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  • Facts & Stories

    NIAF. Hall of Famer Jerry Colangelo Joins Philadelphia 76ers as Special Advisor


    On behalf of the National Italian American Foundation’s Board of Directors, we congratulate Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member and Chairman of the Board of Directors for USA Basketball Jerry Colangelo on being named special advisor to the managing partner and chairman of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers.
     
    As a Philadelphian, Joe extends to Jerry a special warm welcome to his hometown.
     
    Jerry has served as Chairman of the Foundation’s Board of Directors and has been one of the most respected and distinguished members of our board over the last decade. NIAF honored Colangelo with the Foundation’s Special Achievement Award in Sports during NIAF’s 21stAnniversary Awards Gala in our nation’s capital in 1996.
     
    We are extremely proud of Jerry’s accomplishments as chairman of the Board of Directors of USA Basketball and managing director of the newly-created USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team program, which he re-established as one of the best in the world.  He also has made an immeasurable impact on the NBA having served as the chairman of the NBA’s Board of Governors. It was Jerry’s vision, experience and acumen that helped guide the Arizona Diamondbacks to a World Series championship in 2001.  He also brought professional women’s basketball to the United States, while serving on the founding committee for the WNBA.
     
    We salute Jerry as a distinguished Italian American, passionate leader and a role model for all of us to follow.
     
    Bravissimo Jerry!  Congratulazione 76ers!
     
     

    * Attribute to Joseph V. Del Raso, Esq., National Italian American Foundation Chairman (NIAF) and John M. Viola, President

     
    The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to preserving the heritage of Italian Americans. Visit www.niaf.org.
     
     
  • Fatti e Storie

    Coni USA - Christmas Action Party


    Si svolgerà Mercoledi’ 16 Dicembre dalle ore 16:30 presso il Consolato Generale d’Italia a New York l’Edizione 2015 del “Christmas Action Party”.


    Si tratta della tradizionale festa di Natale in cui i ragazzi e ragazze italiani e italo americani dai 6 agli 11 anni dell’area del Tri-State (New York, New Jersey e Connecticut) giocano, fanno attivita’ sportiva e parlano di nutrizione e stili di vita.

    Il team che organizza questa edizione del Christmas Action Party e’ composta dal Coni-Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano USA, dal Consolato Generale d’Italia a New York e da La Scuola d’Italia Guglielmo Marconi. Per partecipare e’ obbligatorio iscriversi e occorre richiedere un modulo chiamando la La Scuola d’Italia, tel. 212-369-3290.


    Il modulo, completamente compilato, deve essere mandato via e-mail entro Lunedi’ 14 Dicembre, all’indirizzo: [email protected]. O via fax al #: 212-369-1164.



    I giovani atleti si cimenteranno in “gare-gioco”di birilli, salto con la corda, lancio dei cerchietti, golf-putting e hula hoops, nel salone del Consolato. Ai ragazzi che completeranno tutti i giochi verra’ consegnato un Certificato di Partecipazione. Ai  vincitori dei singoli giochi verra’ consegnato un Diploma al Merito Sportivo. Una giuria speciale selezionera’ un ragazzo e una ragazza Overall Champions a cui verra’ consegnato un premio speciale.



    “Lo Sport, specialmente il gioco-sport, e’ una grande scuola di vita. Questi programmi del Coni creano opportunita’ per i ragazzi che vi partecipano per acquisire valori fondamentali di vita sana e di un giusto comportamento nelle attivita’ agonistiche sia quelle sanzionate che quando si ‘gareggia’ per gioco come in questo caso. E’ un bene per la loro salute psico-fisica far partecipare il piu’ possibile i ragazzi ad attivita’ che siano anche momenti di socializzazione, cosi’ come e’ fondamentale educarli ad una sana nutrizione con la fattiva partecipazione dei loro genitori, dei loro insegnanti e delle associazioni della comunita’. E chi sa se in un vicino futuro applaudiremo qualcuno di loro ad una delle prossime Olimpiadi, magari ad una tenuta in Italia” ha detto Licastro, il rappresentante CONI USA.



