Articles by: M. M.

  • Life & People

    Valentine’s Day. Instructions for Use (For Men!)

    You don’t need me to tell you that Valentine’s Day is coming along. I mean, WHEREVER we are, all we can see is heart-shaped balloons, chocolate cakes, and cafes and diners advertising their “surprise your loved one with the sweetest breakfast”. And so on…
     

    Are you getting ready? Did you get your fiancé a nice gift? are you taking her out for dinner? will you buy her flowers? No? Well, maybe you don't need to do all of that. But you better do SOMETHING!
     

    This piece is to give you a couple of advises, “instructions for use”, on how to behave and what to do on this “special day”. Don’t come and tell me that you are cool with that, ‘cause your “girlfriend does not believe in this 'consumerist--American-holiday'”, because believe me… you’ll pay the consequences of your non-celebrating. Women DO care.
     

    Sometimes I hear of people that don’t even call their partner on Valentine’s Day, just to show her that “Nothing is different”, it’s a day just like the other. Well, that should mean that you love her just like yesterday and the day before that… not that you hate her, and just don’t care for 24hours!
     

    Do you at least know why Feb. 14 is the "day of love"?
     

     You can decide if you care or not about this day, but first you have to understand the FULL meaning of it. First of all, VALENTINE’S DAY IS NOT AN AMERICAN HOLIDAY. Celebrated almost all over the world, its origins trace back to the II century AD, Valentine being an Archbishop  who lived in a small little town in Umbria, Italy. Oh yes, Italy.
     

    Valentine was a sort of revolutionary, being the only priest throughout the peninsula that accepted to marry a “mixed couple”, a Pagan and a Catholic. It was the first mixed marriage in the history of Catholicism, and Valentine celebrate it “in the name of love that overcomes all barriers” (Yes, you’re right. We do need another Valentine today).
     

     When he passed away, he was proclaimed “the saint protector of love”. He is now the patron of Terni, where every year on February 14 they organize a huge festival in his honor. Couples come from other areas of Italy and abroad to get married here on this particular day, or to renovate their vows, or to promise one another “eternal love”, and receive the blessing of the Archbishop of Terni, the town of St. Valentine.
     

    Now that you know the story… don’t you look at this holiday from a different point of view?!
     

    Well, if you do (and if you still don’t) here are some tips to surprise (and please) your partner (she is ALWAYS expecting something).
     

    “Little things mean a lot”, said a popular song written by Edith Lindeman and Carl Stutz, published in 1953. So, don’t worry if you can’t buy her diamonds and pearls… it is not what she is looking for (in most cases…). If you want it to remain the holiday of love, and not the one of consumerism, you can make her just the happiest person of the world with very small "attentions". Do you live together? Cuddle her with breakfast in bed. Squeeze your own oranges, don’t open the can. Arrange the sweets and fruit in an elegant manner; don’t just throw them on the tray… you are not playing baseball!
     

    It’s not necessary to buy a gift or a full bouquet of red roses. What for? Most probably they are not even their favorite flowers! Women prefer much more a “customized present”. My favorite flower, as an example, is the daisy. Don’t you think they are the friendliest flowers ever? A single daisy picked up just for me would make me much happier than 2 dozens red roses.
     

    The same for Valentine’s Day cards. Don’t look for a romantic quote on the web; don’t go to Hallmark to pick up the first American Greetings card you find. Just sit down and write something yourself. You don’t need to promise eternal love (don’t cheat!), just write what you feel you want to tell her (after all if you are going out with her, and you’re sharing a piece of your life, you should have enough to write about…).
     

    Chocolates? Yes, it could be a good idea…if they are her favorite sweeties… Otherwise pick what she likes! Hershey’s doesn’t own the holiday!
     

    You can’t afford to take her to the movies, or out for dinner? Well, that’s perfectly understandable given the harsh economic times… of course she wouldn’t (shouldn’t) ask you to donate blood or to sell your wristwatch to get the money! If you can’t afford it, however, it doesn’t mean that you just can stay home with the excuse of “too much traffic on the road; it will take forever to get to your place” (it did happen to me once, and I was going to throw away the home-baked chocolate ganache cake I had made for the idiot, before my sister saved it!); or that you can go with your pals to watch the soccer/football/baseball/whatever game in a bar (not going is certainly one of the best ways you can show her your love!!!). So, rent your favorite movie, go to her place, and prepare her favorite dinner… that’s something that has no price.
     

    In conclusion, this is my message to you, my friend: whether you’re rich or poor; you’re married or not; you’re romantic or naturally rude as a brown bear, Valentine’s Day is your moment to do something special, something “customized” to your feelings and to the special woman you have on your side.
     

    And if you want to keep spoiling her on Feb. 15, go for it! It might take some time to oil the gear, but you know…. practice makes perfect! (you are not already)
  • Events: Reports

    “Trasparency”: Salvatore Emblema in New York


     In collaboration with the archives, estate, and museum of Italian postwar artist Salvatore Emblema, BOSI Contemporary announces his first New York exhibition Transparency, which examines his career through 20 works and a large-scale installation. Having spent the majority of his life in Italy, Emblema remains relatively unknown to an American audience despite two extended stays in New York City.

     
    Brought here on a Rockefeller Grant in the mid 1950s, Emblema spent a year in the New York art scene where he befriended eminent American painter Mark Rothko. Rothko’s iconic compositions and color use influenced Emblema who uniquely adopted these ideals. Growing up in Terzigno, a town on Mt. Vesuvius overlooking Pompeii, informed his basic artistic impulses. Always a purist with an interest in raw materials, Emblema concerned himself with nature, texture, shadow, and most importantly, light. His use of stretched sackcloth, or burlap, embodied all these interests and quickly became his canvas of choice. During his second New York visit in 1965, Emblema met Giulio Carlo Argan, a fellow Italian, a writer, and an observer of international art. It was Argan who attributed to the artist ye term Transparency in order to describes the ability of Emblema’s paintings to interact with the existing light and space. Argan’s deep admiration of Emblema’s work pushed his development. Emblema began physically manipulating the jute fibers in the hopes of achieving painterly transparency. 
     
