Program Highlights
NOT A CELEBRATION OF PAST ACCOMPLISHMENTS, BUT AN INSPIRATION FOR NEW IDEAS.
Manuela Filomena directs the set of the first docu-fiction on Italians in South Florida, an idea by Enza Iadevaia, produced by Eufrasio Volpe, with the collaboration of the FAU Italian Program.
Ascoli Satriano (Foggia) and Pompano Beach sign the new Sister City memorandum proposed by Tony Philips. FAU Italian Program welcomes Mayor Vincenzo Sarcone and his entourage.
World-renown singer Elena Bonelli presents "La canzone Romana" as a special guest lecturer in the Spring 2024 Italy in Lyrics class. Event co-sponsored with Casa Italia Miami.
Anne Bosworth from Palm Beach State College presents her Italian American take on Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," an interesting rediscovery of a classic movie. In the Italian American Film Fstival Series co-sponsored by Palermo's Bakery.
Dean Michael Horswell introduces FAU President, Stacy (Marchesi) Volnick, and Italian Consul General in Miami, Michele Mistò, before their opening remarks at the 2024 International Symposium "Italy in Transit," a wonderfully variegated and lively VIII edition.
Boston puppetteer Andrew Periale performs in the opening session of the VIII International Symposium "Italy in Transit," following academic presentations on "Italian Puppetry Across Borders" by Federico Pacchioni (Chapman University), "Strega Nona in Puppets" by Domenica Diraviam (Broward College) and "The Sicilian Puppet Theater of Agrippino Manteo (1884-1947)" by Jo Ann Cavallo (Columbia University).
Claudio Monteverdi's Orfeo digital hybrid opera performed for the first time in the US by the Music and Theater and Dance Departments at FAU, in collaboration with Conservatorio Puccini in La Spezia, was the final event of the VIII International Symposium "Italy in Transit." It included sounds of ancient instrument digitally recreated, AI immersive images, live dancers, orchestra and singers.
The VIII International Symposium "Italy in Transit" was dedicated to the memory of past PhD student, Fabio Fracas (1967-2023), also a doctor in Nuclear Physics, novelist, musician and unforgotten friend of the Italian Program.
"Rahul" is a children story written by Manuela Filomena, PhD student, and illustrated by Paola Persello from Ivrea, Italy, with an accompanying video with original music by Andrea Chiodetti. We believe it is the first ever written in three languages: Italian, English and Augmented Writing for autistic readers. Translations: Calli Abisognio and E.T.S. Famiglie Bambini Autistici Benevento ; designer: Bruno Testa, with the practical help of ITA1121 students. FAU Italian Program donates the book to surrounding schools that offer Italian classes.
Students are invited to"Nonna Night" 2024, organized by the Order of the Sons and Daughters of Italy-Bonanno Lodge. This edition is special: Dr. Laura Graham (in the photo) and Dr. Ilaria Serra gather material for the joint publication of a comunity-based artistic Italian American recipe book.
PhD student Arianna Salomon is complimented by the Department for the publication of her article "La mano di Dante: la commedia italoamericana di Nick Tosches" in Campi Immaginabili international journal.
Francesca Cocilovo, Emilia Erbetta, Karen Barone: winners of the context for the Settimana della Lingua Italiana anel Mondo 2023 organized by the Italian Consulate General in Miami. FAU won first prize for a collaborative storyboard on il Barone Rampante in Florida (with Boca West High School and Sunrise Park Elementary). Winners also Carmen Hagiiani, Amy Volpe. Teacher Ilaria Serra.
Gabriella Bocca, the CEO of Lamebo in Turin, meets Advanced Italian students during the PMI Day (Piccola Media Impresa), November 2023, organized by Fabio De Furia (Miami Italian Scientifc Community).
Prof. Millicent Marcus, Yale University, closed the Federico Fellini Retrospective (6 movies by the maestro with presentation and discussion) with two nights on Amarcord and on Fellini's Phenomenology of Dance. She also met FAU Italian students, dual-enrolled, undergraduate, Master's and PhD.
Italian Major Orianna Soublette presents her research on photographer Luigi Ferrigno, started in Venice in Summer 2023. In the audience, an authentic Venetian, Margherita, who is completing an internship at Florida Atlantic University.
Margherita Oselladore between Dr. Jeffrey Morton and Dr. Ilaria Serra, during her residence-internship organized by the FAU Italian Program, the University of Padua, Political Science, and the Leon Charney Diplomacy Program at FAU. The internship included a trip to Washington for Model United Nations, where she was awarded "Distinguished Delegate" and FAU team won the first place (again).
Alessio Giovene, PhD student in Comparative Studies, presents "From Memory to Resistance: An Ecocritical Reading of Giovanni Raboni’s Le Case della Vetra,” at the Conference "Mutamenti. Overcoming Crises," Yale University, New Heaven (CT) in October. In the same month, Alessio also presented “The Arabic Presence in Ariosto’s Ferrara and The Saracen Perspective in Orlando Furioso,” at the SCMLA 80th Annual Conference in Corpus Christi (TX).