    Anche quest’anno il Ministero degli Affari Esteri e il Coni hanno rinnovato il loro accordo di collaborazione a favore delle comunita’ all’estero, “Quello di Natale al Consolato e’ diventato ormai un appuntamento che i ragazzi ed anche noi, ragazzi e ragazze del Consolato, aspettiamo con entusiasmo” ha detto il Console Generale Quintavalle.



    "Sono convinta sostenitrice di questi programmi di attivita’ sportive-motorie-ricreazionali organizzate dal Delegato del Coni per gli USA Mico Licastro. Sono attivita’ che aiutano i nostri ragazzi a sviluppare al meglio le loro potenzialita' intellettuali oltre che fisiche. Credo essenziale per la loro salute ed il loro successo accademico includere nel curriculum scolastico e dedicare ad attivita’ motorie una quantita' di ore settimanali adeguata al raggiungimento di questi fini," ha detto la preside Maria Palandra de La Scuola d’Italia.



    Durante la festa verranno trasmesse immagini di giovani atleti che hanno partecipato ai Giochi Giovanili Studenteschi tenuti in Italia in questi anni in una produzione audio-visiva prodotta da studenti de La Scuola d’Italia.



    Hanno contribuito alla realizzazione dell’iniziativa la neonata associazione nazionale I’AM FFaST, Italian American Families, Friends and Sport Together, Coni USA Alumni Association, United Pugliesi Federation, IACE-Italian American Committee on Education, la FIGC – Federazione Italiana Gioco Calcio, Settepani Bakery, Brooklyn, NY, ed altre organizzazioni e associazioni della comunita’.


    Press contact: Mico Delianova Licastro, tel. 1-631-566-0257
  • Dining in & out: Articles & Reviews

    Italian Food Festival at the Delegates Dining Room (7 to 11 December 2015)



    Come and rediscover the Italian Culture and Cuisine at the United Nations Delegates Dining Room from 7-11 December 2015, 11:30am –2:30pm sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations.  The lunch buffet will feature menus designed and prepared by a select group of Italy’s top Michelin Star Rated Executive chefs.   

    Early reservations are highly recommended. Please call 917-367-3314 or go to www.ddr-reservations.com to make a reservation. Internal UN/External price: $29.99/$34.99

    The Italian Food Festival is entirely devoted to Italian food and wines of the highest quality. It is launched by the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations, taking place from the 7th to the 11th of December in the Delegates Dining Room of the UN Headquarters.
    It is an occasion to promote the best of Italian food production in the year that marks the 60th Anniversary of Italy’s joining the United Nations.

     
    The Italian Food Festival will feature a detailed presentation of food and wines through very high quality offerings of 5 well-known Italian chefs (among which primarily Filippo La Mantia from Sicily, then Sonia Balacchi and Michele Biagiola).


    These chefs were chosen by Italia di Gusto - a franchise selling the best gourmet food products Italy can offer - which was designated by the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN to organize the event.


    During the five-day Festival, delegates, guests and members of the press will have the opportunity to taste and enjoy food and wines that represent the highest level of Italian culinary culture of the different Regions of Italy - the result of centuries-old traditions and customs, handed down from one generation to the other.

     
    Indeed Italy’s culinary culture, epitomized by the Mediterranean diet, based on healthy and well-balanced food, was inscribed by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2010. It is an appropriate fit for the UN Goals of healthy and sustainable nourishment, as announced in the Charter of Milan, which was presented to the UN Secretary-General during EXPO Milano 2015 on the occasion of World Food Day.


    For Reservations go to www.ddr-reservations.com

     
     
  • Dining in & out: Articles & Reviews

    Italynthebox: Italian Food Specialties at Your Door

    It wasn't a long time ago that finding here in the US some specific Italian delicacies was pretty much impossible. They either had to be hidden in our suitcases on our way back from the Bel Paese, or they could rarely be found at some specialized little bottegas that imported them or even smuggled them in. Things have drastically changed.

