Articles by: Iwona Adamczyk

The fifteenth of April is no longer simply tax day. This year the International Culinary Center in New York has made it widely known as the day Marcella Hazan was born.

Hazan has done to Italian cuisine in America, what Julia Child has done for French cuisine. Not only did she teach at the ICC, but has inspired lives of many American housewives, while introducing them to the magic behind the simplicity of taste and flavors of Italian home cooking.

A graduate of natural sciences and biology from Northern Italian Universities, Hazan found herself on the other side of the Atlantic, when she followed her husband Victor, who was summoned to New York to work for his family fur business. Alone and surrounded by an all new world, Marcella, partly missing her motherland and its flavors, and partly bored as she awaited her husband's return from work, began spending her days in the local markets and her own kitchen, experimenting with ingredients, teaching herself how to create dishes she recalled from back home.

Victor Hazan spoke fondly of his late wife during the event held in her honor by the International Culinary Center this past Tuesday: "Marcella had science degrees, and no knowledge of cooking, but somehow she knew exactly what to mix together to create the most tasty dishes, she knew exactly what to put in that pot… and most importantly she knew what to leave out of it, which is equally if not more important."

The celebration of what would have been the ninetieth birthday of Hazan, who sadly passed away last September, was also a launch and a nationwide fundraised for The Marcella Hazan Scholarship at the ICC, which will provide funding to students at he ICC's Italian Chef Course in the name of the legendary cook. For that is who she was a cook.

Giuliano Hazan, her son who demonstrated his cooking skills to the audience during the event emphasized: "She never wanted to be known as a Chef, she didn't lead a restaurant, and that's what Chefs do, she wanted to be called a cook, because that's what she was." When asked what this celebration means to him he proudly responded: "It's a testament to the effect and the influence that my mother had on how people eat, how people cook and how they live."

The International Culinary Center will remain the only place that Marcella taught in the U.S. She strongly believed, and made cooks understand that "recipes in books are just blueprints and that they are the real architects, and it is the cook's choice, based on mood, taste and product availability to alter what is being prepared accordingly."

The ICC wishes to keep Marcella Hazan's name and legacy alive for years to come with the establishment of this scholarship which will send promising cooks on a seven month Italian Culinary Experience beginning in either NYC or California and continuing in Marcella's home province of Emilia-Romagna in Italy.

During the fundraising week, which kicked off on what would have been her birthday, leading chefs and restaurants all over the United States are to feature a dish inspired by Hazan's Busara-Style Pasta Sauce, from her cookbook Marcella Cucina. Busara in Italian stands for "a mess," therefore expect to taste exactly what she was teaching, the personal touch of each of the participating chefs. A portion of the proceeds from the sales of the dish in the participating restaurants will go toward the scholarship.

New York City's Mayor, Bill de Blasio sent an acknowledgment for this occasion to be read during the celebration. "Passing on the flavors and traditional cooking techniques, Hazan introduced America to the warmth and hospitality of home cooked Italian food and in the process helped bring friends and family together at the dining table," it read.

New York's famous restauranteur Tony May spoke warmly of the beloved cook: "I knew Marcella very well. She may very well be the only Italian that taught Italian cuisine according to the authentic tastes and flavors of our cuisine. And she was not one to compromise, just like I do compromise in my restaurant, therefore I could not be but in tune with what she did. When she passed away, I must admit that I cried, and she is truly missed and we are here to make sure that she will not be forgotten, because she was the mother of Italian cuisine in the homes of American women."

He went on: "In the end Italian cookbooks in America are written by Americans, we do not have cookbooks written by Italians, the only one that wrote in Italian was Marcella, and she certainly was the toughest, most persistent and most natural of all. She was an incredible woman, and she always had mad fun living, she is a woman worth remembering, especially within the ambience of Italian cuisine."

John Profaci, Chairman Emeritus of Colavita, one of the sponsors of the event stated: "I never had the pleasure of meeting Hazan, but our two lives parallel each other, when I started 35 years ago nobody knew what extra virgin olive oil was, and now…. look at the industry we created. Colavita proudly sponsors events such as this one. We stand behind the simplicity and authenticity of our products, just like Marcella stood behind the simplicity and authenticity of Italian cuisine. It is important for our company to be present and support these initiatives, it lets us share not only the success of our products but the centuries of cultivation of a culture that stands behind it and allows us today to still share its simple innovation, riches and health benefits. We are happy to see young talent in the culinary arts longing to follow in the food steps of true Italian cuisine, in the footsteps of cooks like Marcella Hazan."

The event was also attended by the Italian Trade Commissioner Pier Paolo Celeste, who clearly announced the importance of the presence of the Italain Trade Agency at the event: "One of main direction of the ITA(ITC) is to push forward everything that is Italian, and one of the mainstream from italy is our food and our wine. That's what defines our culture, and anything on a serious level that involves food and wine has ITC on its side. And we are also extremely happy to support the new chefs, many of which have a natural inkling towards the Italian lifestyle and Italian cuisine."

