That’s amore!
The lasting legacy of a WWII Italian romance
When Alyssa Falcone walked on the YSU campus, you have to think Helga Ives was smiling from the great beyond.
An award-winning teacher and researcher of Italian language, literature and culture, Falcone came to YSU this summer as the inaugural Ives Visiting Professor in the Humanities, a first-of-its-kind faculty position for YSU, endowed by the late David and Helga Ives.
“Helga would be thrilled by this appointment,” said Scott Schulick, a co-trustee of the Ives’ estate.
A native of Italy’s Istrian Peninsula, Helga de Agostini was in medical school in the town of Foggia during World War II when invading Nazi forces locked her up in a prisoner of war camp. Eventually, Allied Forces - including U.S. Air Force Officer David Ives - liberated the town and freed the prisoners.
A romance ensued, followed by a wedding in Italy in March 1946 and then a move to the United States, where the new Mr. and Mrs. Ives settled in Youngstown, Ohio. After a distinguished 31-year career as a YSU professor of Classical Studies, chair of Ancient Languages and an original member of the Academic Senate, David passed away in 1991; Helga died in 2015.
Their estate left YSU $1 million to, among other things, establish a visiting professor position in the Humanities, bringing distinguished scholars to campus to teach, present seminars and conduct research.
“Having visiting professors is important to inject a different way of seeing things, helping us engage in different kinds of research, different kinds of thought,” YSU Provost Brien Smith said.
“It’s the power of the university – diversity of thought, diversity of religion, diversity of view-points. Altogether, those make us strong, help us understand who we are, and help us understand tomorrow’s leaders.”
Appropriately, YSU focused the first Ives Visiting Professor position on the place Helga grew up and the Ives met and married - Italy.
The university set out to find an expert in Italian language and culture and, after a national search, identified Falcone, who holds a PhD in Italian Literature from Johns Hopkins University and previously taught at George Mason University and the University of Alabama.
In addition to her academic prowess, Falcone has her own special backstory to the Italian motherland - or, in this case, grandfatherland.
Falcone’s grandfather, Domenic, was born and raised in the Abruzzo region of Italy, east of Rome. In 1947, shortly after Helga Ives came to the United States, Falcone’s grand-father made the same trek westward, moving to Philadelphia. He was 16.
Her grandfather, who still lives in Philadelphia, remains a great influence on Falcone and her journey to becoming a scholar of Italian language and culture, from her first trip to Florence as a teenager to her multiple research visits since.
While the faculty appointment is for only one year, Falcone, Schulick and others are hopeful the position can revive a long-held dream among many in the Youngstown Italian community to develop a new
Center for Italian and Italian American Studies at YSU.