    The United States represent the largest worldwide market with about 300 million consumers. “In 2014 the export of Italian food products to the US increased by 6.2% compared to 2013, confirming the US a third of our target market for excellent food and, conversely, placing our country in 8th place of the ranking of the main supplier countries.”(www.italianfood.net)

    Italy is first in the export of pasta, olive oil, wine and cheese into the USA. But there  are so many products that consumers cannot live without anymore. Great part of the success of Italian products is due to the flourishing of new online services that are changing the way food is sourced, accessed, consumed and socially shared. Among the plethora of online services, Kickstarter just launched a new crowd-funding campaign for Italynthebox.

    Italynthebox is a member-only subscription service that directly connects local, artisanal food producers in Italy to US consumers. The start-up has been founded by Alessio Rossi, an online marketing veteran and Giovanni Colavita, owner and CEO of Colavita USA, one of the major importers of extra virgin olive oil and Italian food products in the US.

    The two entrepreneurs aim at dramatically increase the variety of fine Italian food in the US, reaching out directly to the consumer. “I believe authentic, genuine, hand-made food has the power to induce positive and memorable effects on everyone,” Rossi has said, “I also believe in connections between people who make food and those who eat it.”

    “Instead of asking you to explore each Italian village for the most palatable delicacies, we are bringing them to you with two simple subscriptions,” the two write on their Kickstarter page. People can chose between 1 box every 4 weeks for $22/month and 1 box every two weeks for $40/month.

    Each box is different and it contains six hand-picked products selected by their team in Italy. There are about two servings of each product in the box. Products are chosen in order to narrate a story linked to regions, seasonality and festivity. The products are accompanied by content explaining their origins and the stories behind their producers.

    “Artisanal, locally produced food represents the best of Italian excellence.,” the two explain, “Knowledge is orally transmitted through generations of skilled craftsmen, recipes can date back centuries and attention to quality is unparalleled. Often, ingredients come in small quantities and production only allows for small batches resulting in the large majority of these incredible products being unknown to the US audience. Still, they make some of the best memories of any traveler to Italy.”

    Examples of what you can find in the box include, but not only: bread products, honey, cheese, chocolate, cookies, cold cuts, sauces, dips, cakes and much more. Just one bite to will make you feel you are on a gastronomic expedition in Italy.

    The crowd-funding campaign just launched, you can find it on >>>

  • Italynthebox: Italian Food Specialties at Your Door

    It wasn't a long time ago that finding here in the US some specific Italian delicacies was pretty much impossible. They either had to be hidden in our suitcases on our way back from the Bel Paese, or they could rarely be found at some specialized little bottegas that imported them or even smuggled them in. Things have drastically changed.

    The United States represent the largest worldwide market with about 300 million consumers. “In 2014 the export of Italian food products to the US increased by 6.2% compared to 2013, confirming the US a third of our target market for excellent food and, conversely, placing our country in 8th place of the ranking of the main supplier countries.” (www.italianfood.net)

    Italy is first in the export of pasta, olive oil, wine and cheese into the USA. But there  are so many products that consumers cannot live without anymore. Great part of the success of Italian products is due to the flourishing of new online services that are changing the way food is sourced, accessed, consumed and socially shared. Among the plethora of online services, Kickstarter just launched a new crowd-funding campaign for Italynthebox.

    Italynthebox is a member-only subscription service that directly connects local, artisanal food producers in Italy to US consumers. The start-up has been founded by Alessio Rossi, an online marketing veteran and Giovanni Colavita, owner and CEO of Colavita USA, one of the major importers of extra virgin olive oil and Italian food products in the US.

    The two entrepreneurs aim at dramatically increase the variety of fine Italian food in the US, reaching out directly to the consumer. “I believe authentic, genuine, hand-made food has the power to induce positive and memorable effects on everyone,” Rossi has said, “I also believe in connections between people who make food and those who eat it.”

    “Instead of asking you to explore each Italian village for the most palatable delicacies, we are bringing them to you with two simple subscriptions,” the two write on their Kickstarter page. People can chose between 1 box every 4 weeks for $22/month and 1 box every two weeks for $40/month.