The event was a grand success and it is far from over. It goes until next Tuesday and does not end with just this week's celebrations. There are numerous ways to donate to the Marcella Hazan Scholarship, such as through the purchasing of Marcella's Favorites Basket, a wood crate filled with foods from the cook's pantry. So consider buying it for yourself or as a gift for a friend, or if you are not into cooking then have a night out and make sure to have Marcella inspired dinner at one of the participating restaurants in town. Contribution by eating surely must be the most rewarding kind…

What better way to create publicity and get the most out of an advertising campaign than to use it not only to promote the product itself, but also to share the spotlight with young, emerging talent?


Fashion designer Giorgio Armani teams up with Rai Cinema creating Films of City Frames, a project, which is both promotional and philanthropic, which is aimed to revive the 2010 Frames of Life campaign. In 2013, the campaign involved four short clips, set around a busy café in a city square with people hurrying to and fro, and unveiling the stories of five diverse characters (all wearing Armani’s eyewear of course!)


This year the initiative extends a helping hand to emerging film school talents, as the project plans to finance shorts by six selected students or young graduates at international films schools. The selected films schools are USC’s School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles; the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome; the National Film and Television School in London; the Ecole Superieure de Realisation in Paris; the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and New York’s NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.


Each of the schools is to select a young director who will then shoot a short with the goal to depict fragments of life “that describe a city’s perspectives; that seize emotions and situations by using Frames of Life collection glasses as a perceptual filter,” states Armani’s website. The spot announcing the project is represented by a short executed by Piero Messina, a young director chosen by non other than the recent Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino, who not only joined the initiative but stars in the pilot film by Messina. Messina certainly lived up to Sorrentino’s expectations and delivered a solid and well carried out short using cut frames of ‘La Grande Bellezza’ and Journey to the End of the Night, a book by Louis Ferdinand Céline as inspiration.


Having a recent Oscar winning director backing up the project was quite a clever move for Armani’s campaign and will certainly aid in the publicity around the project. “I felt that Paolo would be the best person to share this project with. He has a clear and inspiring view of reality; he captures the most exciting and poetic aspects of everyday life with a neat, contemporary style. Above all, I think that Paolo embodies the real magic of cinema, which is barrier-free language: he speaks to everyone, but with an undeniably Italian eye. And this is precisely what we wanted students to grasp: the importance of having a personal perspective,” states Armani on the project’s website.


From mid-April, the different production stages of the short films will be described online in a dedicated area at www.framesoflife.com and shared on the Armani social media networks.


What’s there to add? It’s a great project, a clever add campaign and everyone involved wins… Including us: the future recipients and viewers. We are all looking forward to the completed shorts…

On the eve of International Women's Day, the Polish Consulate filled up with a very international crowd, as the Society of Foreign Consuls in New York held a celebratory reception honoring ten women from ten different countries.

What unifies all of the ten honorees is their dedication and commitment to their immigrant communities. Each of the ten award recipients has excelled in her field, which range from medicine to journalism to fashion design, but most of all of them shared their success with their community.

Society of Foreign Consuls in NY, founded in 1925, has since become the world's largest consular corps, comprising 110 Consulates, Consulates General and Honorary Consulates based in New York CIty.

This was certainly represented during last night's event in the presence of dignitaries from more than ten countries and a widely international audience which gathered to celebrate the achievements of the honorees.

This year's award recipients were: Croatian born, Milka Zepina for her achievements in promoting the Croatian language in the United States as well as for her involvement in the organizetion of anti-war demonstrations and pleading the recognition of Croatia as an independent state.

The Republic of Cyprus has nominated Effie Lekas, the Assistant Director at Queens College Center for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies who actively participates in the promotion and recognition of Greek culture in the US. Similarly,

The Republic of Kazakhstan nominated Azhara Mestler for her efforts in promoting Kazakhstan culture in New York and her devotion to the immigrant community of her country.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria presented a candidate who is an innovative makeup artist, Khuraira Musa. Not only is she a pioneer airbrush makeup artist and a successful business woman, but also a vast supporter of breast cancer survivors, sickle cell anemia sufferers and lends a helping hand with African youth educational programs.

Menchu Sanchez was the award recipient hailing from The Republic of Philippines. Ms. Sanchez, a registered nurse is responsible for saving the lives of over 60 high risk pediatric patients by leading the evacuation of NYU Langone Medical Center during the Sandy Storm Emergency.

The hosting country, Poland, nominated Karolina Zmarlak, a young fashion designer whose concentration lies in modernist tailoring, refined, architectural construction ad innovative fabrics while communicating the aesthetic through Easter European minimalism. The Honorable Consul General of the Republic of Poland, Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka proudly wore one of her creations that evening.

The Russian Federation awarded Marina Adamovitch, the first female Editor-in-Chief of The New Review (Novyj Zhurnal), the oldest Russian immigrant publication. She is also the organizer and curator of the Russian Documentary Film Festival in NY.

Katarina Novakova, a Director of Relations at Blue Horizon International, a health care consulting company received the award after the nomination by her native Republic of Slovakia for her work in the non-profit organization as well for demonstrating to be a great leader in the Slovak community and a role model for young women.

