"La Meglio Gioventu`" Film Epic to be screened at Casa Italia Friday March 5 & 12

 "La Meglio Gioventu`" Film Epic to be screened at Casa Italia Friday March 5 & 12


You are cordially invited to join us for a screening of a modern award-winning saga of Italian life from the 1960s to the present. The epic story captivated Italian audiences as a six hour mini-series which we will present in two 3-hour hosted by Professors Gino Impellizzeri and Dominic Candeloro. Call 708 345-5933 to reserve your complimentary seats. Coffee and light refreshments---freewill donation. Florentine Room Italian Cultural Center Building 1621 N. 39th Ave., Stone Park, IL 60165. 7 pm

La meglio gioventù (2003)

March 5 Friday 7 pm Film “La Meglio Gioventu`” First Half---The life of the Carati family is interwoven with Italian affairs from the 1960s to 2000.

March 6 Saturday 7 pm Italian Cultural & Language Social Club Monthly Meeting, 7:00PM, Florentine Room

March 12 Friday 7 pm Film “La Meglio Gioventu`” Second Half---life of the Carati family was originally produced for broadcast by RAI in 4 episode.We present two episodes on March 5 and two on March 12.



Two brothers of Rome, who live the years from 1966 to 2000 and all the events which have signed this period. They begin their adventure, helping Giorgia, a young girl confined in an asylum. Then, after the flood of Florence, Nicola meets Giulia a talented piano player with a dangerous sympathy for the BR. Alessio, a rebel spirit entered in the police, will find the optimistic photographer Mirella. These four characters and many others will cross the years of terrorism and Tangentopoli. Chronological, from 1963 until 2003, moving around Italy, from Rome to the floods of Florence in 1966, student unrest in Turin, Mafia murders in Palermo, chance in Milan, plus two trips to Norway. Brothers Matt-o and Nicola, of opposite temperament, try to free Giorgia, a teen, from a mental institution: their failure leads Nicola into psychiatry and Matteo to the police. -In Florence, Nicola meets Giulia, a musician and leftist whose Red Brigade ties drive them apart after they have a child. In Palermo, Matteo meets Mirella, a photographer; they connect again in Rome. The film explores love, family, friendship, politics, mental illness, tragedy, and opportunities to forgive and to heal. Spanning four decades, from the chaotic 1960s to the present, this passionate epic follows two Italian brothers through some of the most tumultuous events of recent Italian history. In a final period of hopeful innocence, free-spirited Nicola travels the world and settles for a life as a successful psychiatrist, while his tragically introverted and idealist brother Matteo joins the Italian police with the hope of righting society's wrongs. Their politics and personalities are inextricably intertwined as the world around them violently shifts and they are pushed together and pulled apart by the tides of history and their own divergent dreams.





 Gino Impellizzeri will co-host the presentation of "La Meglio Gioventu`" along with Dominic Candeloro

2010 Italian Cultural Center Schedule as of Feb 18 2010

Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia

Calendar of Events



Cultural Program 2010 Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia

Our 2010 programs include Italian language classes for children and adults, recent award winning Italian Language films, Italian American literature and film, art, history, literature, cuisine, theatre and fellowship. Though we always welcome walk-ins, we ask that you aid us in our planning, by calling 708 345-5933 to book your participation in advance of each event or to arrange tours of our museums. Where fees are not specified, we ask a free will donation. All films listed below are rated R.

1621 N, 39th Ave,

Stone Park, IL

60165



January 12 Tuesday Italian Language Winter Session, Adult Classes Begin, ICC & Berwyn



For updates please visit the website at http://www.casaitaliachicago.org January 16 Saturday Italian Language Classes Teachers Meeting, Florentine Room

January 16 Saturday Italian Language Winter Session, Children Classes Begin

Simkus Recreation Center Carol Stream Park District

Preserve your Italian history!Bring your Italian heritage photos for Case Italia to scan and preserve and view museum pieces from the Casa Italia Sicilian exhibit.


Italian Cultural & Social Club: February 5 Friday Italian Cultural & Social Club: Meets Monthly. To Promote The Italian Language & Culture Using Exclusively The Italian Language. Yearly Fee:$30 Leader, Professor Gino Impellizzeri.



