Italy Selects L.A. to Say Thanks for Help From Marshall Plan

This year is the 40th anniversary of the Marshall Plan, the massive program of U.S. economic and technical aid to countries of Europe devastated by World War II. The Italians have decided to celebrate and say thanks to America. Their celebration, however, will not be focused in Washington, nor any place else in the East, but here in Los Angeles--which the prime minister, Ciriaco de Mita, is calling the city of the future and “the umbilico,” or navel, of the world.

“L.A. is perceived in Italy as the new metropolis,” Alberto Boniver, the consul general of Italy in Los Angeles, said at a recent City Hall meeting to iron out details of the coming visit by the prime minister.

Neglected by Italy in the Past

“It represents the new United States. It’s the gateway to the Pacific and the Far East. It embodies what the future is all about. It’s multiracial, more cosmopolitan and, also, it has been neglected by Italy in the past in favor of New York, Washington and the East Coast where there is a large Italian community. This is an opening up by Italy toward California.”

The prime minister is coming here in December for formal ceremonies with Mayor Tom Bradley and the City Council, a seminar on the Marshall Plan, and the dedication of a gift Italy is sending to commemorate the occasion.

“Colpo d’ala, “ (wing beat), a 6-ton sculpture of bronze wings by Italian artist Arnaldo Pomodoro, arrives by boat Saturday, and is scheduled to be installed in the reflecting pool at the Department of Water and Power on Hope Street on Dec. 3, and dedicated by De Mita on Dec. 12.

“Los Angeles will get its wings,” Boniver is already fond of saying.

The perception of Los Angeles as the gateway to the future was also voiced earlier by Umberto Vattani, diplomatic counselor to the prime minister, who made a preliminary visit here to coordinate plans with the mayor’s office and city departments.

“We attach great importance to this,” Vattani said during his visit.

That Italy had chosen to participate in the Economic Cooperation Act of 1948, as the plan was formally called, and to join NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), at a time when the Communist Party was enjoying great influence in Italy, were two critical decisions of the late Alcide De Gasperi, the prime minister at the time.

“They were two choices for the future that determined our position (today). It started the process of integration with Europe after the war,” Vattani said.

‘Look to the Future’

Shortly after De Mita came into office last April, the prime minister decided to formally observe the anniversary, saying, according to Vattani, “ ‘Let’s do it in a place where no one would expect. Let’s look to the future.’ ”

L.A.’s the place, and about that Vattani said: “Who would have thought 40 years ago, when Italy was so devastated that we would reach this stage where we’ve overtaken the British already? We see the same sort of spirit and power here in Los Angeles. It’s a challenge to come here. People may be less conscious of many implications of the Marshall Plan, but they are more receptive here to future implications.”

The only problems in this fast-developing love affair between Italy and Los Angeles seem to have involved timing. De Mita only came into office last April, and plans for the observance did not really gel until mid-summer. Pomodoro accepted his unexpected commission in August and, according to Vattani, pronounced the schedule impossible every step of the way, as did the foundry managers, metal polishers, truckers and shippers.

Los Angeles then had to indicate its acceptance and its willingness to provide a suitable site. Pomodoro was insisting on a reflecting pool.

Things seemed just as impossible to the city, Bee Canterbury Lavery, chief of protocol, said, when word came that a 6-ton present would be arriving just in time for the holidays. The initial response at City Hall, she said, was “maybe in 1989.”

Earthquake Consideration

But once the site was selected, Rodney Haraga, division engineer at the Department of Public Works, had to determine whether six swiveling tons of bronze wings could safely dance on a stainless-steel pin perched in a reflecting pool high above the earthquake-prone Los Angeles basin.

The Italians flew him to Italy for a look at the work in progress. No, he said at the City Hall planning meeting last week, the sculptor had not been thinking of the earthquake factor.

“That became my problem,” Haraga said. However, after a look at the interior structure, he left Italy confident that with the proper base, the soaring sculpture would not take off.

“It was a bet against all odds,” Vattani said of the whole venture. “The consul general and Mayor Bradley overcame many hurdles.”

Growing Trade Relations

Italy did not discover Los Angeles this year. At least some of the future implications of all the spirit and power the Italians have discerned in this city on the Pacific Rim have to do with money, and for quite some time, Italians have been increasingly trading with Los Angeles and California. And while they lag far behind the Japanese, they are investing in the Los Angeles area.

About $1.1 billion in imports from Italy came through customs in California in 1987, more than double the amount in 1982. Italy ranked 11th in imports to California among the leading 25 trading partners, and 16th in exports in 1987, according to U.S. Commerce Department data.

“Direct investment in Los Angeles is not so much, yet,” Francesco Paterno, Italian trade commissioner, said recently from the commission’s office in Century City. “But, generally speaking, there is more awareness among Italian investors, a consciousness of how important Los Angeles is. That does not translate immediately into investment.”

However, he added, First Los Angeles Bank is now 100% Italian-owned, and Italian companies are becoming active in California through direct investments, acquisitions and joint ventures with local firms.

European Integration

“Definitely, there is a lot of investment in real estate, but that (knowledge) escapes us,” Paterno said, “as do many activities of private businesses that come over and open a store.”

It is a situation, he said, that can only be expected to increase.

Much is being made lately of 1992, the date that the last trade barriers come down and the economic integration of the European Economic Community becomes virtually complete. With most of Europe as one common market, some fear has been expressed in this country that “Fortress Europe” will pull up the drawbridge and shut the United States out. That upcoming event seems very much on the Italian mind in planning this December visit.

Discovery of America

“We are reaching a period in which regionalization is a part of international relations,” Vattani said. “Look at Europe. There will be a high state of integration by 1992. It may well become what the U.S.A. was at one time--a large, self-sufficient market. The prime minster feels strongly that while we must produce strong links between ourselves, we should be more open in our attitude toward the world. Say it in Los Angeles, and it will make more impact.”

Coincidentally, 1992 happens to be the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America. To Vattani, it all fits together--and the commemoration of the Marshall Plan serves in some ways as a preliminary, he acknowledged, for what the Italians hope to establish with Los Angeles.

“We will celebrate the birth of the modern world (in 1992). It’s a great event. It’s also the birth of modern Europe. The Renaissance probably could not have taken place without Columbus. Gallileo, Leonardo da Vinci, new science, a new frontier. The Industrial Revolution is only one of the fruits that developed out of it. It’s the attitude of mind which is important. In no place in Europe was that more developed than in Italy, and we recognize the same spirit here.”