Here is a video of Stefano Albertini, director of Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at NYU, presenting the new website, conceived in partnership with the Italian/American Digital Project. The page was launched at the beginning of the 2009-2010 academic year and is structured in four sections:
− Home: where one can find the latest news and the upcoming events.
− Events: where one can view the complete calendar of events.
− Newsroom: where one can read all of Casa Italiana's press announcements as well as everything written about them by other news sources.
− Archive: where one can access the collection of clips and interviews from the past activities of Casa Italiana.
2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the “Casa”, not only a scholastic structure for the Department of Italian Studies, but a landmark for cultural events relating to Italy, Italians, or Italian-Americans in New York. Holding on tightly to this position in spite of the economic difficulties that have struck just about everywhere during the past months, Casa Italiana will be hosting a rich variety of events during the next few months.
The complete calendar has not been disclosed yet, but some of the highlights are already known. Two art exhibits will be on view: the first is a homage to Giorgio De Chirico, and the second is an exhibit of Matteo Montani. The De Chirico exhibit will include many works of art by well known artists such as Renato Guttuso and Enrico Prampolini, as well as young international emerging artists, paying homage to the great Italian painter. The exhibit opens on February 17, and will be on view through March 11, 2010. The Montani exhibition will be on view from March 18 through April 29, 2010.
Fred Plotkin will be hosting more talks as part of his successful series Adventures in Italian Opera. Opera stars participating will be legendary soprano Catherine Malfitano (February 18), conductor Marco Armiliato (March 4), and tenor Lawrence Brownlee (April 13). Also, on February 27, Roberta Montemorra Marvin of the University of Iowa will moderate a symposium about Verdi’s Attila, an early work by the composer, receiving its Met premiere on February 23, under the musical direction of Riccardo Muti. Participating in the symposium will be Francesco Izzo of the University of Southampton and the American Institute for Verdi Studies, Philip Gossett of the University of Chicago and University of Rome "La Sapienza, Helen M. Greenwald of the New England Conservatory, and David Lawton of the Stony Brook University.
In December, Casa Italiana and the Gruppo Ristoratori Italiani, the only Italian restaurant organization in North America, announced their collaboration on a special series of educational lectures for 2010. The unique and varied series will explore authentic Italian cuisine and wines and the first two events will take place at Casa Italiana on March 3 and 24.
These are just a few of the upcoming events. Casa Italiana also reserves the right to change the program without notice. So for the most up-to-date information, please periodically consult the website.