The FAU Italian Choir (students, professors, alumni) directed by Barbara Salani sings at the Italian Festival in Deerfield Beach, October 2023.
Lucia Cristina Tirri from Salerno and Nicoletta Sorice (FAU graduate) present their books in the special event "Fragments of Italy in the World," which included zoom interviews with memorialists from Canada and Argentina. Recording.
Dr. Robert Lindner earns a PhD in Comparative Studies with a dissertation that brings medical practioners towards the art of Renaissance artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo. Title "Phenoesthetics and the Arcimboldo Connection: Bridging Art, Science and Aesthetics in Clinical Practice." In the photo: Dr. Gerald Cupchik (University of Toronto), Dr. Lizz Petersen, Robert Lindner, Dr. Ilaria Serra (chair). Missing committee members, Dr. Eric Berlatsky and Dr. Emily Fenichel.
Italian Consul Michele Mistò and Palm Beach Major Maria Sachs are welcomed by Florida Atlantic University President Stacy Volnick, at the presence of Italian Program's donors and students. October 2023.
Italian student Mia Fiorino enjoyed a FREE trip to Italy, thanks to NIAF Voyage of Discovery and UNICO Highland Beach. This trip is dedicated to lucky Italian American students who have never been to their ancestral land.
Dr. Pettener speaks about his new book on the Italian American writer John Fante in the national TV/Radio RTL 102.5 on August 19, 2023, interviewed by Lucrezia Bernardo.
Our students feature in the Venetian daily paper when they cleaned the area around Rialto with a local volunteer group during the 2023 study abroad. They earned Academic Service Learning points through this "ritual that repeats every year." Watch us work!
Lake Garda, July 2023: one of the most pictoresque book presentations by Dr. Emanuele Pettener in his Italian summer. This is the Tignale book festival.
Undergraduate Resarch in the home of photographer Luigi Ferrigno whose opera omnia was just accepted in the Querini Stampalia library in Venice .
FAU Italian cohort of scholars presented their research at the 100th AATI (American Association Teachers of Italian) International conference in Catania, Sicily. In front of the University in the old Benedictine monastery.
Alumnus Kevin Merida Capote, Italian Major, fresh from a Master in Spain, gives a lesson on the relations between Venice and Aleppo, during the summer study abroad program in Venice, in the course Venice and Its Reflections. He took that same class 6 years ago!
Mariagiovanna Elmi, beloved star of the Italian TV in the last decades, adds a touch of class at the end of the Spring semester, by chatting and dining with FAU Italian students and friends.
"The Ilanot Review," based in Israel, publishes a collaborative students' translation of Patrizio Zurru's "Il barbone in libreria" (from "Endecascivoli," Miraggi, 2021). Read the translation.
A.D. Henderson FAU Elementary School: first Italian instruction pilot program, funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Il Circolo. Italian Cultural Society of the Palm Beaches. Teachers: Federica Vacca, Gina Rocco, Manuela Filomena, Barbara Salani.
Florida Association Teachers of Italian annual meeting 2023: Lifetime Achivement Award to Dr. Ilaria Serra and Magda Novelli (FIU), Teacher of the Year award to Serena de Candido, and new officers installation: FAU alumnae, Dr. Marianna De Tollis (president) and Dr. Domenica Diraviam (vice-president).
Prof. Giancarlo De Pascalis and three of his students from Apulia present on the “The Frescos of Santa Caterina in Galatina: Worship, Customs and Foodways between the XIV and the XV century,” live on zoom, in the class of Italian Culture Through Food and open to the public (April 2023).
Congratulations to Jenny Said, recipient of the prestigious 2023 Lena Camiccia-Arnautou Excellence in Italian Studies Scholarship! Jenny is with Dr. Pettener's class and two more scholarship recepients: Ella Putigna and Nina Massucci who recevied the Order of the Sons and Daughters of Italy scholarships.
Italian Culture Through Food special guests in class: Sabrina Verlezza spoke about table manners in Italy and Vincenzo Zarrilli shared special recipes and memories from Calitri centro del mondo. Alumnus Richard Zullo also presented his blog Eat Like an Italian.
Hobe Sound: FAU Italian group working on Mary Oliver's Literary Park, a digital map through geometaphors and verses (visit the FAU page and the Parchi Letterari page). The event was included in the Italian National Day of Poetry and Forest, March 2023.
Students volunteered at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach for the 46th Gala, major fundraiser for Il Circolo, the Italian Cultural Society of the Palm Beaches. March 2023.
Prof. Ilaria Serra meets the subject of her research: the Zoppé Family Circus, descendants from immigrant Alberto Zoppé from Vittorio Veneto, who joined the Ringling Circus, in exchange for an elephant. Read about this research. Visit the digital archive of Zoppé's family photos.
Ferdinando Vicentini Orgnani, filmmaker from Italy, presents his documentary "The Beat Bomb" about his friendship with poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Students read poems of the beat generation, on March 15, 2023.
