark, Sr., on TV, live from the Vatican
 1 and celebrated by the Pope. In
 0U,,doner 1912-005 Italy, as well as in the rest of
 the world, kids wait for Santa
 Claus to receive their gifts.
 On December 25, they final-
 813-677-7184 4 5127 Bloomin gdale Avenue Tampa, Florida 33619 theBabyJesusi pnthes an ger.
 During this day families gather
 to eat, laugh, play games and
 (Continued on page 10)
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