    Despite working in relative isolation, Emblema’s oeuvre contains undertones of minimalism, process art, and arte povera as well as earth art and abstraction. As Peter Frank, curator and critic, states “Emblema’s work rarely if ever entraps itself in a certain period. It clearly comes from an era, responding as it does to the existential and perceptual questions of the 1950s and early 60s. But it was never of an era.” 
     
    Salvatore Emblema (1929-2006) attended the Scuola del Corallo in Torre del Greco where he graduated in 1948. He had multiple solo exhibitions throughout Italy and internationally. Noted group shows include the 1980 and 1982 Venice Biennale; Italics, curated by Francesco Bonami, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy (2009); The Language of Less curated by Michael Darling, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, Louisiana (2011)
  • Dining in & out: Articles & Reviews

    Eataly in New York. An Italian Mecca for Real Gourmets

    “Life is a mixture of magic and pasta”, said Federico Fellini many years ago.

    On August 31, Oscar Farinetti, the patron of “high quality foods”, as he is defined in Italy,  will bring these two essential ingredients of the Italian dolce vita right in the heart of Manhattan.
    His Eataly, a gigantic, 50,000 square feet food&wine shopping hall, will be located on 200 5th Avenue, right at the corner with Broadway, a few steps away from the famous Flatiron Building.
    The New York location will be the third fruit of the project that Mr. Farinetti has been carrying on for several years, the first two locations having been opened in Piedmont, Italy, and Japan.

    The goal behind Eataly, as Farinetti himself explained, is to offer a wide variety of high quality products to conscious consumers who have made of a correct diet an integral part of their everyday life. In order to reach it, Eataly also organizes educational events, such as cooking classes, tastings, and lessons focused on the preservation of foods. Moreover, since “eating well helps you to live better”, there also are a number of courses addressed exclusively to children, future adults who need to develop “a sense of taste that make them distinguish quality foods from the rest so to live their life in a more satisfying and happy way”.

    The label gathers small and medium-sized Italian companies that operate in the many different divisions of the Italian wine and food sector: from Gragnano pasta to the water of the Maritime Alps; from Venetian wine to Ligurian oil and  Piedmontese meats and cheeses, the consumers can find in every Eataly location all the necessary ingredients to prepare a healthy and tasty Mediterranean diet meal.

    The New York project was first conceived my Mr. Farinetti about 2 years ago, but it could not be realized due to the contingent economic crisis and the consequent cut off of major investments. It was only in April 2010 that he finally managed to rent at a “bargain price” (for New York standards) the building located between 23rd and 24th Street and renovation works could begin.

    Among his main partners in this 25 million dollars investment, the high-standard restaurant chain “B&B”, owned by TV-star chef Mario Batali and renowned sommelier Joe Bastianich, with his mother Lidia.

    Batali and Bastianich already own fifteen restaurants, three of which are in Los Angeles, three in Las Vegas, one in Port Chester, NY, and the rest in Manhattan. “If we’re as successful as we want to be, we’ve created the culinary destination in New York that each of the 45 million people who visit the city would stop and visit before they leave. New York doesn’t have that. Maybe it used to be Windows on the World, but there’s not one go-to. (...)  There are so many different ways of experiencing Eataly—from shopping to eating, to noshing to just being there, to passing time. People need to waste time; tourists need something to do. This becomes a culinary tourist destination.”, said Joe Bastianich in an interview to Capital New York early this year.

    Eataly in fact is not only a shopping experience, but a real Luna Park for all of the Italofiles, from gourmets to ordinary people who enjoy testing their skills in the kitchen every once in a while.
    On the ground floor of the building, that will also host Tiffani’s headquarters, visitors will find over 5,000 sqf of food aisles, featuring products imported from Italy

    Produces and fresh products, including some cheeses, however, will be coming from local green markets and small local companies: “More than offering 100% Italian products, Eataly is about the spirit of Italy, so it’s also great local things”, pointed out Mr. Bastianich.
    A controversial opinion to many, but one that nevertheless reflects the historical fact that Italians tend to cook with what they can find and cultivate “in their backyard” and according to the season. Moreover, importing from Italy highly perishable products would not only overstep the philosophy of sustainable consumption supported by Eataly,  but would  also impose greater import and transportation costs that the consumer would ultimately have to pay for.

    This way of thinking has also guaranteed Eataly the support of the Slow Food Movement founded and guided by Carlo Petrini, and on which Mr. Farinetti could count right from the moment he first opened Eataly’s first location in Piedmont.

    Slow Food collaborates with Eataly as a consulting team which helps verifying that the quality of the products offered corresponds to the expectations of the consumers and that the producers do not lower the quality of their goods in view of a growing market demand. Its certification of quality is given only if a product is proven to be sustainable both from an ecological and a social point of view -- or in other words if it can be part of a diet that is affordable and environmentally respectful.

    All the shoppers visiting Eataly will also have an opportunity to taste products right on the spot. Not only in fact the ground floor of the building will host six different restaurants, but several tasting corners will also be set up all around the area.

    There will also be a coffee corner run by the Italian brand Lavazza, a library, and a winery. In the cellar, a kitchen, a pastry shop, an ice-cream shop and a bakery will cover a 1,000 square feet area and will be open since early in the morning to guarantee the costumers fresh products at every hour of the day. “Based on the Torino model, every shopping experience has a counterpart in a dining experience. So there’s a vegetable restaurant in the produce department. We also have a vegetable butcher: You can bring vegetables to the counter and have them butchered for you. The restaurants are kind of full service, but not really. You can’t have coffee or dessert. You can have your vegetable and seafood but you go to the ice cream corner for a gelato and to the coffee bar for an espresso”, said Mario Batali.