Maria Teresa Cannizzaro, author of "Dolce color d'oriental zaffiro," presents her research on Italian American jewelry makers, and looks at students modeling a few pieces of her personal collection. March 2023. Visit the Scholarship Rosina e Vittorio Cannizzaro for FAU students interested in this research topic. Click on picture to view video.
Students and friends gather around Seth Stein who organized an Italian table at the CAST Party, a fundraiser for the College of Arts and Letters. February 2023.
Pompano Beach Mayor Rex Hardin completed the Sister Cities Agreement with the city of Sorrento, thanks to Tony Phillips’s indefatigable work. Florida Atlantic University Italian Program starts a relationship with Istituto Sant’Anna in Sorrento. Scholarships available.
Participants to the meeting with Laura and Barbara Bush, past First Lady and Daughter, session "The Bush in Italy" during the VII International Symposium "Italy in Transit," February 11, 2023.
Director Matteo Fresi meets the audience on Zoom after canceling his flight to FAU due to the flu. He presented his movie "Il muto di Gallura" (2021), thanks to a new Sardegna Film Commission-FAU partnership.
"Scenes from an Italian Trattoria" rehearsal and performace in Studio 2. The play, written and directed by Nicholas Diraviam and performed by high school students from Boca Raton High School, A. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, and Cooper City High School, for "Italy in Transit," is visible here.
President Stacy Volnick, Dr. Borghi (Italian Consulate School Office Director) and Vice-Consul General of Italy in Miami, Eva Alvino, open the VII International Symposium Italy in Transit. "Sanremo flowers" offered by GKA Italian Honor Society students, in the session dedicated to Liguria.
International Day of Remembrance in Italy - Giornata della Memoria 2023. Italian MA alumna, Odra Dorante, shares her research on the Shoah in Italy with the students of the Italian Program. January 27, 2023. Every year, on this date, we join in the remembrance.
FAU Italian Choir and singer and songwriter Mattia Colore perform Adriano Celentano's "Preghero'" at Montana Tucker's Concert for Kindness at Florida Atlantic University, January 15, 2023. Click picture to watch the video.
"Nonna Night" is the evening when Italian American grandmothers in Boca Raton cook a homemade meal for our FAU Italian students to celebrate the start of the Spring semester. An exclusive organization by the Order of the Sons and Daughters of Italy, Sgt. Bonanno Lodge.
Isabella Cipollone-Movilla (center) celebrates her new job at the Consulate General of Italy in Miami, starting Spring 2023.
Rosanne Limoncelli, opened the three-night III Italian American Film Festival with Two Teresas (2021) in December 2022. After the discussion, t he f ilmmaker and director of Production for Film and New Media at the Kanbar Institute, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, commented: "Thank you for the most wonderful evening. Your festival is the best festival experience I’ve ever had."
Domenica Diraviam discusses her PhD dissertation, "Decyphering Tom Di Salvo. A First-Generation Artist Between Sicily and South Florida," directed by Prof. Ilaria Serra with Prof. Sandy Norman and Prof. Brian McConnell (on video). Fall 2022.
Italian Beach Bash in Deerfield Beach: f riends and students of FAU Italian program gather for the education fundraiser organized by Il Circolo-Italian Cultural Society of the Palm Beaches.
Erasmus Plus Italian partners welcomed by the FAU Italian program and the FAU School of Business (host Dr. Joseph Compomizzi) . F AU is the first university in the United States to host the job-shadowing activity sponsored by the prestigious European grant. The group of Italian professors came from Legnano, Italy, in October 2022. Video report.
FAU has TWO winners at the Competition for the XXII Week of the Italian Language in the World, "L'Italiano e i giovani." Ashley Sorato (dual-enrolled student) and Laura Possu Zapatoski (Italian major) win a trip to Italy thanks to their creative videos on Made in Italy. Consul General Cristiano Musillo and Dr. Maria Rosa Borghi give the prize at the Italian Consulate in Miami. October 2022.
Writer Kossi Komla-Ebri meets students and community presenting on "Culture and Literature as Instruments of Communication and Identity" in September 2022, for "In Between Lecture Series."
A rchitect Carlo Scarpa's monumental door is cleaned by FAU students and local volunteer group "Masegni e nizioeti," during the 2022 study abroad program in Venice, Academic Service Learning. Watch us in the TV news.
Medieval scroll unraveled by alumna Cat C oule i n the Castle of Castiglione del Terziere, Tuscany, during the Poetry Research Camp in June 2022.
"Storie e Memorie," 3-week FAU summer camp, welcomed students and professors from the regions of Friuli, Sardinia and Liguria (Fri.Sa.Li) to study Italian immigration to Florida in the project coordinated by Dr. Serra, Pietro Porcella (FATI), Jonathan O'Neill, Domenica Diraviam and Marianna De Tollis, July 2022.
Orianna Soublette and Francesca Cocilovo received the 2022 Lena Camiccia-Arnautou Excellence in Italian Studies. Orianna studies Psychology and Italian, Francesca studies Speech Pathology and Italian.
Italian American Heritage Society President Tony Di Perna welcomes Dr. Serra at the first in-person meeting in Boca Raton, May 2022.
