Articles by: R. C.

  • Facts & Stories

    Honoring Legacies and Projecting Towards the Future at NIAF’s New York Gala

    Illustrious members of the Italian American community fill the halls of Cipriani on 42nd Street, in the occasion of NIAF’s New York Gala, the first in a series of celebrations for the organization’s 40th Anniversary.

    The event was devoted to the celebration of Italian culture and heritage and brought together various representatives of the culture to discuss the importance of NIAF, the role it has played, and the role it will play in building a strong Italian American network.

     

     This year’s celebration was very important because it introduced a new award: The Mario Cuomo Award.

    The very first recipient of this award dedicated to the memory of Governor Mario Cuomo was Attorney General Janet Di Fiore of Westchester County, New York, who was rewarded for her achievements in public service and leadership.

    Present at the event was current Governor of the State of New York and son of Mario Cuomo, Andrew Cuomo.

    The Governor gave heartfelt speech, thanking NIAF for the recognition it gave its father, who cared deeply about the organization and was proud of his Italian heritage. “Wherever he was”, he said “he was an Italian American first”.

    “My father” he continued “was dedicated to represent the best of the Italian American people. And he wanted to model the best of the Italian American culture. And he did”.

    After touching the audience with his father’s inspirational and moving story, from the struggles he faced growing up in a working class family of immigrants, the hard work and commitment he exercised in moving up despite the discrimination he encountered, and up to the moment he died, just after he, his son, was officially sworn in as Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo praised NIAF’s choice of Janet Di Fiore as the first recipient of the award, saying his father, who knew her personally, would have certainly approved.

    As Joseph Del Raso, Chairman of NIAF, brought up, “Mario Cuomo exemplified the best of Italian American intellectual and leadership activities.

    Our community has always been proud to call him one of our own”. The decision to name the new award after him was therefore a more than appropriate one.

    Another important focus of the night was looking towards the future. NIAF president John Viola is amongst those who brought it up, first of all by his very presence: it is indeed a very promising signal to see someone as young as him in such an important position.

    Viola told us about the first ever Italian American Leadership Counsel Forum, which had taken place that very morning, in partnership with the Lombardia region (the region of Milan), which has been named NIAF’s 2015 region of honor. The forum discussed the upcoming Milan Expo and the future investment opportunities that will come from it.

    In fact, Viola pointed out how, although it was started in Washington in 1974 and its headquarters remain there “to make sure that Italian Americans are represented in the halls of power”, NIAF operates in New York – “the Italian American capitol” –, all over the country and is focusing on cultivating strong relationships with Italy as well.

    When asked about the importance of NIAF, