Articles by: M. T.

  • Art & Culture

    Italy and New York.: a Musical Tribute by the Italian Carabinieri Band

    The evocative location, surrounded by huge and wide windows, from which it was possible to admire the entire Columbus Circle, hosted with great visual impact the 95 components of the band, in red and black uniform. The audience could not help but be charmed and enchanted.The consul general’s words, Francesco Genuardi, then opened the musical event, underscoring the importance of the presence of the corps, both from a historical and a cultural point of view. The concert began with the Italian anthem, followed by the American one. 

    Thus the consul general, surrounded by the military orchestra in their uniforms colors said: “It is not bychance that we are here today to reflect on the cultural bridge between the United States and Italy, and all that is carried out by  Sistema Italia, in order to be stronger and stronger. This evening we are going to be enraptured by the wonderful notes played by one of the biggest military orchestras in the world, established in 1820”.

    He thenadded: “the Carabinieri play a fundamental role for the safety both on the international and national level and it is emblematic to have them paying us this tribute tonight”.

    Director Massimo Martinelli conducted the orchestra composed by 95 musicians that played some of the most beautiful and known symphonies such as La Forza del destino by Verdi, Baaria by E. Morricone,  New York Serenade by M. Martinelli, Ballet and March from “Carmen” by G. Bizet, Aria Nessun Dorma from Turandot by G. Puccini – solista Matteo Coltellacci, Aria The Queen of the Night from The Magic flute by W. A. Mozart – solista Santino Torre Allegro Finale from William Tell by G. Rossini Official March of the Carabinieri La Fedelissima by L. Cirene.

    About the Carabinieri Band
    The Carabinieri Band was founded in 1820 when the then Royal Carabinieri Corps assembled a group of buglers for the first time. In 1862, this became a fanfare, and by 1920 had developed into a full Band contingent of the Carabinieri Force. Under the direction of Maestro Luigi Cajoli, the Band became famous for its quality of style, and in 1916 it travelled abroad for the first time for a series of concerts for injured allied soldiers. It performed with great success in Paris, and was highly acclaimed by the press.

    Many other prestigious tours abroad followed, from Europe, to North and South America, the Middle East and Japan. Maestro Luigi Cirenei, who was a pupil of Pietro Mascagni, succeeded Cajoli in 1925. He improved the artistic skills of the Band and composed La Fedelissima the march theme adopted by the Carabinieri Force. Other band directors included: Maestro Domenico Fantini (1947), Maestro Vincenzo Borgia (1972) and Maestro Massimo Martinelli (2001), who is the present Director. The Carabinieri Band, with 103 musicians, each one an expert in a particular instrument, interpret the most famous compositions with a rich repertoire ranging from traditional military marches to modern and classical music.

  • Life & People

    The Community Gathers to Greet and Say Good Bye to the Consul General Natalia Quintavalle

     An overcrowded room filled the General Consulate and the Italian Cultural Institute, which opened its doors to the soft tones of Jazz music for the occasion. Journalists, friends and colleagues from the cultural environment and the Italian system gathered together for the final greeting – that has been postponed due to the visit of the President of the Repubbblica Sergio Mattarella last month.

    “I will not speak about the main global political and economic topics like Syria, Libya,
    immigration, global warming, human rights: you have a brand new Ambassador in Washington, Armando Varricchio, for that and a lot of very good colleagues at the Mission to the UN leaded by Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi and Inigo Lambertini who is here with us today.

    And I will not speak about culture or trade because there are Giorgio Van Straten and Maurizio Forte for that. So, what is it left for a Consul General to talk about and to work for? The answer is easy: the people!”. Quintavalle is touched and her words invoke a strong pride for all she accomplished during her diplomatic mission.

    Being the first woman to be nominated as a General Consul, Natalia Quintavalle represented through these years a fundamental role in promoting Italian culture and language abroad. So many people remember her.

    Symbolic is her reply to Matilda Cuomo’s question from i-Italy, wife of ex-governor Mauro Cuomo.