GKA Initiation and GKA Research Day Spring 2022. Gamma Kappa Alpha National Italian Honor Society Research Days are dedicated to hands-on study activities on specific projects, such as handwritten letters from WWII, an opera manuscript from 1812, Tom DiSalvo's engaging paintings. The Spring 22 Research Day was dedicated to a new art book project by Manuela Filomena, Calli Abisognio and Italian artists: "Rahul" (more to come in Fall).
Two projects from the students/journalists of the class "Leggere la stampa" (Reading the Italian Press): the first Italian Soundscapes in Florida audio tour (click on the link to take the tour) and the first issue of the newspaper "ITA@FAU" (click on the link to leaf through the paper).
"Songs for Peace in Seven Languages": students, professors and singer and songwriter Mattia Colore (composer for Leonardo Pieraccioni's film) paricipated at the event organized by the Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature and sponsored by the FAU Peace and Justice and Human Rights Initiative.
Federico Blumer, author of "Il viaggio di scoperta," and the "inflorencer" Sara Innocenti explain their social media presentations of Italian art and culture to our live audience, in the meeting coordinated by Dr.Jonathan Ramazzini O'Neill. Recording available upon request.
Franco Ferrini, screenwriter for Dario Argento and Sergio Leone, Alberto Lattuada and Carlo Vanzina, met the students for an interview on his prolific work, coordinated by PhD student Manuela Filomena. Recording available upon request.
The Zoppé Family Italian Circus performs at the VI International Symposium Italy in Transit, February 2022. Their exhibition concludes the lecture about their family history between the US and Italy, delivered by Dr. Ilaria Serra. The family photographs are now part of the FAU Italian American Documentary Archive. In the picture: Dean Michael Horswell and Ilaria Serra, between the members of the family Zoppé-Wallenda: Tosca, Chiara, Delilah and Delilah, Tino and Giovanni.
Franco Beato's Nel mondo dei sottouomini con Luigi Bozzato was a class reading in Spring 2022. We celebrated the International Day of Remembrance ( Giornata della memoria) with a Zoom meeting with author Beato from Padua, Italy.
92-year old bersagliere Renato Gasi leads the student in a musical military march in "Leggere la stampa" class. Renato Gasi's story is the topic of the student-produced "Italian Soundscape in Florida" podcast map (new project). We miss him, may he rest in peace.
Two FAU Italian outreach events: Dr. Ilaria Serra presents "Italian Film Composers" to the Italian Cultural Society in Naples, Florida, and thanks long-time friends of the Italian program, Il Circolo, Italian Cultural Society of the Palm Beaches, for their "investment" in Italian human capital.
Medieval costume show at FAU: high school students and parents from Boca High School (Prof. Maria Deriu) and West Boca High School (Prof. Marianna De Tollis), and Italian 2 FAU students take a guided visit.
Consul General of Italy Cristiano Musillo opens the show "Fashion in Dante Alighieri's Times" in FAU Theater Lab, November 4, 2021. The program included Italian readings by FAU students, presentations on embroidery in the French Middle Ages (Chair Marcella Munson), embroidery in the British Renaissance (Maura Bernard, MA student), artisanal chocolate (by Italian graduate Ryan) and songs by Dr. Hutchings' opera students.
Divine Comedy Reading Marathon: 16 readers took part in three hours of uninterrupted reading in English or Italian. November 2021.
FAU Italian Choir sings Dante's sonnet "Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare" arranged by Barbara Salani and led by tenor Carlos De Antonis (XXI Week of Italian Language in the World, 2021). Students from both Italy and US received the certificates of appreciation by the Consulate General of Italy in Miami. Click on the image to watch the video.
Recording "Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare." Students and teachers sing Dante's sonnet arranged by Barbara Salani, for the video sponsored by the Italian Consulate General in Miami for the XXI Week of Italian Language, 2021. WATCH THE VIDEO
Intermediate Italian students with teacher Viviana Pezzullo, after their presentation of the works of art by Florida artists in an exhibit at the Schmidt Art Gallery at FAU.
"Microfono aperto": Open-Mic Arts Showcase in a beautiful Florida evening, organized by Club Insieme. Songs by Jessica Romero, Calli Abisognio, Richard Leon, Clifton Dikes, Keyanna Diaz, Prof. Pettener and Serra, and Austin Sanniota Edwards. P oems by Isabella Cipollone and Attilia Cappelli.
Manuela Filomena, Ph.D. student in Comparative Studies at FAU, interviewed in "Italian Cinema Today." She speaks about her experience at FAU Italian Program. Read the interview here.
Liza Burnham thanks Calli Abisognio for her translation of "Destinazione Chicago" by Giuseppe De Bartolo, Professor at the University of Calabria. Our student's translation provides a precious link between two sides of the family divided by immigration.
Castle of Castiglione del Terziere in Tuscany: a delegation from FAU Italian and the Italian Consulate General in Miami lay the groundwork for a new international study project. Watch the video invitation here.