    Mario will also run the rooftop beer garden that will offer full dinners and will be open until 2 am. “It is the first time since Joe Bastianich and I first opened Otto Restaurant that I actually designed the menu of a restaurant that I run,” he pointed out.  One of the former chefs of his first restaurant Babbo, finally, will be delighting the clients of the Italian steakhouse “Manzo”.

    With the Italian cuisine being so popular in America, and especially in New York, Eataly meets a growing demand of products that can fit the standards of the old-fashion “Italian spirit” in the kitchen: high quality, tasty, and affordable.

    It promises to become one of New York’s hot spots for both tourists and locals--not only a shopping center but also the place where Fellini’s motto becomes a real experience, and life “becomes a mixture of magic and pasta”
  • Facts & Stories

    50 Italians. Should it be Screened in Schools?

    On the occasion of Remembrance Day 2010, and as part of Rai Fiction Week 2010, on January 20 the Calandra Italian American Institute hosted a double screening at the CUNY Graduate Center, "50 Italians" and "Memories of Anna Frank".

    The documentary "50 Italians" focuses on the gestures of 50 Italian men, Fascist diplomats and generals, who found a way to help  50.000 Jews escape from persecution and death in the concentration camps, or offered them help of different sort

    The work, directed by Flaminia Lubin  and produced by Francesco Pamphili , was presented by Paolo Galimberti, President of RAI. " This movie is  part of a strong effort to educate new generations on the crimes perpetuated by the Fascist regime. In Italy Remembrance Day is an important date to commemorate, and is strongly felt among all of our citizens. We believe that it is important to hand down the memory of what happened in our country just 60 years ago to our children, grandchildren, and all of those who will come in the future. That is why I am particularly glad to see the students of the Scuola d'Italia Guglielmo Marconi, college undergraduates, and so many young people in the audience. Many of their friends will see this movie, since we are planning to screen them in several schools of Italy".

    The Director of the Primo Levi Center Natalia Indrimi who was watching the movie with us on that morning, didn't find in it what she expected. Talking with her, we understood that actually some aspects and parts of "50 Italians" could be pretty controversial. We tought it was important  to share with our readers her opinions and comments.

    " '50 Italians' narrates a very partial story, seen from a very partial viewpoint. It seems to me that the work of the historian is to document and articulate the complexities and contradictions of the past. What I have watched today does the opposite: replaces documents with memories and simplifies the context to present a packaged message: that Italians were good because of some essential quality.

    "Would you then minimize the importance of the rescuers?

    "Of course we must recognize acts of courage, humanity and solidarity. But implying the existence of a national character follows the same irrational principle that animates prejudice. Why then shouldn't 7,000 Polish rescuers and the now increasing number of German rescuers that are being documented make good nations? Or a Jew who saved himself by reporting another make a bad nation? The generalizations of national rhetoric must be regarded as such, not used as historical realities. If this history teaches us anything it is that pushing the rhetoric to an extreme can produce dangerous propaganda."

    Wouldn't it make things easier to understand, help more people learn about this history?

    "A film that offers comforting answers and does not raise many questions, is not ideal in an educational setting. Someone with no other information may come out of the screening thinking that Mussolini was moved by Christian values and that the Italian army had a code of honor that made it by default save women and children. It is difficult to relate these statements to the way in which Italian Jews were outcast and eventually sent to their death, or to the massacres perpetrated in the colonies and territories, including Croatia."

    The film,however, does not embrace the after-armistice period...

    "Would you say that the responsibilities for the atrocities that happened after the armistice are of the Allies?

    Or that perhaps we cannot continue to consider the Fascist dictatorship a laughable joke that turned sour in 1938 or '43?"

    What do you think was missing to make these personal memories viable documents? 

    "The context. In the introductory scene a teen-age boy, I believe the son of the director, says that there is a controversy about the rescuers and that some people believe they acted for reasons other than goodness. He continues: "But I don't believe so". And goodness triumphs. Which controversies is he talking about? And with which authority does he answer?

    Controversies may exist on individual stories, but there is an overall historical picture that, especially today, when we know a lot more than we knew 20 or 30 years ago, cannot be completely avoided.

    How can we discuss the actions of the Italian Army on the Croatian front in 1942 without at least a few references to the broader picture and without even mentioning their full extent, including the fact that Jews and Yugoslavians were treated in very different ways? It would have for instance been useful to ask an historian to map out some basic events like the entry of the US in the war at the end of '41, the first defeats of the Nazis in the Soviet Union in '42, and the internal schisms of the Italian army and the Fascist élite in preparation of the deposition of Mussolini. Between the end of 1942 and the beginning of 1943 even Germany began to destroy the evidence of the massacres of the Jews in Eastern Europe.

    It seems to me that it is legitimate to ask whether the atmosphere of preparation for an aftermath that might not have been 1000 years of Reich affected the actions of certain factions of the Italian army. "

    What should be the role of single testimonies in the preservation of the memory of the Shoah?

    "Witnesses are not  historians per se. They had an experience that touched their lives in unimaginable ways and that's what they remember. The accounts of camp survivors are checked thousands of times against one another and then against the records before they can be considered valid historical reconstruction. The refugees' perception that the Italian army saved them is indeed correct. And the feeling they express for the soldier who brings them a piece of bread or a cup of milk can also be taken at face value. However their feelings cannot replace factual information on the people who helped the Jews and the context in which they acted. "

    The doc also featured an interview with historians from NYU and Yad Vashem. Was there a balance between the “historical truth” and the “truth of memory?”