    Each box is different and it contains six hand-picked products selected by their team in Italy. There are about two servings of each product in the box. Products are chosen in order to narrate a story linked to regions, seasonality and festivity. The products are accompanied by content explaining their origins and the stories behind their producers.

    “Artisanal, locally produced food represents the best of Italian excellence.,” the two explain, “Knowledge is orally transmitted through generations of skilled craftsmen, recipes can date back centuries and attention to quality is unparalleled. Often, ingredients come in small quantities and production only allows for small batches resulting in the large majority of these incredible products being unknown to the US audience. Still, they make some of the best memories of any traveler to Italy.”

    Examples of what you can find in the box include, but not only: bread products, honey, cheese, chocolate, cookies, cold cuts, sauces, dips, cakes and much more. Just one bite to will make you feel you are on a gastronomic expedition in Italy.

    The crowd-funding campaign just launched, you can find it on >>>
  • Events: Reports

    On Translating and Being Translated



     
    Reading and conversation on On Translating and Being Translated, (Other People’s Trades)
    Ann Goldstein (editor of Primo Levi’s Complete Works) and Esther Allen (Baruch College)
     
    “To Translate and Be Translated” from: Primo Levi, Other People’s Trades, and was translated by Anthony Shugaar
     
    According to Genesis, the first humans had only one language: this made them so ambitious and so dexterous that they set about building a tower that reached as high as the sky. god was offended at their audacity, and he punished them in a subtle manner: not with a thunderbolt but by confounding their speech, which made it impossible for them to continue their blasphemous work. This episode has parallels, surely no accident, with the story of original sin, a story that comes shortly before this one in the bible and which was punished with expulsion from Paradise; we can conclude that linguistic differences were perceived from the earliest times as a curse.
     
    And a curse they have remained, as anyone knows who has been forced to live, or, even worse, forced to work, in a country where he doesn’t speak the language, or anyone who has been obliged to hammer a foreign language into his head as an adult, when the mysterious material in which memories are engraved becomes more refractory. Further, for many people, at a more or less conscious level, anyone who speaks another language is a foreigner by definition, an outsider, a “stranger,” and different from me; and someone different is a potential enemy or, at least, a barbarian—that is to say, etymologically speaking, a stutterer, someone who cannot speak, a quasi-non-human. Thus, linguistic friction tends to become racial and political friction, yet another curse that afflicts us.
     
    It ought to follow that those who practice the trade of translator or interpreter should be honored, inasmuch as they strive to limit the damage done by the curse of Babel. […]

    December 9, 7:00 pm
    NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò, 21 West 12 Street

    Free admission

       

  • Music Speaks Italian


     
  • Events: Reports

    LIVE AT HOME - A New Way of Making Music



    Being a Casa - a home -  promises to be a very special evening at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò.


    Giovanni Caccamo is a singer/songwriter produced by Caterina Caselli and discovered by Franco Battiato. In 2015 he won the "Nuove proposte" category of the Sanremo Festival with the song Ritornerò da te. He has also won the Premio della critica "Mia Martini", the Premio "Emanuele Luzzati" and the Premio Sala Stampa "Lucio Dalla" (Sala Stampa Radio-TV).
     
    In 2013, he began his first 2013 "Live at Home" tour, that has now reached its 50th concert. It entails a European acoustic tour of actual homes: a piano, a voice, a room, people listening; the tour also made stops in cities such as Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Paris, Zurich and London.
     
    "When music is written, when a new creature is born that speaks about you, about us, there is also a need for it to let these words fly loose into the air, to free them from a subjective interpretation and allow them to belong to everyone. I'd like to share my small universe with all of you as it was born: a piano, a voice, a room."


    10 minutes prior to the performance, all unclaimed reserved seats will be released on a first-come first-serve basis. The event and RSVP are free and open to the general public.


    Click to RSVP >>>

    NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò
    Friday November 20, 2015 at 7:00 PM EST

    24 West 12th Street

    New York, NY 10011


     

     
  • Facts & Stories

    NIAF Italia Hosts Legal Conference

     NIAF Italia Foundation, an Italian charitable foundation founded in 2014, honored industry leaders at its inaugural gala at Horti Sallustiani in Rome, Italy, on November 11, 2015.