"Concerto per Myriam," the celebration for the 35 years at FAU of Prof. Myriam Ruthenberg, founder of FAU Italian Studies. Sponsored by the Il Circolo. Italian Cultural Society of the Palm Beaches and the Consulate General of Italy in Miami. Directed by Barbara Salani; starring tenor Carlos De Antonis and the Italian Program Choir. The repertoire included the new composition "Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare" by Barbara Salani. April 2021. Click for entire Concert Video (50') and for Concert presentation (1'30").
Interview with Dr. Ilaria Serra in "The Floridian," quarterly publication of the Grand Lodge of Florida, Order of the Sons of Italy, 21.3 (2021).
Richard Leon and Calli Abisognio, recipients of the 2021 Lena Camiccia-Arnautou Scholarship for Excellence in Italian Studies. Calli also received the "Marco Pozza Research Fellowship for Special Projects" for her translation.
Ph.D. candidate Domenica Diraviam publishes “Pascal D’Angelo: Translations and Transmutations” in VIA. Voices of Italian America, 32.1 (2021), 27-42.
Augusta University, Georgia, and Florida Atlantic University students present the tri-lingual translation of Viviana Viviani's poems. Viviani joined the meeting from Milan and talked to Dr. Emanuele Pettener's Intermediate/Advanced Italian class and Dr. Giada Biasetti's Spanish translation class, April 2021. Dr. Biasetti earned her MA in Comparative Literature at FAU. Watch to the recording .
II FAU Italian American Film Festival in Spring 2021, organized by Manuela Filomena (from her computer in Campania!). Guests are filmmakers Andrea Didado, Nina Misuraca Ignaczak, and Jeannine Guilyard. Opening greetings by Basil Russo (ISDA), Courtney Ruffner and Alan Gravano (IASA). Some special guests: Nicola Timpone (Marateale Film Festival) and FAU alumnus Simone Puleo, Ph.D.
“Il verde senso: An Analysis of the Symbolic Meaning of the Garden in Italian and Italian American Culture” is presented by Isabella Cipollone Movilla at the 11th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, April 9, 2021. Faculty mentor Dr. Ilaria Serra. Isabella was also the recepient of the Myriam Swennen Ruthenberg Award for Writing Excellence in Italian.
Author Elisabetta Tiveron meets the students for a Venetian walk among Palladian villlas and green cuisine, in celebration of the 1600 anniversary of the foundation of Venice.
Italian student and Printing club president, Kylie Aylies, silkprinting the bags for the participants of the V International Symposiu Italy in Transit.
Caleigh Tosner shows her level B2 Italian language certification earned at Pontificia Università Gregoriana, Spring 2021. Caleigh is Dr. Pettener's student.
The first student to graduate with an Italian Major, Pino Panzera, class of 1997, shakes hands with Dean Michael Horswell.
Dr. Myriam Ruthenberg is honored for 35 years of service at Florida Atlantic University by the Italo-American Cultural Association, president Tony Phillips, in March 2021. Here also with Paul Finizio, president of Il Circolo of the Palm Beaches-Italian Cultural Society.
The Italian website, " Strade Dorate: Osservatorio di Cultura Italoamericana " published works from the "Italian American Cinema" class, in translation. Their considerations on key-images of Italian American cinema are titled "Immagini: frammenti di italoamericanità."
Judy Levis Krug Boca Raton Virtual Jewish Film Festival: Dr. Serra discusses the Polish-Italian movie,"Dolce fine giornata," with Wendy Honig, artistic director, March 2021. The collaboration with the festival is ongoing.
Ph.D. candidate, Viviana Pezzullo, publishes a scholarly article in the new annual, peer-reviewed journal "gender/sexuality/italy." The article is titled "Rural Italy in Feminist Writing: Dialogism, Polyphony, and Heteroglossia in Amanda Guiducci's La donna non è gente" and is available here.
"Italian America: Translating Identities" class meets five living research topics: memorialist Arlene Spagna (from Boynton Beach), the Zoppe' Circus family (from Arizona), the curators of poet Efrem Bartoletti's archive (from Bologna), Mariolina Camilleri, daughter of the great Andrea Camilleri (Rome) and Rabbi Barbara Aiello (Calabria). Spring 2021.
"Intervista Impossibile" (Impossible Interview) to la lupa in Dante's Inferno, recorded by the students of Masterpieces of Italian Literature class. FAU video entry for the competition organized by the Consulate General of Italy in the 700th anniversary of Dante's death.
Authors Kathleen Powell and Brittni Zilberti meet the students of Readings in Intermerdiate/Advanced Italian class to discusses their works from Italy: the novel In balia della corrente and the blog of an American expat in Italy . February 2021.
"Calandra Corner," the web magazine of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute in New York, interviews MA student Federico Tiberini, Ph.D. students Viviana Pezzullo and Domenica Diraviam, and undegraduate Isabela Ribeiro-Ochoa, Hristo Joseph and Dr. Ilaria Serra. They tell Joseph Sciorra about the new collection of letters Fruttauro-Vivo in the Itamm-Italian American Memories Documentary Archive (see sidebar menu). The interview is on Youtube.
