PALERMO, 05 MAR Organized by BCSicilia Isola delle Femmine, in collaboration with the Isola Pittsburg Foreve association, the exhibition on “Joe Di Maggio in the heart of the islanders on the anniversary of his death” is dedicated to the greatest baseball player of all times and will be held at the Joe Di Maggio House Museum in via Cutino 14, in Isola delle Femmine, near Palermo. The exhibition, with free admission, will be open to the public on March 8 and then on 12 and 13, from 10 to 13. Among the photos on display, those of Marilyn Monroe, the Hollywood diva who married the king of baseball.
Son of Rosalia Mercurio (mender of fishing nets) and Giuseppe Di Maggio, fisherman, who got dirty in Isola delle Femmine on 9 December 1897. After the birth of their eldest daughter, Adriana, the couple moved in 1902 to Martinez, a few kilometers from San Francisco, where she gives birth to another eight children. On November 25, 1914, Joe was born, who in 1931 began playing with the San Francisco Seals where he remained for four seasons, the turning point came on November 21, 1934, on the eve of his 20 years, when he was sold to the New York Yankees, the team where he will remain. until 1951.
Joe Di Maggio got married twice: in 1939 with actress Dorothy Arnold and from their union his only son was born: Joe Di Maggio jr. On January 14, 1954, Joe married Marilyn Monroe, from whom he divorced within a year. In August 1962, when Marylin died, Di Maggio organized her funeral paying all her expenses and for more than thirty years he had a bouquet of red roses delivered to her grave, three times a week.
In August 1955 Joe is in Rome and decides to visit his parents’ country of origin. He arrives in Isola delle Femmine and looks for the mayor who, surprised by him, has his own surname: Di Maggio. The mayor tells him the story of the family. 38 years pass since the first visit and on April 20, 1993, at the age of 78, Joe is back in Rome, as a representative of the Italy-America Federation, and announces that five days later he will be in his country of origin to receive honorary citizenship. , but an illness prevents him from flying to Sicily. Joe Di Maggio died on March 8, 1999 in Florida. (HANDLE).