    If everyone did what you do, the world would be a better place. "She completed very well her mission. She has a magnificent wellbeing and you need a lot of love and competence when you do this kind of work because you represent all of the people here. All the time she was listening to you and trying to help people around us. When she became Consul General she helped a lot and she continued in the years. It was like a strategy we needed to keep the italian language florescent in this country". 

    Although in America for less than a year, the Italian Cultural Institute director Giorgio Van Straten and the ICE – Italian Trade Commission – director Maurizio Forte do not miss the chance to underline the value of such a special and humane woman as Natalia. “We appreciated Natalia’s professional and humane talent, who did a team work with us. We are really going to miss her and as it happens in our careers – and I wrote to her (?)– we will have the chance to meet again and work together.
     

     The way she welcomed us was extraordinary and this explains her success in dealing with people. “For me Natalia Quintavalle is someone who was engaged with Italian community and understood the unique role of Italian American community. She has seen us as part of the present and the future and not just part of the past. I think it’s very important. We are gonna miss her”. These are John Viola’s words, the President of NIAF.

    Also Calandra’s Dean, Italian American Institute, Anthony Tamburri, tells us about the excellent presence as a woman and as a Consul for the Italian-American community. "She had certain sensibility to the consulate. She was just different and she became extremely friends of Calandra Institute".
     

    A special thank you from Quintavalle to the entire Consulate staff was made as well “I am going to miss you more than you are going to miss me, because I know I leave you in good hands. So I ask you an applause for Roberto, Isabella, Chiara and all the staff of the General Consulate of Italy in New York!” And so the vice consuls Isabella Periotto and Chiara Saulle take the floor and begin to illustrate their experience with affection.

    “New York is my first foreign branch and when I arrived at the end of 2014 I had to learn everything. Having had the chance to work with her was a big fortune. Professionally she is a diplomatic example, especially for us that are at our first experiences. She is a real problem solver and her contagious energy made the everyday work at the consulate not only full of teachings but also funny and exciting. We are going to miss her so much” Periotto says.

    And talking about feminine charisma, also the journalists say something about the consul’s extraordinary task. “She curated a lot the connection with the journalists. Above all, I appreciated her continuous effort to give value to women and this is something she never gave up doing. She highlighted them, and she promoted initiatives about women” tells us Angela Vitaliano.

    Of course some good Italian food had to be present as well. Thanks to Milano Expo, food was one of the topics that the Italian System discussed more in these years. 

    During the evening, in fact, a tasting from Made in Italy brands was proposed, such as Giovanni Rana, Risotteria Melotti Il Piccolo Caffè, Bertozzi, Clemente Bakery and Jack Di Piazza. In the meanwhile in the Italian Culture Institute room, the jazz concert organized by Enzo Capua with the evocative notes of pianist Simona Premazzi, Jay Sawyer and Pablo Meneres ended the evening in the best way.

    Consul, we are going to miss you! As a woman, mother and great diplomatic. We hope that your next mission can give you as much as the New York one did.

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  • Fatti e Storie

    La comunità saluta il suo console, Natalia Quintavalle

    Una sala gremita di persone ha affollato il Consolato generale e l’Istituto Italiano di Cultura, che per l’occasione, ha aperto le sue porte anche alla musica Jazz così amata dalla festeggiata. L'occasione era appunto il saluto al Console generale Natalia Quintavalle. Giornalisti, amici e colleghi del mondo della cultura e del sistema Italia si sono infatti riuniti in un abbraccio ,pieno di commozione, amicizia e gratitudine.
     

    Dopo la più perfetta, divertente e calda, delle introduzioni, quella di un americano che conosce l'Italia come pochi italiani, Fred Plotkin, esperto di Opera ma anche scrittore, giornalista di libri legati al viaggiare in Italia, il Console prende la parola. Le sue parole introducono la Console "Mi accorgo che una parte del tuo mestiere è di arrivare in un posto nuovo, portando i valori e la cultura del proprio paese e condividendo queste cose in un modo diplomatico ma anche orgoglioso. Ma poi c’è la parte meno tangibile e quella molto più rara—l’elemento umano".

