On May 26, the Los Angeles Italian Consul General knighted Marianna Gatto, the co-founder and executive director of the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles, also known as IAMLA. The distinction, the Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia, is one of Italy’s highest honors for Italians abroad. It was presented on behalf of Italian President Sergio Mattarella. Past honorees had distinguished themselves in philanthropy, community activism, research and the promotion of friendly relations between Italy and other countries. Gatto is married to San Pedro businessman Eric Eisenberg.
Gatto began her career in education before entering the field of museum administration. She began working on the museum project in 2005 and has served as the IAMLA’s director since 2010. Gatto has raised many of the museum’s major gifts, is the author of the IAMLA’s permanent exhibition and also curates and writes its temporary exhibitions, curricula and founding family histories. Gatto’s research focuses on Italian Americans in Los Angeles and the West; her second book on Italian American history will be published in the coming year. The Los Angeles native is also a contributing editor to the Italian Sons and Daughters of America journal and co-chairs the Museum and Cultural Institutions Committee of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations. Gatto has Italian dual citizenship; her family hails from Sicily and Calabria.
“To have been awarded the honor of Cavaliere last year, in 2020, is extremely significant for me,” said Gatto when she accepted the award. “Not simply because the honor was a bright spot during the pandemic, but because the date carries tremendous symbolism for my family. It was a century ago, in 1920, that my grandfather, Mercurio Ferdinando Ghisberto Gatto, first came to the United States. By his name you would think he descended from royalty, but in reality he was a peasant from Calabria who arrived with little more than the clothes on his back and a ticket to Pittsburgh, where he worked in a steel mill, alongside scores of other immigrants helping build and defend this nation. A lot has transpired in my family over the last century and this award makes me all the more cognizant of that.”
Gatto was recognized for her efforts on behalf of Italian Americans along with three other luminaries, Vicky Carabini (International Affairs Professional), Clorinda Donato, (California State University, Long Beach) and Hilary Stern (Fondazione Italia), who received the honor between 2018 and 2021.
“I hosted a ceremony to honor four extraordinary women with the Decoration of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy, awarded by the president of the Italian Republic,” Chiave said. “Vicky Carabini, Clorinda Donato, Marianna Gatto and Hilary Stern have all greatly contributed to the promotion and propagation of Italian culture and language in Southern California, helping the consulate general and other institutions representing Italy to nurture and sustain interest and passion towards our country.”