In Memoriam Romeo Sabatini

Our Longtome Webmaster, Archivist and Editor

Romeo Sabatini on a visit to Abruzzo.

By Nancy DeSanti

AMHS has lost its long-time member Romeo Sabatini, who recently passed away in Rome, the city of his birth where he was being cared for by his daughters Anna Rita and Lidia Elena. Romeo led a long, full life which began a few years after his parents Oreste and Elena moved to Rome from the town of Villa Santa Maria in the province of Chieti, Abruzzo. The town is known for its excellent chefs, for a well-known cooking school and for its annual Festival of the Cooks in October.

Romeo played important roles in our Society, where for many years he was our webmaster, archivist and Notiziario editor, and he also helped as needed with Italian translations. He was very active in the community, also serving as the webmaster of the original Circolo della Briscola for many years. Romeo was also part of the Washington Winemakers and would bring his homemade wine to our annual wine-tasting events at Casa Italiana.

Romeo recalled that he was six years old at the time Rome was liberated by the Allies during World War II, and in a July 2024 Voce Italiana article, he described what life was like during the war, with the struggle to survive, and the elation that even he as a boy felt on Liberation Day, June 4, 1944, when the Allies liberated Rome. He mentioned how he and his brother would pull their little wagon with goods to try to peddle to the American soldiers. He even remembered being caught by the Carabinieri while he was trying to sell cigarettes and wine to the soldiers, and he was brought to his home where his parents scolded him. And he mentioned the feeling of being free to go to Villa Borghese park which was a short walk from his home, without encountering the Nazi SS.

Romeo (left) and his siblings in Rome in 1943.

After Romeo passed away, his daughter Anna Rita shared some of the autobiographical notes her father had written, as described below.

Although Romeo’s father had a good job as a chef at a hotel on the Via Veneto, the family decided to immigrate to America. But they weren’t able to go together, so first his mother, sister and oldest brother left on a boat from Naples the day after Christmas 1950. He recalled seeing his father cry at the dinner table the night they left. It was a year before Romeo, by now 12 years old, and his younger brother were able to join them in New York. Because of the immigration quota, his father had to wait until 1954 to join them.

On the day of arrival, while still on the ship, Romeo and his brother Robert were interviewed by an Italian-American newspaper. Romeo translated the interview which appeared in the Progresso Italo-Americano:

“The first passengers that met our eyes were two boys, Romeo 12 years old, and Roberto 11, both from Rome, their city of birth…Romeo…and Roberto… appear quite intelligent and dynamic. In fact many passengers told us that the two rascals kept themselves busy, participating in the various entertaining functions on board, and gaining the friendship of many passengers. ‘What do you want to do in America?’ we asked the two little boys. ‘I want to continue studying till I'm 19 years old’-- answered Romeo—‘and I too want to continue my studies’, added Roberto. ‘We don't want to forget the Italian language’--they continued—'it's our language!’”

The Sabatini family lived in Corona, a neighborhood in the borough of Queens with a large Italian-American population. Romeo’s mother found work as a dressmaker, while he and his brother found after-school jobs collecting old newspapers and recycling scrap metal. When he was a little older, he would go with his father who had landed a summer job as a chef at a resort in the Catskill Mountains and he would help out as a busboy. He also worked as a department store clerk in Manhattan before starting college.

Their apartment had no central heating and it got so cold that the bathroom faucet water froze on winter nights. In the following days, he and his brother quickly learned how to scavenge for junk wood to burn with coal in their old-fashioned wood stove in the kitchen. After his father arrived and secured a good-paying job as a cook in an Italian restaurant, and as the family’s economic situation improved substantially, they were able to buy a two-story townhouse on 93rd Street, Jackson Heights, with a garage and a small garden in the back.

In school he found everything much easier than what he had to study in Italy. After about a year in America, he had learned English well enough to excel in school. But he recalled being teased in school about his accent and his first name, although Romeo is a very common Roman name. He remembered being self-conscious about his foreign accent which made him reluctant to speak in front of the class, even in college. And he added Ron (or Ronnie) as an alternate middle name, which became official when he became an American citizen when he turned 18

He also joined the soccer team and the math honor society. And he continued with his violin lessons which he had begun in Italy and he earned a place with his high school orchestra. He loved music, and enjoyed playing the violin until his later years.

Romeo was also very proud of his cousin, Edda Sabatini Dell’Orso, who sang on many of the songs of the movies by famous and beloved filmmaker Ennio Moriccone, including “Once Upon a Time in the West,” “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” and “A Fistful of Dollars.” Her three-octave voice can be heard on YouTube recordings of those theme songs.

Romeo first went to Hunter College in the Bronx, about an hour away from home by subway, where he took the two-year pre-engineering course, then transferred to CCNY in upper Manhattan. But he found what he really enjoyed when he transferred to the meteorology program, and he would later say it was one of the best choices he ever made. Weather and climate always interested him since he had begun to experience the most variable weather of New York, with its snows, cold weather, hurricanes --events which were unknown to him when he lived in Rome. He finished the meteorology program with excellent grades. Instead of accepting a job with Idlewild Airport (now JFK Airport), he took a position as a paid assistant in the Meteorology Graduate Program at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The research he did there enabled him to publish an article in an important scientific journal, and also publish longer reports on atmospheric infrared radiation, which was the subject of his master’s thesis.

In December 1963, he started his first job as research meteorologist at ARA in Concord, Mass. After a few months, the company transferred him to their Washington, D.C. area office, where he worked for many years. He also did work in conjunction with U.S. Government agencies.

When Romeo became ill, he returned to Rome, to the neighborhood where he grew up, and where he passed away on August 25, 2025. Romeo left behind many cherished friends here, and he will be missed by many. The AMHS offers our sincerest condolences to his family.

Fall 2025