    La Quintavalle è emozionata e dal suo racconto trapela un forte orgoglio per tutto quello che ha realizzato nella sua missione diplomatica. 
    “Questa sera non parlerò dei problemi politici ed economici mondiali,  come per esemoio ciò che sta accadendo in Syria, in Libia o dei diritti civili, del riscaldamento globale. Per questi temi vi lascio in mani sicure con il nuovo ambasciatore di Washington, Armando Varricchio. 

    E lo stesso vale per gli altri colleghi della Rappresentanza Permanente presso le Nazioni Unite guidate da Sebastiano Cardi e Inigo Albertini che è qui con noi oggi." 

    "Non parlerò neanche di cultura o di commercio, perché ci sono Giorgio Van Straten e Maurizio Forte. Allora, che cosa è rimasto ad una console generale di cui parlare, su cui lavorare? La risposta è semplice: la gente."
     

    Prima donna ad essere nominata Console Generale, Natalia Quintavalle, ha svolto in questi anni un ruolo cruciale nella promozione della cultura e della lingua italiana all’estero. A ricordarla in Consolato erano in tantissimi. Emblematica la frase con cui risponde alla domanda di i-Italy Matilda Cuomo, moglie dell'Ex governatore Mario Cuomo.

    'Se ognuno facesse quello che lei ha fatto ci sarebbe uj mondo sarebbe migliore'. "Natalia Quintavalleha svolto qui la sua carriera diplomatica in maniera eccellente. Quando lavori in questo campo hai bisogno di molto coraggio e amore perchè rappresenti le persone italiane qui a New York. Ogni volta lei è ad ascoltarti e aiutare. In particolar modo voglio ricordare l'impegno con cui ha promosso la lingua italiana.  E'ammirabile". Racconta Matilda Cuomo con molta dolcezza.
     

    Sebbene arrivati da poco sul suolo americano -poco meno di un anno- il Direttore Dell’istituto di Cultura, Giorgio Van Straten, e il direttore dell’ICE, Maurizio Forte, non si esimono dal sottolineare le qualita' di una donna tanto speciale e umana come Natalia.

    “Abbiamo apprezzato le doti professionali e umane di Natalia che ha fatto subito squadra con noi. Ci mancherà moltissimo. Ma come accade nelle nostre carriere so che avremo modo di incontrarci e lavorare insieme di nuovo. Il modo in cui mi ci ha accolto è stato davvero straordinario e questo spiega il suo successo ”.
     

    Non mancano le calde parole del Presidente della NIAF John Viola “Per me Natalia Quintavalle ha rappresentato un nodo cruciale per la comunità italo-americana. Lei ha saputo comprendere e capire il ruolo unico svolto dalla NIAF in questi anni. Nel presente e nel futuro e non solo come parte del passato. Penso che questo sia davvero molto importante. Ci mancherà molto".

    Anche il Dean del Calandra, l'Istituto Italo-americano della Cuny, Anthony Tamburri ci racconta della eccellente presenza di Natalia Quintavalle come donna e come console nella comunità italo-americana "Ha avuto una grande sensibilità nell'affrontare la tematica della lingua italiana ed era molto vicino agli eventi organizzati all'istituto del Calandra".
     

    Non manca un ringraziamento speciale da parte della Quintavalle a tutto lo staff del Consolato “Mi mancherete molto più di quanto potrò mai mancare io a voi, perchè vi lascio in buone mani. Vi chiedo quindi un applauso per Roberto, Isabella, Chiara e tutto il personale del Consolato Generale d’Italia a New York !”. E proprio le altre due diplomatiche donna, i consoli, Isabella Periotto e Chiara Saulle, prendono la parola. Per loro “New York è la mia prima sede estera,  quando sono arrivata avevo tutto da imparare. - racconta Saulle - Poter lavorare con lei è stata una vera fortuna. "

    "Professionalmente è una diplomatica modello, soprattutto per noi alle prime esperienze. E’ una vera 'problem solver' e la sua energia contagiosa ha reso la quotidianità del lavoro in Consolato non solo ricca di insegnamenti ma anche divertente ed entusiasmante. Si sentirà moltissimo la sua mancanza.” racconta la Periotto.
     