February 7 Sunday Carnevale Celebration, Italian Children's Classes, Chandelier Room



February 12 Friday Book Signing & Presentation, Prof. Robert Lombardo, The Black Hand: Terror by Letter in Chicago Friday February 12. Florentine Room, 7 pm.

February 26 Friday 7 pm Film “Il Divo” directed in 2008 by Paolo Sorrentino. A biopic based on the figure of former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. It was nominated for the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, where it was awarded the Prix du Jury.




March 5 Friday 7 pm Film “La Meglio Gioventu`” First Half---The life of the Carati family is interwoven with Italian affairs from the 196os to the present

March 6 Saturday 10am-2pm High School Immersion Event. American Association of Teachers Italian (Illinois) sponsor an Immersion for high school students.

Italian Cultural & Social Club March 6 Saturday 7 pm Italian Cultural & Social Club Monthly Meeting, 7:00PM, Florentine Room



March 12 Friday 7 pm Film “La Meglio della Gioventu`” Second Half---The life of the Carati family was originally produced for broadcast by RAI in 4 episodes. We present two episodes on March 5 and two on March 12.

John Fante Film

March 19 Friday 7 pm John Fante Film “Wait Until Spring Bandini” Joe Montegna and Faye Dunaway star in the film version of John Fante’s famous book



John Fante Film

March 26 Friday 7 pm John Fante Film “Ask from John Fante’s autobiographical novel directed by Robert Towne. With Colin Farrell, Salma Hayek,. English language.

March 27 Saturday 11 am Palm Weaving workshops by master weaver Eugene Fedeli Adults $35, Students $20

April 6 Tuesday Adult Italian Language Classes Begin Spring Session ICC & Berwyn

Italian Film Festival Opening Night April 9 Friday 7 pm --Spring Film Festival Opening Night “ La Ragazza del lago” (The Girl by the Lake) Toni Servillo, Omero Antonutti, Valeria Golino.This Film Festival, in cooperation with the Istituto italiana di Cultura Chicago, is one of the most important film series in North America.Festival is free and open to the public. All films will be shown in Italian with English subtitles.



Italian Cultural & Social Club: April 10 Saturday 7 pm Italian Cultural & Social Club Monthly Meeting, Florentine Room, 7:00 PM $30/yr.

Italian Film Festival April 16 Friday 7 pm --Spring Film Festival

Si puo fare (1908)

. Giulio Manfredonia Director starring: Claudio Bisio, Anita Caprioli, Giuseppe Battiston, Andrea Bosca, Giovanni Calcagno, Giorgio Colangeli, Rosaria Russo,.


April 19 Monday 7 pm Quarterly Book Club---We’ll all read the same Italian American book and meet over coffee to discuss the book. Maybe a Skype with the author. Just like Oprah! Book Title etc TBA.

Italian Film Festival April 23 Friday 7 pm -- Film Festival Film TBA

Casomai (2002)Directed by: Alessandro D'Alatri

Cast: Stefania Rocca, Fabio Volo, Gennaro Nunziate,

Mainstream Italian filmmaker Alessandro D'Alatri directs the light romantic comedy Casomai (If By Chance). Thirtysomething ad executive Tommaso (Italian TV star Fabio Volo) gets married to upscale makeup artist Stefania (Stefania Rocca)




Italian Film Festival April 30 Friday 7 pm -- Film Festival

Il Papa` di Giovanna (2008)

Bologna 1938. Michele Casali has a serious problem. His teenage daughter, Giovanna, has just killed her best friend in a jealous frenzy.

May 1 Saturday 11:00 am-2:00 pm Fresh Pasta Workshop: Learn How To Make Your Own Delicious Noodles, Shape Them And Dress Them With Delicious Sauces, Ravioli, Lasagna & Spinach Fettuccini. Recipes & Lunch included. $35 See Casa's web site for more information.

May 2 Sunday Italian Theater Presentation, Gino & Maria Nuccio & Company. 3:00 PM Casa Italia's Auditorium. Details TBA



May 6 Thursday----Music In Cooperation With The Italian Institute -- From Italy, Lorenzo Jovanotti Cherubini In Concert "Conquering America...OYeah!", Round Trip Deluxe Motor Coach will leave Casa at 7:30 pm Cost TBAat 9 pm Lincoln Hall, 424N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago.