    "I found it interesting that not one of the two or three historians who are the experts in the history of the Fascist camps, especially the Croatian camps, were included in the film. Marcello Pezzetti, director of the Museum of the Shoah in Rome briefly addresses the larger reality of Fascist anti-Semitism, but his comments are unrelated to the core topic of the film. The statements of Yael Orvieto of Yad Vashem and Ruth Ben Ghiat of NYU are cut so short that they come across as very generic, whereas rather repetitive testimonies on the goodness of Italians receive a great deal of space. This is a filmic choice."

    The doc starts with a conversation between two Jewish kids. One of them is about to enroll in the Israeli army, and states that soldiers there serve their country in the name of the memory of the Holocaust. What kind of message is sent out?

    "The representation of the Holocaust as raison d'etre of the State of Israel and foundation of its national identity is another generalization. As  such, it is used by the leaders of the country as well as by its most virulent attackers. I don't understand how it relates to an historical documentary on the Italian diplomats who rescued Jews."

    Is it proper to propose this kind of work on such an occasion like Remembrance Day?

    "I don't think there is a rule, and certainly not a limit, on what's appropriate and what's not. This documentary offers an opportunity to address a certain rhetoric that is very common and thus an important opportunity for debate."
  • Events: Reports

    Fashion Speaks Italian on Hearst Magazines

     On September 28 the Italian Trade Commission invited the most preeminent representatives of the American and Italian fashion world and of the Italian community in New York to a cocktail reception held at the Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan. On the occasion, the President of Hearst Magazines, Cathleen Black, announced a new promotional campaign dedicated to Italian Fashion sponsored by the North American Division of the ITC and its director Aniello Musella.

    “If you speak fashion, you speak Italian”: this is the name of the campaign born from the new partnership between the six fashion magazines owned and distributed by Hearst and the Italian Trade Commission.
     

    The aim? To promote a modern, but,  at the same time, traditional image of Italian style in the United States, the country that more than any other has shown its passion for it even during the recent deep economic crisis.
     

    “Hearst is proud to make ‘Made in Italy’ a very successful promotional campaign. In the last 10 years the Hearst Corporation magazines have published more than 35.000 editorial pages showcasing Italian products and locations, not to mention the almost 5.000 advertisement pages bought by Italian companies in our magazines. We thank all of you and especially our guests from the Italian Trade Commission for making the business of ‘Made in Italy’ so pleasant for us and for all Americans. The country you represent has been improving our lifestyle in many ways for decades. Thank you again”, said Mrs. Black to the many people attending the presentation.
     

    Among them, Umberto Vattani, General Director of the Italian Trade Commission; the Italian Minister of Economic Development Claudio Scajola; the Consul General of Italy in New York Francesco Maria Talò; the Ambassador of Italy to the United Nations Giulio Terzi di Sant'Agata; the Deputy-Consul Marco Alberti; the former Presidents of the Italian - American Chamber of Commerce Berardo Paradiso (today President of the  Italian American Committee on Education) and Alberto Comini; the Director of the Italian Tourism Board Riccardo Strano; the founder of Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo' Baroness Mariuccia Zerilli Marimo'; and dozens of Italian reporters and journalists working in the New York area.

    It was Mrs. Valerie Salembier, senior vice president and publisher of  Harper's Bazar, who was designated to officially present and explain the terms of the campaign to the personalities and the dozens of Italian and American journalists attending. Mainly directed to general consumers and to specialized retail stores situated throughout the United States, the project is not the first one born from the collaboration between ITC and the magazine chain, as Mrs. Salembier explained: “Hearst Magazines have been working with the Italian Trade Commission for the last thirty years. We, like no other media company, understand its commitment to bring Italian Fashion and lifestyle to American consumers and retailers. The Magazines that are part of this special promotion all have a very strong relationship with their readers, who trust the editorial qualities of Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, Town&Country , The Oprah, and  Marie Claire".

    As far as the part of the campaign addressed to the general public, it will mainly be based on periodical publications of an Italian fashion portfolio in all six magazines published by Hearst. “ICE will run five absolutely beautiful 16 page photographic portfolios in five of our magazines. Each one is totally different and contains specific images to match our magazines’ readers. The portfolios have been shot in various locations in Italy, including the Spanish Steps in Rome. Harper’s Bazaar’s runway report will run an accessories portfolio; Town&Country will run jewelry in November, Esquire will run a men’s fashion portfolio in January and Harper's Bazaar will run a women’s fashion portfolio in January. Marie Claire will do one in February. They will feature both high level and middle level brands and are meant to inspire the readers of our magazines and introduce them to the latest fashions in Italian style.

    The other part of the promotional campaign will be focused on the involvement of retail stores. “We have chosen 150 of the best retail stores in the most important cities in America.
    They have a very clear understanding of the quality and the luxury that Italian companies offer their customers. Their part of the program will occur over a 2 week period in which we will give them directions on how they can generate local press coverage and attract new customers in their stores. They will receive all our help. Our magazines will contribute and assist them in the decoration of their ‘Italian’ store-windows and offer them other collateral advertising material. Initiatives to show them our support will be numerous: not only will they be invited to the Hearst Tower on October 14 for a fabulous and exciting lunch event with VIPs and the Press, but next spring we will also host 10 events in retail stores across the country to demonstrate to these retailers that the Italian Trade Commission appreciates their commitment to sell Italian Brands”.
     

    Mrs. Valerie Salembier also announced a new contest related to the campaign which can be found on Hearst’s website: The company will award 100.000 $ to a photo portraying a “very special Italian moment”, chosen among the thousands expected to be sent by the editors of the magazines and the Italian Trade Commission.
     

    After the screening of the official video of the campaign featuring the Italian top model Eva Riccobono, Mrs. Valerie Salembier handed over the microphone to Umberto Vattani, General Director of the Italian Trade Commission.
     