The Republic of Turkey nominated Pinar E. Atakent, M.D. Clinical Professor and Chairman of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn she focuses on building bridges between her native Turkey and the USA.

Italy named Valentina Castellani as this year's recipient. Born in Boston to Italian parents, Valentina grew up in Turin where she graduated magna cum laude in Greek Archeology and History of Art before moving to New York twelve years ago and becoming the director of the famous Gagosian Gallery.

Valentina Castellani proudly spoke of her work and her achievements: "I have four Picasso exhibits under my belt, but what I am most proud of is the light I was able to shed onto the work of Piero Manzoni on this side of the Atlantic. The Manzoni exhibit, a first show of the artist's works in America was extremely well received by both the public and the critics." " Our exhibits are free to the public and it feels great to be able to offer that," she added.

Lucia Pasqualini, the Italian Vice Consul presented the award to Valentina. "New York is an extremely demanding city wether you are a man or a woman. One has to work and work very hard. And when you think about it, women are the ones that have to make everything work, create an equilibrium between family life and a career, and we all know it is the woman that coordinates a household. Yet here, women have excelled in every sector, being that of finance, science or art" she stated.

i-Italy was able to interview a guest of honor Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney who told us: "I did not realize that it was a celebration for every country, it's really beautiful what happened here, to recognize leaders, especially women leaders on International Women's Day and to celebrate the culture of so many different countries. It was a lovely event, I met so many outstanding women who won the awards, so many important dignitaries, leaders in their countries. It's a very beautiful thing to bring together so many different countries to celebrate the contributions of women, we are half the population, we hold up half the sky, and to recognize that it was a lovely way to celebrate the International Women's Day."

Humanism, stands for devotion to the literature of ancient Greece and Rome. Intellectual Greek and Roman teachings undertaken by scholars, writers, and civic leaders, today known as Renaissance humanists, began initially in Italy, and then spread across most of Europe.

This month, Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò brings to their gallery space an exquisite photographic exhibition titled Renaissance Ideal Cities. On view until October 3rd are photographs of two UNESCO World Heritage Centre towns: the Sienese city of Pienza and the Mantuan city of Sabbioneta.

The historic centre of Pienza is a true and a first application of the Renaissance humanist concept of urban design. The town played a pivotal role in the development of the concept of the planned 'ideal city' in subsequent urban development in ltaly as well as beyond its borders.

In 1459, Pope Pius II decided to transform the look of his birthplace. He chose the architect Bernardo Rossellino, whom applying the principles of his mentor, Leon Battista Alberti, first implemented Renaissance town-planning concepts resulting in the ideal square known as Piazza Pio II and the buildings around it: the Piccolomini and the Borgia Palaces.

Similarly, Sabbioneta is the creation of one man, the ruler of the little state Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna, who studied the writings and theories of ideal city planning and aimed  to build an impregnable fortress and a functional capital of the state.

Sabbioneta, created in the second half of the 16th century, can be described as a single-period city and is known for the right angle grid layout. It's defensive walls, grid pattern of streets, role of public spaces and monuments, make Sabbioneta one of the finest examples of ideal cities built in Europe. The ideals of the Renaissance, and the humanism concept are heavily present in the towns’ architecture.

Present (virtually at least) at the opening of the exhibit was Marco Aroldi, the mayor of the city of Sabbioneta who expressed gratitude to the director of Casa Italiana for giving voice to the his city across the ocean.

"It is a great honor for me to represent my city on this occasion of the exhibit arriving in NY," stated Aroldi via a Skype video call. Albertini called the exhibition "virtuous on many levels, as it imports quality products without creating a major expense for the state or public administrations."

The audience also had an opportunity to meet Casa Italiana director's mother, who being a Mantuan herself, was also present at the Teatro all’Antica for the Skype conversation despite the late hour caused by the time difference.

Finally, an enticing presentation was given by Prof. Nicola Gardini of Oxford University (NYU Alumn) who described the two cities as ones that "bracket the Renaissance." "Pienza is the begging of antiquity and rationalism based on ancient values, and Sabbioneta is the swan song of the thought of reproducing antiquity as a form of modernity," eloquently stated Gardini.

"These are twin cities, yet they they mark the beginning and the end of this architectural and moral culture… In Sabbionetta we walk in the dream, contemplating moral perfection. Sabbioneta is still talking a lot… in its paintings, the theater … everything echoes everything, and it is like moving around a beautifully constructed poem, a Ciceronian oration … this is where politics and arts become one," he continued. "We are lucky to have such cities… we are in the Renaissance there…" concluded Prof. Gardini.

Next Monday, October 23rd, at 6PM Casa Italiana twill hold a screening of two films La Strategia del Ragno by Bernardo Bertolucci and Le Piacevoli Notti by Armando Crispino e Luciano Lucignani. Bertolucci's film is entirely shot in Sabbioneta, and the last part of the second film is shot in Pienza. Come and let Casa Italiana transport you to an ideal Renaissance city…. even if only for a short while…

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