Italian Film May 7 Friday 7 pm --Spring Film Festival Closing Night Ex (Italy 2009) Director Fausto Brizzi Juggling multiple storylines with aplomb, this mostly comic study of the vagaries of romantic entanglement focuses on six different couples... Festival Closing Night

May 21 Friday 7 pm Authors’ Night & Skype visit

Join us for a wine and cheese reception as we celebrate the Midwest’s most comprehensive Italian American Library, the expanded archives and Italian American holdings of the Casa Italia Library. We’ll also hear presentations from 20 local Italian American writers as they autograph their books at our mini book fair. Enjoy a live exclusive interactive discussion with a leading Italian American author.

June 12-13 Saturday/Sunday Printers Row Lit Fest 10 am- 6pm South Loop. Meet and greet Casa Italia Library staff and authors. Buy books, sign our email list, get info about the library and other Casa Italia activities. We feature hundreds of Italian and Italian American authors and Gina Amelia’s DVD “And They Came to Chicago: The Italian American Legacy.” Donate Italian or Italian-American books to the Casa Italia Library or for sale at the Fest. Call 708-345-5933.



June 11 Friday 7 pm -Virginio Ferrari Complete Works---Join us for an evening with Virginio Ferrari to celebrate the release of the catalog of his complete works. Chicago has been Ferrari's adopted city since the late Sixties. His sculptures are continuously on display in prestigious public spaces throughout the city. Many of his works are on display in the ICC John Cadel gallery. 6:30 pm Refreshments will be served.



June 12 Saturday Summer Camp Teachers Orientation/ Preparation Meeting 9 am-5 pm ICC Florentine Room/Lower Level

June 12 Saturday Luncheon & Tour Of Casa's Museums.1pm, Banquet Center. $20/ person.

Guided tour of the Italian American Veterans Museum, the Vatican exhibit, the Scalabrini Museum, the Italians in Chicago Exhibit, the Art Gallery, the Sicilian Museum, the Florence Roselli Library, the Hall of Fame, the Chapel, etc Italian luncheon at 1:00 pm in the Banquet Center. $15 per person. RSVP required. 708-345-5933.

June 18 Friday 6:30 pm Food & Wine Of Southern Italy, Dinner & Wine Tasting $35 Visit Casa's Web Site For Menu Details

June 21-July 9 MTWTF Children’s Italian Language Summer Camp & Sports Camp. For children aged 5 to 13 years old. Half day and full day programs available. For details see our ad in a current issue of Fra Noi or call 312-593-7255.



July 9 Friday Summer Camp Closing Ceremonies. 10:30 AM. Cookout For Campers’ Families, Staff &. Complimentary Tours Of Casa's Museums Available. 9:15 AM, 11:45 am & 12:45 pm.



July 11 Sunday Fubine Exhibit: Monferrato: Photo Exhibit Of Piemonte. More Details TBA Monferrato is in the Piedmont, in the Alessandria and Asti provinces. Its hilly terrain is ideal producing famous wines. Closes July 25.

July 16 Friday "Dancing Under The Stars", Ballo Liscio: Tango- Valzer- Marzucca Dancing and Dinner $35 per person including wine. See Casa's web site for details.

July 30 Friday 5 pm Neck Bone Dinner More info TBA

August 6 Friday Art Show Opening Chandelier To August 16

August 6-9 Festa di Francesco di Paolo



September 4 11 am—Italian Teachers’ meeting

September 10 Friday 6:30 pm Food & Wines Of Northern Italy, Friday Dinner & Wine Tasting $35

Visit Casa's Web Site For Menu Details

September 10-11 Childrens’ language classes begin

September 14 Tuesday- Adult Language Classes begin

September 19 Friday- Italian Language Poetry and Music night

October 30 Saturday—LiPuma Vocal Scholarship competition

November 7? Sunday—Li Puma Vocal Scholarship Dinner

December 11? Saturday—Presepio Vivente

December 12 Sunday 2 pm Children’s Christmas Celebration

Artistic Heritage of the Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia---Stone Park (Chicago)

Some Highlights of the John Cadel Art Gallery and Savoia Vatican Exhibit in the Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia

John Cadel’s”The Emigrants” is the signature painting in the art gallery which bears his name. Cadel taught at the Art Institute of Chicago and was a prolific book illustrator, writer, and teacher. John Bucci designed the Gallery and along with Father Feccia did all the manual labor to create the "white space" to show off the art.