    A true gentleman, he did not forget to introduce the public to the beautiful actress who participated in last year’s campaign, Isabella Rossellini, who was also attending the event. “Seeing Isabella reminds me of a legend. It says that when a baby is born, an angel kisses him. Depending on the area of the body kissed, the baby will develop a particular talent. I really don’t know how many times the angel kissed Isabella”.
     

    From a natural beauty to the unique charm of our country, Mr. Vattani showed he was proud to represent Italian style throughout the world: “In Italy La Vita è Bella is not only the title of a movie but it is factual reality. Our country offers us all kinds of beauty, from beauties that nature gives us to the supreme works of art conceived and made by our geniuses and artists. It is said that God gave the Italians the talents to discover the sixth sense. From Michelangelo and Leonardo, to contemporary Versace and Armani, they all found it in aesthetics”.
     

    His speech was immediately followed by Minister Scajola’s statements: “I am here to express my compliments both to Hearst and the Italian Trade Commission for their important effort in promoting Italian Fashion in the United States: they are fulfilling this goal with extraordinary commitment and elegance. The ITC could not choose a better company than Hearst and its magazines to conduct this promotional campaign that we are inaugurating today. (…)I am certain that this promotional campaign will contribute to the enhancement of the exports from Italy to the US, but first of all it will serve the purpose of making the quality of our goods known”.
     

    The Fashion industry, as the Minister pointed out, is not the only sector of excellence that our country is proud of. We are among the first in the world in the food, technological, chemical, aeronautical sectors, but it is through the fashion world that foreigners can better understand the kind of life experienced in Italy, our daily “Vacanza Romana”.
     

    However, Minister Scajola’s main expectation from this and future campaigns is foster a constantly growing and enhanced collaboration between the citizens of the two countries in the many different sectors of expertise they have in common. The US and Italy have always been close historically and culturally speaking and as he finally pointed out: “Italy’s relationship with the United States has always been one of friendship. Our peoples have always been close. On September 11 2001 the whole world said that everybody is American. We Italians still say nowadays that we are all Americans, and with them we can build a stronger bond for both the present and future of our two countries”.

     

    Find more photos like this on i-Italy
  • Events: Reports

    Summer in the City. Dance to the Rhythm of Jovanotti's Funky Beat!


    While Jovanotti easily sold out two popular New York venues when he made his US debut here earlier this year, he's looking to the city's incomparable small club scene as an incubator for new inspiration on a global level. Jovanotti will perform with a project called Soleluna NY Lab which combines musicians from his "Roma Colletivo" with New York-based musicians. The gigs will have the 'anything goes' attitude of experimental jam sessions and a surprising roster of international musicians will drop in for guest appearances.


    Until now, American audiences have had to make do with mere glimpses of the brilliant career of one of Italy’s most famous contemporary artists, the Tuscan singer and songwriter Lorenzo Cherubini, professionally known as Jovanotti. Over the past twenty years his recorded collaborations with Michael Franti, Ben Harper, Carlinhos Brown, Sergio Mendes, and Bono, among other well-known names, have occasionally caught the ear of the adventurous listener. Delivering lyrics in a half-sung, half-spoken style that has something esthetically in common with a downtown reading by a Beat poet, Jovanotti uses the rhythm and the ricochet of consonants and catchy melodic hooks to create songs that are instantly accessible to an international audience.


    i-Italy attended the first of his New York summer concerts on Monday, June 15 at the Zebulon Club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The place was literally packed and Lorenzo was just thrilled with the warm and vibrant welcome he received from his new American audience. “I was supposed to play for 40 minutes or so”, he said after an hour and a half exhibition. But he just could not stop singing and satisfied many of his fans’ requests. From “Serenata Rap”, “Mani Libere”, and “Ombelico del Mondo” to “A te”, “Safari” and “Punto”: he played some of his greatest hits, and not surprisingly most of the people present knew many of the pieces by heart.

    Jovanotti's latest single "Punto"



    i-Italy invites its American and Italian-American readers to follow Jovanotti in his New York performances. Enjoy his “global music”, that encompasses rhythms from all over the world, mixed with a typical Mediterranean sound.

    A few notes on Jovanotti’s career, discography, and achievements…

    Jovanotti launched his musical career in the late ‘eighties from a dj stint on Milan’s popular Radio Deejay network to become a commercially successful, if not critically regarded, pop rapper/dj. Throughout the ‘nineties, Jovanotti steeped himself in international influences which, not unlike Manu Chao, he synthesized into a uniquely modern version of the traditional Italian singer-songwriter. As his music evolved, so did his lyrics, as he began to use his songs to address philosophical, religious and political issues.


    Jovanotti was the first Italian to work for MTV. The term ‘world beat’, used to describe foreign language music with a groove, had just come into vogue as the singer took to the role of Fellini-esque master of ceremonies on the early 1990’s MTV program “Earth to MTV”.

    The song ‘Serenata Rap’ was the most frequently shown video on MTV Latino in 1994 and Jovanotti made two live concert appearances on MTV Europe.

    In the late ‘nineties, Jovanotti made a direct leap into the arena of world music, recording a portion of his seventh album Lorenzo 1997 in South Africa with local musicians and guest stars. He also released a greatest hits album in Spanish with lyrics translated by Jarabe de Palo and Oscar-winner Jorge Drexler.


    Jovanotti has recorded eleven studio albums; the four most recent releases have all gone to number one in Italy. His current album, the award-winning, multi-platinum Safari (March 2008) was recorded in Los Angeles, Tuscany, Rio de Janeiro, Hannover, Germany and Milan. The CD has been certified as Italy’s #1 selling album of 2008 with more than 500,000 copies sold.