    E a proposito di grande carisma femminile anche le giornaliste ricordano l’incredibile impegno della console “Ha curato moltissimo il rapporto con noi giornalisti. Soprattutto ho apprezzato il suo continuo impegno per valorizzare le donne, e questa e’ stata una cosa che non ha mai mancato di fare. Metterle in evidenzia, promuovere le iniziative incentrate sulle donne” ci racconta Angela Vitaliano.
     

    Naturalmente non poteva mancare un po’ di buon cibo italiano. Grazie a Milano Expo, il cibo è stato uno degli argomenti del sistema Italia in questi anni. Ad accompagnare la serata infatti ci sono stati degli assaggi dei brand made in Italy come Giovanni Rana, Risotteria Melotti, Il Piccolo Caffè, Bertozzi, Clemente Bakery e Jack Di Piazza. 

    In contemporanea, nella sala dell’istituto di Cultura, il concerto Jazz organizzato da Enzo Capua con le suggestive note della pianista Simona Premazzi, Jay Sawyer e Pablo Meneres hanno cosi’ fatto terminare al meglio la serata.

    Natalia,  'We are going to miss you'  Come donna, madre e grande diplomatica. Le auguriamo che la nuova missione a cui andrà in contro possa darle tanto quanto l'esperienza di New York.

  • ‘Your Shape’: a unique Italian styling of the beard

    The Italian artistic team is spearheaded by Milanese photographer Roberto Chierici and curator Erika Arosio, along with barbers Robert Briscolini and Giovanni Cibin. 

    This will be the New York launch of what has already been a triumphant photography project in Italy: a show that explores the masculine search for self —and how the male identity is expressed in the way he trims his beard. In photographs mounted on aluminum and Plexiglas, Roberto Chierici manages to capture the allure of an entirely masculine world. 

    Men reflect on their own images through their beards—and this one feature is a versatile lens that can give importance not only the face but the identity in all its forms. Throughout history, a man’s beard has signified status; status of power, force, wisdom, and class. Every civilization and culture has used the beard as a distinct symbolic language. And now today, according to this artistic study, the implications are in fact psychological.

    The models who posed for this exhibition were prepared by barbers Robert Briscolini (winner of the prize “Best Man Style 2015”) and Giovanni Cibin of Italian Style. 

    They are nationally renowned barbers who’ve made beard-cultivation an integral part of their profession. They will be featured in a live performance during the opening night of the exhibition. The craft and vocation of the barber becomes almost divine in the skillful hands of these two, with each movement and gesture part of a near-sacred ritual. 

    Your Shape has been hosted in renowned spaces and galleries such as La Reggia di Monza, it won the Italian Hairdresser Award in Rimini and in Rome, and was seen in the deconsecrated Church of St. Stephen in Milan. 

    Opening Event Monday, March 14th, 2016 6pm-8pm 

    Wook Choi Gallery
     10 E 33rd St., 3rd floor New York, NY, 10016 
    Your Shape 

  • Art & Culture

    ‘Your Shape’: a unique Italian styling of the beard

    The Italian artistic team is spearheaded by Milanese photographer Roberto Chierici and curator Erika Arosio, along with barbers Robert Briscolini and Giovanni Cibin. 

    This will be the New York launch of what has already been a triumphant photography project in Italy: a show that explores the masculine search for self —and how the male identity is expressed in the way he trims his beard. In photographs mounted on aluminum and Plexiglas, Roberto Chierici manages to capture the allure of an entirely masculine world. 

    Men reflect on their own images through their beards—and this one feature is a versatile lens that can give importance not only the face but the identity in all its forms. Throughout history, a man’s beard has signified status; status of power, force, wisdom, and class. Every civilization and culture has used the beard as a distinct symbolic language. And now today, according to this artistic study, the implications are in fact psychological.

    The models who posed for this exhibition were prepared by barbers Robert Briscolini (winner of the prize “Best Man Style 2015”) and Giovanni Cibin of Italian Style. 