This wood carved Madonna and Child is in the style and color of Siena artisans. Its exact origins are unknown but art appraisers judge it to be several hundred years old.

Contemporary Sculptor Domenico Mazzone of New York captures the spirit and determination of world-famous conduction Arturo Toscannini in this bronze bust acquired for the Italian Cultural Center by founder Fr. August Feccia in the 1970s.

This bust of Congressman Frank Annuzio was executed in bronze by Mario Spampinato. The Chicago Congressman was the strongest congressional supporter of Columbus Day as a Federal Holiday. For more than 30 years he was the voice of Chicago Italians in the US House of Representatives.

Another acquisition of Father Feccia, this porcelain-ceramic bust of Leonardo Da Vinci captures the wisdom and inventiveness of the original “Renaissance Man.” It was in the period of the 1400s and 1500s that Italy and then all of Europe was re-awakened to theart, science, and culture of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

The fabled Italian American artist Ralph Fasanella portrays here in a print an Italian Street Festival on the East Coast. Fasanella was a self taught artist who used a primitive (Grandma Moses) techniques to communicate the spirit of Italian American folk religion and the struggles of Italian millworkers for descent working conditions and union representation.

The murals that you see in the Italian Cultural Center are the work of Francesco Ribaudo. Hewas born in 1931 in Naples, Italy, the third of seven children of Bianca Sorrentino and Luigi Ribaudo, an accomplished artist who in turn had learned his trade at the side of his father, Benedetto. Despite his artist's inclination toward flamboyance and overstatement – and coolness toward the typical conservatism of the church – Francesco became a favorite of the Chicago archdiocese. His skills were in demand soon after his arrival in America and he was commissioned to do portraits of John Cardinal Cody, the mother of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin and many others.

World –renowned sculptor Virginio Ferrari grew up in Verona and moved to Chicago as a young man. For the past 40 years his works have graced our City as well as his native Verona. This metal sculpture is a moquette, or proposal, for a giant unrealized memorial to Mayor Richard J. Daley which was to have been erected in the lobby of the Daley Civic Center.

Perhaps the most prized possession of the Italian Cultural Center is the 1:100 miniature of Piazza San Pietro executed by the architectural model makers Attilio and Lucio Savoia. It took the father/son team 5 years to research and construct this perfect replica in their Roman studio in the late 1940s.

Casa Italia Library Fights to Preserve Italian AMERICAN Heritage

Casa Italia Library Fights to Preserve Italian AMERICAN Heritage


By Dominic Candeloro, Library Curator
It’s the day of the Fall Festival at Casa Italia and Robert Dini wanders into the Roselli Library in search of the oral history that his late father Umberto did in the Italians in Chicago Project thirty years ago. He’s directed to the actual tape and transcript and begins listening and reading along as interviewer Adria Bernardi begins the 80 minute interview. I see the nostalgic look on his face as he follows along intently and I realize again the importance of the work we are doing at the library and I am re-energized to continue the crusade “to preserve every stitch of evidence relating to the history of Italian Americans in Chicago“ in the Casa Italia Digital Archive.

This isn’t just ordinary collection and research. Italian American history and culture is at risk of being lost. Immigration to Chicago began in the 1880s and virtually ended in the 1980s. The passage of time, the dispersal of Italian neighborhoods, the demise of Italian Catholic Churches, intermarriage, and the loss of the language incurred by the stresses of World War II have squelched the transmission of the basics of the Italian American Experience to the younger generations. If our current initiatives are not successful, stories like the ones related by Umberto Dini in 1979, will be lost.