    Nublu
    62 Avenue C (bet. 4th & 5th St.), New York, NY

    Mondays, 9pm

    June 22, 29 (set @ 11pm)

    July 6, 13, 20, 27

    Tickets for the Nublu sets will only be available at the door on the evening of show

    Zebulon
    258 Wythe Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211

    June 24, 9 pm

    Free Admittance
    Info: (718) 218-6934

    Joe's Pub
    425 Lafayette Street (between Astor Pl and W. 4th St), New York, NY

    Thursdays, 11:30pm

    July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30

    Tickets are available online.

    Info: (212) 967-7555

    Santos Party House

    96 Lafayette Street (Ground Floor South), New York, NY 10013

    August 5, 7 pm

    Info: (212) 584-5492

    Visit i-Italy's page on Facebook:  you will find dozens of pictures of the concerts!
  • Events: Reports

    Living La Dolce Vita in New York


    How about a trip to Italy? If you are still working, stuck in the office, and keeping up with a busy schedule, a summer vacation in the Bel Paese might seem impossibile for you. But Fondazione Foedus in NYC has a solution just for you.


    ‘Journey to La Dolce Vita’ will take place on June 26-27. The event, organized by the Fondazione to benefit the victims of the earthquake in Abruzzo, celebrates the glamour of Italy in the ‘50s and ‘60s guiding the audience through the magnificent avenues and the narrow backstreets of the “caput mundi”, Rome.


    On June 26 at 7 pm the classic movie by William Wyler will be screened outdoor in the stunning Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park (right under the Brooklyn Bridge), where the public will enjoy an exceptional view and savour artisanal gelato and other Italian delicacies.

    “The Journey to La Dolce Vita” exhibit will be inaugurated on the same day and will run at the Powerhouse Arena through August 2. The display, organized in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of New York, RAI Corporation and the Italian Trade Commission, features a selection from over 100 black-and-white original archive photos never seen before in the U.S. of royal families, presidents and Hollywood movie stars in their visits to Rome. The pictures portrait unforgettable scenes such as Joe DiMaggio on a Vespa, Frank Sinatra lounging on the beach, John F. Kennedy saluting the Italian troops and Charlton Heston on the set of Ben Hur. Not only. Vintage Vespas, an old Fiat 500 and the brand-new Fiat 500 will be on display to complete the Dolce Vita experience the exhibit offers.


    Through the sale of these original photographs, the Fondazione Foedus aims to raise funds for an international charity dedicated to children. “Our hope is that Journey to La Dolce Vita will soon be the path taken by all children around the world”, declaired Gianclaudio Angelini, General Director of Foedus USA, at this reguard. In particolar, the initiative’s goal is to collect substantial foundings to benefit children victims of the recent earthquake in Abruzzi, Italy. Finally, the visitors not only will have a chance to admire inhedit and original photo-portraits, but will also have a chance to win 2 Business Class tickets to Italy and 1 brand new Vespa at the Dolce Vita raffle.


    Finally, Fondazione Foedus invites the public to return to the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park on Saturday June 27, when Italo-Brasilian bossa star Rosalia de Souza will offer a free performance and the New York-based Italian chef Cesare Casella will serve an exquisite outdoor menu.

    i-Italy invites all those passionate about Italian cinema, music and culture to attend the event and contribute to this important and generouse cause.



     EVENT DETAILS

    Friday June 26, 7pm, Gelato and Film Screening in the Park: Film screening Roman Holiday outdoor - al fresco - in the stunning Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park (26 New Dock St, Brooklyn, NY 11201) with views of the Bridge, Lady Liberty, the river and the skyline of downtown Manhattan. Italian delicacies and artisanal gelato will be available to the public


    Saturday June 27, Concert & picnic in the Park:     Renowned jazz singer Rosalia de Souza offers a free charity concert at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park. Italian delicacies and artisanal gelato will be available to the public, which is expected to be in the thousands.

    June 27 - Aug 2 2009, Photo exhibit: The photo exhibit runs at the Powerhouse Arena (37 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY),  founder of the prestigious NY Photo Festival and considered a mecca for photography enthusiasts in New York. Free admittance.



     
  • Events: Reports

    Mauro Pagani in New York. Come and Shake it Up to the Rhythm of Taranta



    Are you ready to dance some Taranta? Are you ready to hear tambourines beating to the rhythm of southern Italian music? If so, Mauro Pagani is coming to New York just for you. His concert "La notte della Taranta" has been organized by the Consulate General of Italy in occasion of the festivities honoring Italian National Day and will take place at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center of Staten Island on May 31 at 4pm.

    The Taranta Pizzicata, as many of you might now, is an ancient dance of the Salento region.  The pizzica is the music that marked the ancient healing ritual against the bite of a tarantula, the dangerous poisonous spider. According to tradition, in order to drive out the demon thought to have taken possession of the victim, usually a woman, tambourines should be beaten incessantly. The dizzily rhythmic sound of the tambourine combined with a frenzied hypnotic dance healed the victim of the poison. Other types of pizzica tarantata are the courtship dance between a man and a woman and the “dance of the swords” also called pizzica a scherma. 

     
    La notte della Taranta is a Festival that takes place every summer in Melpignano, in the Salento region, and is the greatest musical festival dedicated to the Salentine pizzica, combined with other music genres, from world music to rock, from jazz to symphonic music. Maestro Concertatore Mauro Pagani was the Festival's director for the 2007 and 2008 editions. During his concert, organized in collaboration with the Region of Apulia, the Italian Culture Institute, the Fitzgerald Foundation of Florence, The United Pugliese Federation and the Snug Harbor Cultural Center, he will combine traditional Salentine rhythms with those of the whole Mediterranean area. 
     
    Besides being one of the major interpreters of this traditional dance, Mauro Pagani is also a renowned Italian musician and singer. Born in Chiari, Lombardy, in 1946, Pagani is a multi-instrumentalist artist. He debuted in the music world in 1970 as a violinist and co-founded the progressive rock band Premiata Forneria Marconi  which he left in 1977 to start a solo career.
     