Venetian writer Tiziano Scarpa meets Florida Atlantic Unversity students of Advanced Italian and the students of the Dante Alighieri school in Venice, January 2021. Scarpa discussed and presented the new edition of Venice is a Fish. The meeting is on Youtube.
West Boca High School has a new teacher of Italian: Marianna De Tollis, Ph.D. in Comparative Studies. Congratulations! Read Marianna's story in the FlorItalian series.
Roman forum and Roman Ghetto: live v irtual visit, led by Fulvio De Bonis, Roman tour guide, and introduced by FAU Ph.D. student Seth Stein on a cold January Saturday. International Day of Remembrance 2021.
Louis Giannetti, renowned film critic and author of the classic textbook "Understanding Movies," meets students (and ex-students) of Dr. Serra's "Italian American Cinema" class, on December 14, 2020. Giannetti is an Italian American scholar and a dedicated teacher who enjoyed the interaction with the students.
First FAU Italian American Film Festival led by Master students Odra Dorante and David Brubeck on December 2-4 2020 (organized by graduate students of the Italian program in collaboration with NIAF, ISDA and the Russo Brothers Film Forum). This is the opening night with filmmaker Anton Evangelista, and a few of the many participants. The Festival is now a yearly event (see left sidebar menu).
Poet Viviana Viviani meets Dr. Pettener's Italian Advanced students who translated her work in class. She joined the conversation from Milan, Italy, on November 17, 2020.
The virtual exhibit of the Art of Tom Di Salvo, "Beyond the Nets" is a project by Ph.D. student Domenica Diraviam. Di Salvo was a unique painter, a friend of the FAU Italian Club Insieme, and a Domenica's dissertation topic. His work and his personality are really "al di la' delle reti," and they won't be forgotten. Visit the exhibit here.
Ryann Kretz is the winner of the popularity prize at the Competition "Il Fumetto" promoted by Consulate General of Italy in Miami for the XX Week of Italian Language. Ryann is a dual-enrolled high school student. Her drawing of her dog, her best friend during quarantine, won her an all-paid study trip to Italy.
Moreno Burattini, screenwriter of famous Italian comics "Zagor" and "Lupo Alberto" is interviewed by Dr. Emanuele Pettener and students from five universities, with consul Cristiano Musillo, in the event organized by the Consulate General of Italy in Miami for the XX Week of Italian Language.
Three poems by poet Viviana Viviani translated in Dr. Emanuele Pettener's Intermediate/Advanced Italian class are published in the Italian LitMag "Formicaleone." Students worked with passion and debated on each single comma. They are Giuliana Barile, Angela Benitez, Caterina Casadei, Hugo De La Piedra, Alexandrina Dec, Rosie Kenna, Ryann Kretz, Richard Leon, Heidi Moura, Sasha Passadore, Mickela Pitter, Nicole Siedlarek, Dante Silvestri, Seth Stein. Click here to read the poems.
Stanislao De Marsanich, president of the Rete Parchi Letterari-Paesaggio Culturale Italiano is a guest of the final class of the graduate course "Poetic Geography of Italy," Spring 2020. The entire conversation (in Italian) is here. The title of the class became the title of the session of the virtual Gran Tour, organized by the journal Leggere Tutti and Parchi Letterari. Click here and find minute 10:49:10 to listen to the presentations. Click here for developments of this collaboration.
Poets Anna Toscano from Venice and Luciano Cecchinel from Revine Lago, meet the class "Poetic Geograohy of Italy" taught by Dr. Ilaria Serra.
Onyx De La Osa, past vice-president of the Italian Club "Insieme," graduated with a Master of Arts from University of Cetral Florida, with a thesis on Sicilian history, titled "The Uniqueness of a Kingdom: The Frontier Kingdom of Norman Sicily in Comparative Perspective." He says: "My knowledge of Italian helped me read history books."
"Everything will be fine"-"Andra' tutto bene" and the peace flag: in Spring 2020, thousands of rainbow flags, mostly painted by children, repeated this encouragement from every balcony in Italy. This class flag was prepared by students of the Beginning Italian class, inspired by Gianni Rodari's poem "Speranza" (Hope).
The transition to virtual instruction of Italian and World Literature, due to the pandemic, according to Viviana Pezzullo, graduate teaching assistant and PhD candidate at Florida Atlantic University: she relies on simplicity and human connection to reach her students. Watch and read it here.
Italian during the pandemic: classes and Club Insieme meetings never stopped. For the impact of Covid in the Miami Scientific Italian Community, click here.
Climbing the ladder of success: Angelo Ybarra, International studies major at FAU Honor College; Gabriela Rojas, Linguistics major with Italian Minor: Dean's and President's list Fall 2019 and Spring 2018; Heidi Moura, Italian major: Dean's List Fall 2019; and Rosie Kenna, Social Work major: President's and Dean's honor list Summer and Fall 2019.
Bocce ball players at the celebration of the Venetian Carnival 2020 in the FAU Campus. Little did we know this would be our last club meeting before Covid 19 lockdown.