    They are nationally renowned barbers who’ve made beard-cultivation an integral part of their profession. They will be featured in a live performance during the opening night of the exhibition. The craft and vocation of the barber becomes almost divine in the skillful hands of these two, with each movement and gesture part of a near-sacred ritual. 

    Your Shape has been hosted in renowned spaces and galleries such as La Reggia di Monza, it won the Italian Hairdresser Award in Rimini and in Rome, and was seen in the deconsecrated Church of St. Stephen in Milan. 

    Opening Event Monday, March 14th, 2016 6pm-8pm 

    Wook Choi Gallery
     10 E 33rd St., 3rd floor New York, NY, 10016 
    Your Shape 

  • Art & Culture

    "The Street is in the House" by Carlo Sampietro

    The Street Is In The House is a body of work that transmutes elements of urban life into objets d'art. By using found materials and placing them in unfamiliar contexts and sophisticated designs, Sampietro reshapes everyday objects into meaningful amalgams.  The artist dismantles established value structures and elements of social behavior, the catastrophic result of human ignorance, and the immutability of desire.

    The artist begins by surrounding himself with objects that populate NYC sidewalks. He obsessively searches for familiar props on the street that will represent and communicate metaphors concerning problematic situations rooted in urban society.

    Based on his international background and his research, he uses a point of view and comparison that expands to megacities worldwide. He forces the audience to face social realities by bringing repurposed street objects into the house or bringing viewers out into the street.

    At the gallery, spectators will be able to play mini-golf through “Street Scraper,” a reconstruction of a 50 feet sidewalk where urban elements seem to emerge from the concrete. This installation is a provocation to reuse the sidewalk as a social melting pot and as an extension of our living rooms, the way life in the city used to be.

    In his installation, PopDogs, Sampietro investigates facets of the urban condition by creating a gargantuan edifice—a popcorn machine that spews plastic dogs at an alarming rate—a symbolic parallel to canine overpopulation in urban centers. In the video art Bunda Pandeiro, Sampietro explores the roles of gender and race in the contemporary world. An entire room will be dedicated to Cloche Sofa Masterpieces, a body of work that dismantles discarded elements of construction materials, such as sewer pipes and elevates them into unique and functional designs.

    Carlo Sampietro Works have
    appeared in several exhibitions including Figment (NYC), Galleria Rossana Orlandi (Milan) and Queens Museum of Art (NYC). He is the recipient of the Celeste Prize (2012) by Premio Scultura Urbana and first prize from A’ Design Award (2013). His filmBunda Pandeiro was featured at the Berlin Short Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival and won in the Experimental category in both the Tirana International Film Festival (2013) and the Brooklyn Film Festival (2013). His work has been featured in The Financial Times, The Washington PostEl Pais, Corriere Della Sera, Public Art Review, among other publications. Sampietro has lived in NYC for 13 years and continues to search for objects which will interpret his visión for his upcoming projects Aqueduct and onimoD.

    For more information: Ca' D'oro Gallery

  • Ambrogio Maestri to Make his Debut as Don Pasquale At New York' s Met

    “After L’Elisir d’Amore and Falstaff, Don Pasquale is the third comic opera I sing at the Met – says Ambrogio Maestri – Of course it’s a deeper role than that of Doctor Dulcamara, and somehow more similar to that of Falstaff.

    The two operas share crepuscular and melancholic tones, allowing for a peculiar look on old age.

    Surely there’s a distinct comic side, too, perfectly rendered by Otto Schenk’s staging, which is going to amuse the audience.

    This is also my debut in the role of the ‘elderly bachelor of the old school, thrifty, gullible and stubborn but’ as the libretto indicates ‘at heart a good sort’.

    And there’s really no better place than a great theatre like the Met to face a new role – continues Maestri – I’ve been allowed a long rehearsal period and several repetiteurs: basically all I need to make this character my own, a character, like that o Falstaff, I feel very close to, and one I hope to sing many times in the future”.