    An "experimenter" of sounds related to blues, roots and Mediterranean music, he has duetted with other famous artists of the Italian musical panorama, including Roberto Vecchioni, Gianna Nannini, Luciano Ligabue, Ornella Vanoni, and especially Fabrizio De Andrè, arguably the best Italian troubador ever. He also composed the soundtrack for two movies by the Italian director Gabriele Salvatores, Puerto Escondido (1992) and Nirvana (1995).
     
    Mauro Pagani and Fabrizio De Andrè collaborated for the longest time, particularly during the last years of the latter's life. They wrote together Creuza de mä (1984) and Le nuvole (1990), the first being voted in 1989 by Italian music critics the best Italian record of the past fifty years. The record also became an international success when David Byrne, former leader of Talking Heads and quintessential New York City artist, included it in the list of the ten best albums of the Eighties. Apart from being a record of stunning beauty, Crueza de ma is also considered a landmark of “world music”, as it encompasses virtually all major Mediterranean musical influences (Southern Italy, Balkans, North Africa, Greece, Turkey, Middle East, etc). In 2004 Pagani also released a new version of this historic album, titled Crueza de ma 2004, featuring musicians from Israel and Tunisia.
     
    The artist's visit to New York will also be the occasion to present his book Foto di Gruppo con Chitarrista - Group Picture with Guitarist -  (Rizzoli 2009). On May 29 (6 pm) Pagani will hold a conference at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York and discuss it with writers and journalists Alberto Flores d'Arcais and Christian Rocca.



     

     

     

    Additional info:

     
     
     CONCERT
    La Notte Della Taranta 

    A New York Concert Premiere  

     
    Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden
    1000 Richmond Terrace
    Staten Island, NY 10301
    Sunday, May 31, 2009 4pm – 5:30pm
    Free Admission 

     
    Special fundraising wine & cheese  from 3pm - 4pm
    $10 per person in the Music Hall lobby prior to the concert 

     
    For directions or more information:
     www.snug-harbor.org 
    [email protected]
    or 718 48-2500 
     
     
     
     BOOK PRESENTATION

    FOTO DI GRUPPO CON CHITARRISTA 

      (Rizzoli 2009)

    with

    Mauro Pagani

      Alberto Flores D’Arcais

    Christian Rocca

    Friday May 29, 2009 -  6 pm

    Italian Cultural Institute - 686 Park Avenue, NYC

    R.S.V.P. : 212-879-4242 ext.381

     

     

       

     

     
  • Art & Culture

    Mauro Pagani in New York. Come and Shake it Up to the Rhythm of Taranta



    Are you ready to dance some Taranta? Are you ready to hear tambourines beating to the rhythm of southern Italian music? If so, Mauro Pagani is coming to New York just for you. His concert "La notte della Taranta" has been organized by the Consulate General of Italy in occasion of the festivities honoring Italian National Day and will take place at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center of Staten Island on May 31 at 4pm.

    The Taranta Pizzicata, as many of you might now, is an ancient dance of the Salento region.  The pizzica is the music that marked the ancient healing ritual against the bite of a tarantula, the dangerous poisonous spider. According to tradition, in order to drive out the demon thought to have taken possession of the victim, usually a woman, tambourines should be beaten incessantly. The dizzily rhythmic sound of the tambourine combined with a frenzied hypnotic dance healed the victim of the poison. Other types of pizzica tarantata are the courtship dance between a man and a woman and the “dance of the swords” also called pizzica a scherma. 

     
    La notte della Taranta is a Festival that takes place every summer in Melpignano, in the Salento region, and is the greatest musical festival dedicated to the Salentine pizzica, combined with other music genres, from world music to rock, from jazz to symphonic music. Maestro Concertatore Mauro Pagani was the Festival's director for the 2007 and 2008 editions. During his concert, organized in collaboration with the Region of Apulia, the Italian Culture Institute, the Fitzgerald Foundation of Florence, The United Pugliese Federation and the Snug Harbor Cultural Center, he will combine traditional Salentine rhythms with those of the whole Mediterranean area. 
     
    Besides being one of the major interpreters of this traditional dance, Mauro Pagani is also a renowned Italian musician and singer. Born in Chiari, Lombardy, in 1946, Pagani is a multi-instrumentalist artist. He debuted in the music world in 1970 as a violinist and co-founded the progressive rock band Premiata Forneria Marconi  which he left in 1977 to start a solo career.
     
    An "experimenter" of sounds related to blues, roots and Mediterranean music, he has duetted with other famous artists of the Italian musical panorama, including Roberto Vecchioni, Gianna Nannini, Luciano Ligabue, Ornella Vanoni, and especially Fabrizio De Andrè, arguably the best Italian troubador ever. He also composed the soundtrack for two movies by the Italian director Gabriele Salvatores, Puerto Escondido (1992) and Nirvana (1995).
     
    Mauro Pagani and Fabrizio De Andrè collaborated for the longest time, particularly during the last years of the latter's life. They wrote together Creuza de mä (1984) and Le nuvole (1990), the first being voted in 1989 by Italian music critics the best Italian record of the past fifty years. The record also became an international success when David Byrne, former leader of Talking Heads and quintessential New York City artist, included it in the list of the ten best albums of the Eighties. Apart from being a record of stunning beauty, Crueza de ma is also considered a landmark of “world music”, as it encompasses virtually all major Mediterranean musical influences (Southern Italy, Balkans, North Africa, Greece, Turkey, Middle East, etc). In 2004 Pagani also released a new version of this historic album, titled Crueza de ma 2004, featuring musicians from Israel and Tunisia.
     
    The artist's visit to New York will also be the occasion to present his book Foto di Gruppo con Chitarrista - Group Picture with Guitarist -  (Rizzoli 2009). On May 29 (6 pm) Pagani will hold a conference at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York and discuss it with writers and journalists Alberto Flores d'Arcais and Christian Rocca.