In fact, the library is in possession of about 300 tapes accumulated in the Italians in Chicago Project, the making of Gia Amella’s documentary “And They Came to Chicago,” UIC student interviews, radio interviews from “Ciao South Suburbia!” and Italian language tapes that I did in visits to major towns of origins of Chicago Italians in the early 1980’s. Many of the tapes are transcribed and we are beginning a project which will digitize all 300 into MP3 files that can be stored and played on computers. This will save these valuable documents from deteriorating as tapes dry up and crack. The library has recently acquired a high speed scanner and other computer peripherals to transfer audio and video cassettes to digital files. This ongoing project will make it possible for us to freely share our resources on the Internet and as CD discs and thumb drives. Among the unique materials that will be processed from our unpublished holdings are parish and neighborhood documents, my personal research files collected over 30 years, information on towns of origins, our growing photo collection, approximately 50 audio/video recordings by notable Italian American scholars, and 50 years of the Fra Noi (now on microfilm). If you are in possession of audio/videotapes and other materials that you would like to share with the archives, please contact us so that we might add your materials to our holdings.

The Oral History Collection and the archives are only one part of our comprehensive plan to preserve Italian AMERICAN culture on the local and national level. A generous grant from the Anthony Fornelli Family has made possible the recent purchase of thousands of books by and about Italians and their culture in the United States. The volunteer efforts of Jeanette Risatti Viehman (MA Italian Studies), Judy Kemp (Ph.D. Anthropology), Dan Niemiec (Italian American genealogist), Peggy Fox (Librarian at Fenton High School), Vincenzo De Vito(BS) , Maria Di Marco (MS) and Giuliano and Mariastella Gozzi have produced an online catalog of the holdings of our library available at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ItalCulturalCenter. So far, they have logged in 5400 items and are working on thousands of additional entries for research files, photographs and other unique materials. I have appealed through the American Italian Historical Association to dozens of Italian American scholars and authors who have responded by donating numerous autographed copies of their books and articles. Researchers from around the world can navigate the website searching on author, title, and keyword tolocate books and media in the library. Though the books, as a rule, do not circulate, it is often possible to use photocopies and advanced technology to share relevant parts of the library’s collection by mail or Internet.


We have recently launched a campaign to “Immortalize YOUR Family,” requesting that all Chicago Italian Americans contribute family, club, and church photos (with as much identification as possible) to the library archives. Between our library and the Italian American Veterans Museum and Library (our sister institution at Casa Italia), we have thousands of historic photos to offer the public and we want to accumulate even more. Many of the digital photos will be loaded into 5 newly installed digital frames in the Italians in Chicago Photo Exhibit. Contributions can be made in person by contacting me at 847-951-9109, dropping off the materials at the Library on Mondays from 1-5pm, or by scanning them yourself (at 300dpi) and emailing them as attachments to me at Candeloro@CasaItaliaChicago.org

Updating the collection has made it possible for the Roselli Library to gain membership as a Special Library in the Metropolitan Library System, the alliance of hundreds of academic and public libraries in the south and western Chicago area. As a member, the Roselli Library is eligible to compete for grants from the Illinois State Library headed by Secretary of State, Jesse White.

To make our library better known to the community we have participated for the last five years in the Chicago Tribune’s Printers’ Row Book Fair. At the reopening of the library in June 2009, we brought in bestselling author Adriana Trigiani via video Skype and plans are afoot to host other famous Italian Americans in the same manner. We are reaching out nationally and internationally to scholars to offer our collection for use in their research. Local genealogists can take advantage of our local holdings while using free Wi-Fi connection to the Internet in the library. We also allow the liberal use of digital cameras to record library documents.

Currently the library is staffed on Mondays and by appointment. We are looking for additional volunteers and interns to expand the hours. Interested parties should email Candeloro@CasaItaliaChicago.org or phone the main office of Casa Italia at 708 345-5933.

Dominic Candeloro has been involved in Italian American studies in Chicago for the past 32 years, is a past president of the Italian Cultural Center and of the American Italian Historical Association, and the author of three books on Chicago Italians. He has recently agreed to produce a fourth photobook for Arcadia Publishing on Italian Immigrants to Chicago from 1945-2005

Candeloro Comments is Coming Soon!

I just discovered Blogging and I will start independent blogging soon.  My main interest is Italian American Studies but as I am reaching senior citizen status, I might just share some of my experience and my reading of history for whatever my comments might be worth.