    This year’s gala honorees included:  Italy’s Minister of Interior Angelino Alfano; ENI ChairEmma Marcegaglia; SACE Chair and former Italian Ambassador to the United States Giovanni  Castellaneta; Chief Executive officer of Condè Nast Italia Giampaolo Grandi; and Chief Executive Officer of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Carl Schramm.

    More than 200 guests joined United States Ambassador to Italy John Phillips; NIAF Italia President and a member of the NIAF Board of Directors Paolo Catalfamo; NIAF Chairman Joseph V. Del Raso; NIAF’s General Counsel Arthur J. Furia; and United States Congressman Thomas Marino.

    Following the Gala, on November 12, 2015, NIAF Italia hosted a legal conference “Innovation through Regulation: How Legal Reforms Can Strengthen Economic Cooperation between Italy and the United States.” The Rome conference was held in the Vanvitelli Room at the Avvocatura Generale dello Stato in Via dei Portoghesi.  

    After the welcome address by the President of Avvocatura Generale dello Stato,  Massimo Masselli Ducci Teri, the conference opened with introductory remarks by Catalfamo and Del Raso.  Ambassador Phillips also addressed the conference attendees, followed by the keynote speech delivered by Congressman Marino, who serves as chairman of the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Regulatory Reforms.  The first panel discussed legal reforms and dispute resolutions and was moderated by Stefano Amore.  A second panel followed regarding reforms and bilateral investments.

    NIAF Italia Foundation is an Italian charitable foundation formed in 2014 under the law of Italy and under authority to operate from the National Italian American Foundation, the USA Foundation (founded in the United States in 1975).  NIAF Italia Foundation fosters cultural, political, and social relations between the United States and Italy.  It organizes conference and round table discussions, and conducts research on Italian and American culture, as well as on political and economic interactions. Visit www.niafitalia.org
  • L'altra Italia

    Alcune osservazioni sul pensiero di Leopardi




         E' da poco nelle librerie il volume "Alcune osservazioni sul pensiero di Leopardi", di Sebastiano Timpanaro, con una presentazione di Antonio Prete, pubblicato dalle Edizioni Solfanelli.


         Il saggio di Sebastiano Timpanaro, che si avvale nelle sue argomentazioni della svolta critica segnata dagli studi di Walter Binni e di Cesare Luporini, è una serrata indagine, filologica e filosofica insieme, che porta in primo piano la sostanza concettuale dell'opera di Leopardi, il quale fece della poesia un passaggio testimoniale per la definizione del suo pensiero.

         

    La particolarità della posizione leopardiana, ancorata a una tradizione classicistico-illuministica, risiede nella rappresentazione del rapporto uomo-natura che esclude ogni metafisica consolatoria. Il critico, tenace avversario della linea idealista ottocentesca e poi crociana, vede nell'umana infelicità di cui ragiona il Leopardi materialista non già un romantico mal du siècle, né un'angoscia esistenziale, ma un'afflizione soprattutto fisica che egli converte in strenua strategia conoscitiva.


         Leopardi viene esaminato lungo il dispiegarsi di un pensiero lucido, corrosivo pur dietro le sue forme limpide, che Timpanaro va ricomponendo attraverso le categorie del «materialismo» e del «pessimismo» per ridefinirne la visione del mondo e dell'uomo, con un'indagine sempre puntuale e poggiata sulle fonti.


         L'appassionata esperienza di Timpanaro rimane uno dei rari esempi italiani di quella difficile unità fra campo di analisi e scelte di vita, fra ragione letteraria e ragione politica. Le pagine introduttive di Antonio Prete, che rivisitano con garbo e autorevolezza il lavoro del grande studioso, aiutano a metterci in ascolto di quell'interrogare che è il «respiro» della scrittura leopardiana.


    Sebastiano Timpanaro
    ALCUNE OSSERVAZIONI SUL PENSIERO DI LEOPARDI

    Presentazione di Antonio Prete

    Edizioni Solfanelli

    [ISBN-978-88-7497-935-6]

Pages