GKA Research Day in Spring 2020. Undergraduate and graduate students meet for primary source research. They read and decypher old family letters in Italian found on a curbside in New York City and brought to the J.D. Calandra Italian American Institute. They are the core of the Vivo-Fruttauro Collection, the latest addition in our student-driven Itamm-Italian American Memories website (link here). The research day bring together members and future members of GKA Italian National Honor Society at FAU.
Three of our Graduate students' essays have been published in "Luci ed Ombre," a respected on-line Italian Cinema journal: Marianna De Tollis, "A Woman, a History, a Movie: Ida Dalser's Tragic Resistance from History to Film" (IV 1, 2016); Enza Iadevaia, "Il melograno e la memoria. Il cinema di Fariborz Kamkari. Identità punteggiate del Cinema Italiano Contemporaneo" (VII 4, 2019) and Natale Filice, "La funzione di Cavalleria rusticana tra riscrittura del Sacro e crisi della presenza ne Il Padrino Parte III di Francis Ford Coppola (VII 3, 2019). Read them here.
Federico Fellini's 100th birthday celebrated by t he FAU Italian Program. Our contribution to the world-wide event was a presentation on selected pages from "Il libro dei sogni," directly sent by Comune di Rimini, Fellini's hometown.
The first 3-D printing of the capitals of the Doge's Palace by Nicholas Christodoulidis, product of an independent research with Prof. Ilaria Serra. Nick, a student of Italian and graduate of the School of Architecture, participated in the 2009 Study Abroad program in Venice. This innovative research was presented at the 2020 FAU International Symposium "Italy in Transit."
Twice-nominated Pulitzer Price autor John Domini joins Dr. Emanuele Pettener for a conversation on Naples, Italian America and his latest novels. January 2020. A description of the evening and interview with the writer by Jessica Monge, here.
Program of the Year Award for the Venice Study Abroad Program: Dr. Emanuele Pettener and Dr. Ilaria Serra receive the award from Assistant Provost, Mihaela Metianu. Read more in We The Italians.
Professor Ilaria Serra celebrates a wedding! Wonderful things happen sometimes, like this marriage between alumna Brittni Rallston with Alberto Zilberti, under the auspices of the FAU Italian Program, on January 2, 2020. The couple happily lives in Bergamo.
Dinner prepared by the students of Dr. Myriam Ruthenberg's class "Italian Culture Through Food", to celebrate the end of the semester, 2019.
The concert "L'Italiano sul palcoscenico" opened the XIX Week of Italian Language in Florida at Florida Atlantic University, at the presence of the Italian Consul, Cristiano Musillo, and the participation of the students of Italian of Sunrise Park Elemenrary School, Loggers' Run Middle School, West Boca High. Tenor Carlos De Antonis rides a Vespa and FAU students Ethan Vogt and Laura Romero sing as soloists. A memorable event, October 2019. Watch the video presentation.
IASA-Italian American Studies Association in Houston, Texas: Ph.D. student, Domenica Diraviam, and MA student, Federico Tiberini, present the web project ITAMM-Italian American Memories Archive, October 2019.
University Honor Program: undergraduate and Honor student, Mary Forrest, presents her experience in the 2019 FAU Venice Study Abroad Program titled "Life starts at the end of your comfort zone."
Undergraduate Researcher Nicole Barilla presents her poster "Foreign Loan-Words in the Italian Language," result of her work in Venice, Italy, as a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow recepient.
Graduate Research Symposium: Ph.D. candidate, Viviana Pezzullo, and research advisor Dr. Ilaria Serra, at the poster presentations, April 2019.
Triangle Shrirtwaist Factory memorial in New York City (project led by Mary Ann Trasciatti, Hofstra University): the South Florida contribution was coordinated by FAU Italian in March 2019 for Festa della Donna.
French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy interviewed by LLCL faculty members Dr. Frédéric Conrod and Dr. Ilaria Serra for the Palm Beach Book Festival at the University Theater, February 2019.
The new Italian K-12 curriculum in Boca West, from kindergarten to the university is celebrated at FAU: Principal Craig Sommers (West Boca High), Myriam Ruthenberg (FAU), principal Alicia Steiger and Luisa Mangano (Sunrise Park Elementary), Eufrasio Volpe (Loggers’ Run Middle School), Ilaria Serra and Emanuele Pettener (FAU), on February 20, 2019. Thanks to ODLI (Organization for the Diffusion of Italian Language) and Consulate General of Italy in Miami.
"Italian Film Dreams": video entry for the international competition “Vivere all’italiana” organized by the Italian Foreign Ministry and produced by the 2019 class, “Italian Language Through Cinema,” taught by Dr. Ilaria Serra. The short shows how you can “dream Italian” when you study with us! Click on the photo to see the full video!
Vincenza Iadevaia, Ph.D. won a fellowship at Kadir Has University, and is now an Instructor of Italian at Boğaziçi University. She lives in Istanbul, Turkey.
