For
three days I have been engaged as observer with Mrs.
Cuomo. A few hours before the disaster, during a meeting
with Paolo Corsini, the Mayor of my town, we showed
Mrs. Cuomo a model of electric bicycle; she said to
be very interested in it and that, once back in the
U.S.A., she would propose it to New York's Mayor Mr
Rudolph Giuliani!.. All was going in the right way…
I also suggested Mrs. Cuomo to go to the Italian Restaurant
"Giambelli 50th" in 50th Street, Frank (Francesco)
cooked for the Pope, too!
Shortly after three o'clock in the afternoon, my wife
called me on my mobile phone to inform that first
a plane and then another had exploded into the Towers
in New York!
I thought she was joking, so I went into my car to
listen to the radio, and I had the confirmation that
dreadful nightmare was really true. I had to go back
in the congress hall and to tell the tragic news to
the Chairman of the congress. Not only Mrs. Cuomo,
but also the main lecturers of the congress were American,
and so, with tears in her eyes and with her voice
trembling, Mrs. Cuomo closed the congress, which could
not go on while thousands of people were lying dead
under a mountain of ruins. Now it remains only the
memory of how beautiful were the Twin Towers.
In march 1972 I saw the Towers in course of construction
and I took pictures of them; later on, I visited them
several times. They were really wonderful. In 1998
I took the last glance at the Towers lit up by the
sunset and by the lights of the city, while I was
flying over Manhattan on a plane taken off from Newark
and which was taking me back to Italy.
THE
PROJECT OF THE BOOK: The day after the disaster, after
having talked to some friends and relatives of mine
living in New York (fortunately, they all are well),
we helped a fund raising for the victims' families,
promoted by Advantage Bank; at the same time, in our
museum we got ready an exhibition of images of the
Towers taken from my archives and then thanks to my
town Mayor, I made the exhibition in the Brescia City
Hall (www.twintowersforever.net). We want to remember
the Towers as those images show them, in all their
beauty. In collaboration with some Italian Institutions,
and above all after receiving a toching letter from
the Mayor of New York Mr Rudolph Giuliani, we decided
to publish a book and to organize an exhibition with
the best images of the World Trade Centre (outside,
inside, general views, etc.) taken by visitors, tourists,
and people from all over the world who are sending
us their pictures.
The
book I am working for is titled "Twin Towers
Forever" and is scheduled to be published before
Christmas. I will present it on 23rd December at Brescia.
I soon send you a copy and I hope you will like my
work ( I also enclose a short description of my book).
The profits incoming from this book realized thanks
to many people's collaboration, in order not to forget
- will be administrated by a control commitee and
are partly assigned to Saint Agnes Church in N.Y.
I personally know Monsignor Anthony Dalla Villa who
was Saint Patrick Cathedral's Rector ( his parents
are from Brescia/Italy). I would like to employ part
of the sum of money for benefit of Saint Vicent Hospital
too as it was the first to aid the wounded. Finally,
a part of the benefits is for Mentoring USA/Italy,
the association founded by Matilda Cuomo for the recovery
of youngster who have abandoned their studies.
Rolando Giambelli
some
images taken from the book
