Walking Directions: Stay in front of Principessa Elena to watch the video then cross Oak Street for next stop on tour. You will be walking back up to Beekman after Stop 6 to continue the walk down Beekman.
Introduction to the Cardillo Video
Click on the video below to play
The Story
Dominic Cardillo’s father Frank Cardillo arrived in America from Italy in 1910. He lived in Pittsburgh with his wife Rosa and worked in the coal mines operated by Lehigh Valley Coal Company. His doctor told him to move out of the city to a place with fresh air as he had become ill from the poor conditions in the coal mines. The only other person the Cardillos knew in the US was Pasquale Simone, a relative of Rosa Cardillo, who owned a small market in Saratoga Springs. Frank and Rosa, along with their one year old baby Dominic and daughter Mary, took the train from Pittsburgh and arrived in Saratoga at Franklin Square in the middle of winter 1914. The audio voice over is a clip of Dominic being interviewed by his son, Dominic Cardillo Jr., for the West Side Oral Narrative Project in 1999. The audio is slightly muddled in the middle but the beginning and end are clear. After Frank and Rosa arrive at Principessa Elena, Pasquale takes them around the corner to spend their first night in Saratoga in an empty room above the Scuderi Market at 78 Beekman (across the street from the gallery.) They then find an apartment on the alley between Ash and Oak behind Beekman St. after briefly living with another Simone relative at 55 Beekman St.
