On 16 July, a tornado barreled through my hometown of Rome in upstate New York. With a population of around 32,000, Rome is near the geographical center of New York state. Summers there are known for humidity, marching bands, and Revolutionary War landmarks.

Not tornadoes.

The twister had peak winds of 135 mph and traveled more than 5 miles through the region. No one in Rome was killed, thankfully.

See an aerial view of the damage, courtesy of Yahoo News https://www.yahoo.com/news/tornado-hits-rome-york-damages-195227998.html

Roots in Rome

I grew up in Rome and was honored to be inducted into the city’s Arts Hall of Fame in 2019. https://www.romecapitol.com/hall-of-fame-directory/

Growing up next door to my grandparents, with my cousins a mile away, the city was a mostly Italian version of Bedford Falls, complete with snow and river. People worked “down ta mill” (as my grandfather would say) meaning the Revere Copper and Brass rolling mill, Rome Cable or Spargo Wire. Or they worked “down ta muck” as in Muck Road, where small truck farmers made a living growing vegetables and running dairy farms.

Inspo for the Galliano Club series

Inspired by my grandfather’s escapades while he was a deputy sheriff of Oneida Country in the 1920s, I used Rome, its mills and farms, and the Italian, Polish and Irish immigrants that grew the city to create the Galliano Club thriller books, which take place in 1926 during the height of Prohibition. Luca Lombardo runs the Galliano Club, a social hangout for Italian mill workers. Karol Dombrowski, a gentle Polish giant, works at the Lido Premium mill. Enzo Russo and Al Genovese have farms on Bell Road, a thinly disguised Muck Road. Chicago interloper Benny Rotolo wants to remake the Galliano Club into a speakeasy and rule his budding bootleg beer empire from it.

Of course, trouble–in the form of murder, blackmail, and revenge–ensues.

You can take a virtual tour of places mentioned in the books, courtesy of this From In Wood Out blog post: Travel Guide to the “Galliano Club Thrillers,” set in Upstate New York https://frominwoodout.com/travel-guide-galliano-club-thrillers-rome-new-york/

BTW, the name of the series is from the original Galliano Club which still stands today.

The original Galliano Club on Dominick Street in Rome NY. Photo by the author.

Tornado damage

Built in 1920, the Galliano Club building escaped the wrath of the July tornado, although so many other locations did not. Just a few blocks away, a newly reinvigorated economic zone anchored by the Capitol Theater was pummeled badly. A mural which I always thought was of Paul Revere, due to the Revere Copper and Brass Rolling Mill which employed scores of Romans–my grandfather included–but was of Revolutionary War hero Peter Gansevoort is gone; the building it was painted on too unstable to be saved. Windows blew out of the theater. Luckily the bookstore was able to salvage much of its stock.

St Mary’s Church in Rome after the tornado. Photo courtesy Elizabeth Martina

Two churches lost their steeples and roof sections. Trees crashed down at the Rome Art and Community Center, where we took our wedding photos. A roof peeled off a major grocery store. Cars were crushed by debris and falling buildings. Over 300 residences were damaged.

A state of emergency was declared. The National Guard rolled in. Governor Hochul came to inspect the damage.

John Clifford, a fellow member of the Rome Arts Hall of Fame, Class of 2019, took these photos of the widespread damage: https://www.romesentinel.com/multimedia/july-17-rome-ny-tornado-aftermath-nws/collection_57d90a3e-446a-11ef-ad39-5bdcf1c21a5f.html#1

More photos were taken by Nancy Ford https://www.romesentinel.com/multimedia/see-rome-begin-recovery-from-ef2-tornado-in-19-photos/collection_77aebef6-4485-11ef-a825-cb4803f354d9.html#1

The storm dampened my excitement over REVENGE AT THE GALLIANO CLUB being named a finalist for the Silver Falchion Award from Killer Nashville. MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB won the award last year.

Please share

The city is moving quickly to get back on its feet but the economy was not robust to begin with. Recovery will be a long process.

Please share this City Hall links so folks in the Rome area know what resources are available: https://romenewyork.com/rome-tornado-recovery/

Featured image snapshot courtesy of Yahoo News.