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An ordinary, yet extraordinary Italian-American: Alfred M. Zappala Esq.

By: Dorothy J. Avery
When you meet Atty. Alfred M. Zappala, he seems like any ordinary Merrimack Valley man. He was just sitting there chatting with his friends. Yet, his charisma and outstanding friendliness is what prompted me to think, this is no ordinary man, and I was able to immediately pick him out of the crowd of his fellow Italians. Although there were many people there at Borrelli's Italian Kitchen on Tuesday, September 13th for his book signing, I knew, without a doubt, who he was. We introduced ourselves, and although you meet many people in everyday life, I felt a genuine feeling of ease. Al Zappala is the type of person that makes you feel welcome, like you've been his friend for years. Two of his three children, Jennifer and Matthew were with him, and were obviously very proud of their dad.

Mr. Zappala said that his second book, Gaetano's Trunk, was written about his first love....Italy. It takes a humorous look at life in Sicily and his inspiration for Gaetano's Trunk, came from his grandfather, who was from Trescatagni, a village on the slopes of Mt. Etna. His fondest memories from his childhood are walking the streets of Italy with his grandfather who would teach him all things Sicilian during their walks. He was quick to assure me that "the young learn from the old", and his grandmother and grandfather, along with his own parents, were his learning tools.

When Atty. Zappala isn't spending time in Sicily, he has his own law practice in Lawrence and he has trained over 8,000 aspiring lawyers to successfully become attorneys. Attorney Zappala has taught for many years at both Suffolk Law School and Northeastern Law School. He also has taught at New England Law School and Southern New England Law School and is considered an expert on the bar examination.

Atty. Zappala's books are available at Borelli's Italian Kitchen, Amazon.com and Kindle.com....you definitely need to read them, trust me!!

The cooking demonstration (I mean really, who doesn't want to learn how to prepare his yummy Italian recipes?) will be held on November 13, 2011 at Borelli's. He has shared the wonders of Italy by importing various products from Sicily, including one that was voted the best in its category at the nation's premier food event, The Fancy Food Show.

If you would like more information about, or would like to contact Alfred Zappala, the information is below:

Alfred M. Zappala,esq.
alfredzappala@yahoo.com
Tel: 978-204-6574
www.alfredzappala.com
You Tube Video

A SICILIAN COMING FULL CIRCLE

Andover, MA: Our first speaker at our new venue, the LANAM Club, this past week was Alfred Zappala, brother of Tom and cousin to Al Torrisi (I did not know that!). Al gave us a bio of himself, his family’s journey to the United States, and a promise made to a father that would fulfill his and his grandfather’s wishes.

Al’s career spans that of lawyer, professor, entrepreneur and author. It was his writings about Sicily that brought him to Exchange. His book The Reverse Immigrant shares humorous stories of life in Sicily. Because he was born in the U. S. he considers himself as a reverse immigrant. He first visited Sicily in fulfillment of that promise made to visit the Church of St. Alfio and pray for the souls of his father and grandfather. He says that as soon as his feet hit the tarmac at the airport there, he knew he was “home”. His grandfather, Gaetano, had arrived in the United States in 1908 $12 and a trunk. That trunk will now make its way back to Sicily, but this time holding Al’s belongings. The week of Sept. 12th his latest book, Gaetano’s Trunk, will be released. More information can be found on his website: http://www.alfredzappala.com.

In the meantime, Al has done numerous cultural talks around the nation to dispel the mischaracterization of Sicilians as Mafioso. He was always brought up on the philosophy, “Do good and forget about it; do bad and regret it.” He tries to live that way through all that he does.

He says that Sicilians have nothing in common with those North of Rome. Sicilians are an amalgam of numerous ethnic groups who have occupied the island including the Greek, Spanish, Arabic, German and Roman. I hear there are more Greek ruins in Sicily than in Greece! Other pieces of information Al brought were that the price of gas in Sicily is currently $9/gallon and the income tax is 52% while the unemployment rate is 51%! (I’m really wondering why one might want to move back there….geesh!) He does his part to help employ Sicilians by making deals to bring Sicilian goods to the U.S. He was able to employ 35 people in Sicily via a deal with TJX companies for imported olive oil. All Things Sicilian has brought Sicilian goods to our area. He did caution us to look carefully at products that seem to be from Italy, but are not, listing Barilla pasta and Filippo Berio olive oil as two. Download a copy of the article.