    Joining Ambrogio Maestri on stage are Eleonora Buratto as Norina, Javier Camarena as Ernesto, and Levente Mólnar as Malatesta. Following the Met’s Don Pasquale, Maestri will again be in the United States, in Chicago, where, from 21 to 26 April he will once more sing the role of Falstaff in concert performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti.

    A step “back to the roots” for this baritone who was discovered by Muti, who enabled him to make his debut at La Scala in 2001 in the very role of Falstaff, which he has now interpreted over 200 times in the most important opera houses worldwide, from London to Tokyo, from Amsterdam to Paris, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo.

  • Art & Culture

    Ambrogio Maestri to Make his Debut as Don Pasquale At New York' s Met

    “After L’Elisir d’Amore and Falstaff, Don Pasquale is the third comic opera I sing at the Met – says Ambrogio Maestri – Of course it’s a deeper role than that of Doctor Dulcamara, and somehow more similar to that of Falstaff.

    The two operas share crepuscular and melancholic tones, allowing for a peculiar look on old age.

    Surely there’s a distinct comic side, too, perfectly rendered by Otto Schenk’s staging, which is going to amuse the audience.

    This is also my debut in the role of the ‘elderly bachelor of the old school, thrifty, gullible and stubborn but’ as the libretto indicates ‘at heart a good sort’.

    And there’s really no better place than a great theatre like the Met to face a new role – continues Maestri – I’ve been allowed a long rehearsal period and several repetiteurs: basically all I need to make this character my own, a character, like that o Falstaff, I feel very close to, and one I hope to sing many times in the future”.

    Joining Ambrogio Maestri on stage are Eleonora Buratto as Norina, Javier Camarena as Ernesto, and Levente Mólnar as Malatesta. Following the Met’s Don Pasquale, Maestri will again be in the United States, in Chicago, where, from 21 to 26 April he will once more sing the role of Falstaff in concert performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti.

    A step “back to the roots” for this baritone who was discovered by Muti, who enabled him to make his debut at La Scala in 2001 in the very role of Falstaff, which he has now interpreted over 200 times in the most important opera houses worldwide, from London to Tokyo, from Amsterdam to Paris, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo.

  • Art & Culture

    Art Exhibition: "Salvo - Io sono il migliore"

    Salvo carries characters and images of the past in a highly contemporary imaginary through his paintings. His is an art of description and classification, where the importance is not given to the emotional and narrative event, but rather, to the objective data. Nothing is left to chance, everything evolves in relation to the space and to precise rules: specific seasons, as well as various times of the day, coincide with different colors.

    Salvo is a "figurative" artist who erases the subject in order to make space to the true protagonist: the light. A kind of light that is never the exact one, but exceeds the representation, becoming “the error to be attained".
     

    “I feel like a mountaineer who has to look for a new face to climb every so often, because I know the other one like a back of my hand. I have to look for something new not only in painting, but in nature and life, too. Then I look around me and at a certain point I discover a forgotten theme and I have a go at it, which means I try until I mistake, because only then does its personality show through. When I am no longer copying slavishly, then I add my own flaw...”
     

    Another essential element in the poetics of Salvo is memory: memory mixed with invention, without ever coming into contrast with it. While the artist gives importance to formal details, he also draws from an underwater imaginary, in which empathy plays perhaps the main role.
     

    “For me painting soon acquired a relation with reality, though always filtered by memory...At the same time it’s as though everything I paint now were a self portrait, as though it contained me, my history, my body, and so there is no longer any need to depict myself directly”.
     

    Salvo (Salvatore Mangione) - Leonforte (Enna), 1947 – Torino, 2015
    After spending his childhood in Sicily, Salvatore Mangione (aka Salvo) moved to Turin starting to paint and participating in 1963 to the 121st Exposition of the Company Promoter of Fine Arts.

    After devoting himself to copy great artists such as Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Fontana and Chagall, in the late sixties he gets in contact with the creative community of Arte Povera, with important art critics and American conceptual artists such as Joseph Kosuth, Sol LeWitt and Robert Barry.

