Italian Consul General, Francesco Genuardi, went to Clifton, New Jersey, to personally offer his holiday wishes to Honorary Consul Dominic Caruso and to the entire Italian community. Consul Genuardi was accompanied by Vice Consul General Silvia Limoncini, Deputy Consul Chiara Saulle and the CGIE vice-secretary of non-European English Speaking Countries Silvana Mangione. “We are here to demonstrate how much we care about this Honorary Consulate,” says Consul Genuardi. “Could consular services be improved? Of course and we will. New Jersey is a magnificent place. It is not only The Garden State, but also the Italian State of the US as it is the American State that most intensely loves Italy.”

Honorary Consul Caruso thanked the delegation from New York for their support especially regarding Italian passports for the New Jersey community. “We have already worked on over 1000 passport applications since we started collecting biometric data with our mobile fingerprint scanner in 2016. Our youngest applicant was 4 years old, the eldest was 83 so far,” proudly said Caruso.

For the last two years, Italian residents in New Jersey stopped going to Manhattan to obtain their documents to travel abroad. The data recorded in Clifton with the fingerprint scanner are in fact transmitted to the Italian General Consulate that then send the passport to the user. “With this process, Italians in New Jersey have already spared at least 100,000 dollars as they don’t have to spend money for the transportation, for taking a day off from work and so on,” underlines the Honorary Consul. There are, in fact, 19,000 people registered with AIRE (Register of Italians Residing Abroad) in New Jersey, many of these people (primarily the elderly) have difficulty traveling to Manhattan.

“Citizens seeking to renew their Italian passports must schedule an appointment,” reminds Caruso, “the next available date is January 5. We can process around 20 people each time.”

Italians in New Jersey might be glad not to travel to New York for their documents, “although New York is always a beautiful city to visit” jokes Consul Genuardi, but they are indeed happy when Italian institutions from the Big Apple come to their Honorary Consulate which serves the counties of Bergen, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Union, Warren, Essex, Middlesex, Monmouth, Hunterdon, Mercer, and Somerset. Genuardi and his delegation were indeed greeted warmly by the people attending the event among whom there were many “cavalieri.”

Cavalier Giulio Picolli, President of the Association of the Cavalieri OMRI introduced the representatives of important local associations, such as Cav. Olga Negrini Of the Association “Ieri Oggi Domani” with headquarters in Rutherford, Mr. Franco Guttilla, President of the Sant Antonio Society based in Garfield, Mr. Salvatore Zucchero, President of the San Ciro Association based in Garfield, and the new president of the Sicilian Federation in New Jersey, Cav. Felice Brescia, who in fact is from Puglia but, as he tells us, “I love the Sicilian community and am proud to represent them.”

Cav. Picolli also gives i-Italy an exclusive news: “In 2019, the Italian Association Ieri Oggi Domani will deliver three gold medals to the three cavalieri who have dedicated a large part of their lives to the Italian community of New Jersey: Cav. Uff. Jack Di Piazza, Grand Officer Peter Caruso, and Commendatore Marco Cangialosi. This one-of-a-kind award ceremony will take place on March 24 with a Grand Gala at the Rockleigh Country Club in the presence of the highest Italian diplomatic authorities, politicians from the State of New Jersey, and representatives from the American Congress and Senate.”

For Picolli, these gentlemen are a living example of the ability of the Italian community in New Jersey of “bringing commercial benefits to Italy and helping with financial contributions the maintenance of our traditions, in particular, our beautiful Italian language.”

After all, as Consul General Genuardi, says, New Jersey is the Italian State of the US.

The contact details for the Honorary Consulate in Clifton, New Jersey are the following:

Honorary Consul: Dominic Vincent Caruso
1037 US Highway 46, Suite 105
Clifton, New Jersey 07013
Tel. (973) 614-8566
Fax (973) 472-7763
Jurisdictions: Passaic, Bergen, Morris, Sussex, Warren, Middlesex, Monmouth, Hunterdon, Mercer e Somerset.
email: [email protected]
Office Hours: by appointment