     

     

     

    Additional info:

     
     
     CONCERT
    La Notte Della Taranta 

    A New York Concert Premiere  

     
    Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden
    1000 Richmond Terrace
    Staten Island, NY 10301
    Sunday, May 31, 2009 4pm – 5:30pm
    Free Admission 

     
    Special fundraising wine & cheese  from 3pm - 4pm
    $10 per person in the Music Hall lobby prior to the concert 

     
    For directions or more information:
     www.snug-harbor.org 
    [email protected]
    or 718 48-2500 
     
     
     
     BOOK PRESENTATION

    FOTO DI GRUPPO CON CHITARRISTA 

      (Rizzoli 2009)

    with

    Mauro Pagani

      Alberto Flores D’Arcais

    Christian Rocca

    Friday May 29, 2009 -  6 pm

    Italian Cultural Institute - 686 Park Avenue, NYC

    R.S.V.P. : 212-879-4242 ext.381

     

     

       

     

     
  • Art & Culture

    Support La Scuola d'Italia with Monica Guerritore


    Monica Guerritore. Who in Italy does not know this name? Long brown hair, huge deep-set eyes, Monica is a famous TV, theater, and movie actress. The Italian public has known her since 1974 when she first debuted at the age of sixteen in “The Cherry Orchard” directed by Giorgio Strehler at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. On May 28, Americans will have a chance to meet her in New York where she will give a double performance in "Dall'Inferno all'Infinito" (From Hell to Infinity) and "Giovanna d'Arco" (Joan of Arc).  The event will be the first in a series entitled "Incontri" (Encounters), organized by the bilingual school La Scuola d'Italia Guglielmo Marconi to help finance the school’s cultural activities.
     

     

    Describing Monica Guerritore’s career could be quite an undertaking. Thirty-five years of collaborating with the most famous and talented Italian artists, directors, and actors cannot be easily summarized in a few lines, but let’s give it a try.

     

    After her debut in 1977 she acted under Missiroli’s direction in “Uncle Vanya” and "Three Sisters,” two works by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. She was soon discovered and joined the Valli-De Lullo theater company, acting in “Twelfth Night” and “Le Malade Imaginaire” by Shakespeare and Molière, respectively.
     
    Besides being a talented actress, Monica has always been a woman of extraordinary beauty and charm. It’s no wonder that she found her first true love on stage: in 1981 she became involved in a romantic relationship with theater actor and director Gabriele Lavia, who became her faithful partner both privately and on stage for many years. It was during those years, and mostly under his direction, that she played a number of extremely important roles (Giocasta, Lady Macbeth, Ophelia) giving the Italian theater powerful and original interpretations of traditional female characters. Indeed, among the many roles she played, there were some that she particularly preferred, such as Strindberg’s “Miss Julia” and Marianne in “Scenes from a Marriage” (a part she also played for a TV production). Moreover, Monica is not only a comedy and dramatic actress. From 2001 to 2004, she worked with Giancarlo Sepe who cast her as the protagonist in several operas and ballets including “Madame Bovary,” “Carmen,” and “La Dame aux Camélias.” 
     
    Let's not forget that Monica is also a TV and movie star. In 1985 she made her  debut on the silver screen in Salvatore Samperi's "Fotografando Patrizia”  followed later that year by Lavia's "Scandalosa Gilda" (Scandalous Gilda), and afterwards by "Sensi" (Senses, 1986) and "La Lupa" (1996), whose cast included Michele Placido., Giancarlo Giannini, and Roul Bova, some of the most famous actors in Italian contemporary cinema. 
     

     

    Her television debut, on the other hand, dates back to 1977 with the first color TV series of “Manon Lescaut” directed by Sandro Bolchi.  In 1997 she  started working for  RAI, the Italian national television broadcasting company and acted in “Costanza” directed by Gianluigi Calderone, followed in 1999 by “Love after Living” directed by Mario Caiano. With these two productions which reached an audience of nine million viewers she proved that she was able to connect with the audience in every possible format and gained fame and recognition as a multifaceted and eclectic actress.  

     
    From actress to director and producer. In recent years Monica has launched three successful large-scale Italian theater productions which she directed, produced, and performed. "Joan of Arc" was presented in 2004, followed by "Eros and Psyche” by Apuleio and “Dall'Inferno all'Infinito" in 2008.  
     
    This has also been a fortunate period for her movie career. In January 2007 she acted in "Exodus,” a movie praised by critics when screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in May, 2008. In that production she played the fascinating role of Ada Sereni, an Italian woman who saved 25,000 Jews during the Holocaust. In 2008 she starred in Ferzan Ozpetek’s latest movie “A Perfect Day” screened at the Venice Film Festival and at the Museum of Modern Art, as well as “Thyssen Krupp Tragedy” with Valeria Golino and Silvio Orlando also presented at the Venice Film Festival. 
     
    This year she will reach an even wider audience, co-starring with Alessandro Preziosi in "Saint Augustine," a TV series in which she plays Saint Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine. 

      
    Monica Guerritore is performing in the outstanding "Dall'Infinito all'Inferno" and "Joan of Arc" just for La Scuola, free of charge. Donations to benefit the school’s cultural activities and events are suggested.   
     

     

     
    Date and Time: May 28, 2009- 6:30 pm
    Location: Industria Superstudio
    775 Washington Street (corner of West 12th Street), 10014 NY
     
    Refreshments and hors d'ouvres will be offered during intermission.
    Silent auction items will be on display
    An English translation will be available
     
    RESERVATIONS REQUIRED
    For further information or RSVP
    please call 212 369 4433 or email at [email protected]
     
    Suggested minimum donation $90 per person

     

Pages