Marianna De Tollis and Vincenza Iadevaia celebrated their successful dissertation defense in Spring 2019: "Finding a Room on One’s Own: Veronica Franco and Sor Juana Inès de la Cruz” (De Tollis) and "Punctuated Identities in Contemporary Italian Cinema" (Iadevaia). In the first photo, Ozpetek's iconic apples and advisors, Dr. Ruthenberg, Dr. Serra, and Dr. Guneratne. Marianna teaches at FAU.
Some special students: Salvatore Lepore, Professor of Chemistry, and Italian and French Major; George Mazzei and Thomas Connors De Angelis long-time tudents and auditors of Italian courses.
Italian Consul in Miami Cristiano Musillo and Serenella De Rosa, Director of the Education Office of the Italian Consulate, visit Florida Atlantic University for the III Symposium "Italy in Transit". Here they are with Jupiter attorney Antonella Balzano, Nichola Cuellar, president of the Italian Club "Insieme," Dr. Ilaria Serra, Tony Phillips, president of Italo-American Cultural Society, of Pompano Beach and Norma Phillips.
Nicolas Cuellar, FAU Freshman, president of the FAU Italian Club Insieme, won the NIAF (National Italian American Foundation) trip to Washington DC and was FAU-NIAF ambassador at FAU.
Marjorie Hernandez won a $50 Amazon gift card for her Prize at photo competition “Italy in South Florida”, organized by FATI (Florida Association Teachers of Italian).
Flaviane Chaves won the prize “Il cioccolato parla italiano," organized by Florida International University and the University of Perugia.
MAPEI headquarters and production center in Fort Lauderdale: Italian and Chemistry students visit the Italian-owned international firm, founded in Milan, specialized in materials for construction. PMI Day (Piccola e Media Industria), 2018 and 2019.
Rick Zullo, Italian major, interviewed about his experience at FAU in "Sul Romanzo." Read interview.
"Gente Veneta," Italian weekly newspaper, published a collaborative articles on multi-lingual religious services in South Florida, written by the students of "Reading the Italian Press."
Angelo Sbrocca, Mayor of the City of Termoli, welcomed to Florida Atlantic University by Prof. Ilaria Serra. Sbrocca visited Florida to sign a new sister-city agreement with the town of Pompano Beach.
VIA. Voices of Italian America published the tri-lingual essay-memoir, titled "Radici perdute: una storia scomparsa torna in un presente italiano," by Master graduate, Jessica Monge.
GKA Research Day: Marjorie Hernandez, Nicoletta Sorice, Viviana Pezzullo, and Federico Tiberini gather for one day of reading, cataloging, and describing documents from a World War II letter fund (Patricia Badia Johnson) for Itamm Digital Humanities Project.
Nicoletta Sorice graduates at 81 with a Major in Italian. FAU President John kelly congratulates our amazing student who tells her story in the Public Storyteller Radio program on NPR. Listen here. Read the news here.
The English subtitles for Un Posto Altrove. A place Elsewhere by Luca Sella and Andrea Onori, have been translated by Advanced Italian students, Zachary Botte, Angela Dalton, Alexandrina Dec, Marjorie Hernandez, Samuele Pasqualotto, Logan Rosenfeld, Nicoletta Sorice, Daniela Rozman, and Prof. Ilaria Serra. The documentary tells two stories of immigration in the city of Venice (2017).
“The Poetry of Italian Streets: Photography by Joan Nova”: Advanced Italian students, Alexandrina, Zachary, Nicoletta, Daniela and Angela present with Dr. Ilaria Serra at the Symposium Italy in Transit 2018.
Inauguration of the painting "Bagheria" by Tom Di Salvo, late friend of the Italian program, donated by the Di Salvo family. See the painting and Prof. Brian McConnell's explanation (picture below).
Prof. Myriam Ruthenberg’s class on Dante’s The Divine Comedy read and comment their favorite cantos in the open air, to students of Introduction to World Literature.
Author Rosemary Bracco talks about her novel The Sins of Castel DuMont, during the Oretta del Cappuccino in front of the “Grassroot” public art in Culture and Society building, FAU.
Roman actor Fabio Pasquini lead the students of Advanced Italian in a short play by Luigi Pirandello.
Filmmaker Samuele Rossi presented his first movie, La strada verso casa, to students and general audience welcome in the Michele D. Serra New Italian Cinema Series.
Laura Evans, student of Italian, performs at the Italian Art Showcase.
Mary Jane Saunders, Florida Atlantic University former president, greets students of Italian during their conversation hours, Oretta del Cappuccino, on campus.
Giacomo Toni, pianist, singer and songwriter from Emilia Romagna, gives an improvised performance in the FAU music room for s tudents of Italian and our Boca community.
Former presidents of the Italian Club, Nicola Pace (Ph.D. student in Mathematics), Madgalena Pire-Schmidt, and Pamela Fuentes sit at the “Club Insieme” table at a student organization event at FAU.
FAU A.D. Henderson Elementary school first “Italian Club,” led by Nicole Abbott, Tiffany Lopez and other students of Advanced Italian. They used games and songs to teach the rudiments of Italian to the children of during a semester-long Academic Service Learning experience.