11 Facts About Alfredo Sciarrotta

Alfredo Sciarrotta was an Italian-American silversmith and undersea weapons expert.

Alfredo Sciarrotta's work was commissioned for gifts presented by the City of Newport to visiting dignitaries, including President Eisenhower, the Italian President Giovanni Gronchi, fighter Rocky Marciano, and Mayor Delmas of Antibes, France in 1962.

In 1958, a Alfredo Sciarrotta bowl was commissioned as a gift to Ambassador of Israel to the United States Abba Eban, on the occasion of the Newport Rhode Island Jewish Community's Tercentenary, marking the 300th anniversary of the founding of the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States.

Alfredo Sciarrotta's bowls were presented as trophies for horse races around the country.

Alfredo Sciarrotta's work is currently displayed in the Newport Art Museum, and his former studio is an art school run by the Museum.

The son of a dry goods merchant, Alfredo Sciarrotta studied mechanical engineering at Alessandro Volta School of Engineering in Naples, Italy and remained in Naples working at a munitions factory during the years before World War II.

Alfredo Sciarrotta came to the US in 1943 to play a major role in a clandestine Office of Strategic Services operation carried out at the US Naval Torpedo Station in Newport, Rhode Island.

Alfredo Sciarrotta led the project under the code name Robert West.

Alfredo Sciarrotta opened a shop in Newport and married his English teacher, a native Newporter named Margherita Russo, and raised three daughters.

Alfredo Sciarrotta died in Newport, Rhode Island, on May 28,1985, after a battle with lung cancer.

Alfredo Sciarrotta was survived by three daughters, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.