    In 1970 he presents at the Galleria Sperone in Turin a series of photomontages in which he replaces his face with images from newspapers. In the same period he creates a series of marble slabs with engravings of words, phrases or names (eg. "Idiot", "I am the best", "Salvo lives") and several ironic and provocative works mythicizing his name by using neon letters in shades of tricolor or by inserting his signature at the bottom of lists of artists and personalities of the past.

  • Fatti e Storie

    Con Natalia Quintavalle al CIMA

    Prima donna a essere nominata console generale a New York, Natalia Quintavalle lo scorso giovedi 3 dicembre è stata ospite al Center for Italian Modern Art dove ha salutato a modo suo la comunità italiana e italo-americana.

    Nella primavera del 2016 lascerà la sede consolare dell'Upper East Side per intraprendere una nuova missione altrove. La sua partenza era prevista per questo dicembre ma la sua permanenza è stata prolungata, questo anche per consentire la visita del presidente della Repubblica, Sergio Mattarella, nel mese di marzo.

    In perfetto stile neworkese, nell'incanevole loft del CIMA a Soho, Natalia Quintavalle ha fatto il punto sul suo mandato a New York. Lo ha fatto salutando amici e persone del mondo della cultura che hanno condiviso con lei il lavoro di promozione dell'Italia a New York. Tra i presenti il direttore dell'Istituto di Cultura Giorgio Van Straten, colleghi, rappresentanti dell'ENIT e della Camera di Commercio, giornalisti.

    Natalia Quintavalle è stata introdotta con parole molto calde da Heather Ewing, Executive Director del CIMA, che ha lasciato poi la parola ai suoi ospiti.  E' stato Mario Platero, giornalista e US editor del Sole 24 ore, a fare da conduttore della serata,  chiacchierando e scherzando sulla esperienza diplomatica e culturale del console generale.

    Natalia Quintavalle, diplomatico di valore ma - come molte donne in carriera - anche madre e  moglie, si è prestata ad una piacevole atmosfera informale. 

    La ricordiamo il suo arrivo a New York e ricordiamo anche lo stupore di molti quando seppero che, a Park Avenu,e sarebbe andata una donna. Era la prima volta. E' stata una bella sfida per lei, in una comunità a volte non facile, ed in un mondo politico-diplomatico ancora quasi sempre dominato da uomini.

    E' andata benissimo ma la diplomatica non a caso ringrazia prima di tutto le nuove arrivate vice consoli, anche loro donne: Isabella Periotto e Chiara Saulle.  Coglie anche l'occasione per dedicare un ricordo speciale alla ex vice console Lucia Pasqualini, che l'ha affiancata in modo straordinario fino ad un anno fa.

    La chiacchierata si è svolta  gustando prodotti tipici italiani di Bronx Gustiamo.Inc. Bruschette fatte sul momento, pinzimonio con carote e sedano, bollicine del Nino Franco prosecco hanno reso effervescente la cerimonia. Sullo sfondo i muri  adornati dalla terza installazione annuale che vede come protagonista il celebre pittore e incisore italiano Giorgio Morandi.

    Tra i temi affrontati la tragedia appena avvenuta a Parigi, i lrapporto con la vasta comunità italo americana di NY, le diversità ma anche le affinità tra i due mondi.

    E poi il lavoro del sindaco Bill de Blasio e quello di tanti altre personalità  di riguardo come Mario Cuomo, venuto a mancare lo scorso gennaio. La moglie Matilda Cuomo e madre dell'attuale goveratore Andrew Cuomo, non potendo partecipare alla serata l'ha raggiunta per telefono.  Il console Quintavalle ha messo in viva voce la conversazione, così da poter rendere partecipi tutti. Parlando in italiano ed in inglese, la signora Cuomo ha fatto trapelare una grande stima e considerazione per il console generale.

    Non sono mancate poi domande sul Sistema Italia, sulla crisi in Europa e sul futuro che aspetta il Console Generale.

    Quello che è certo è che Natalia Quintavalle è riuscita a lavorare con successo, lasciando un impronta importante e contribuendo a consolidare il legame tra New York e l'Italia.

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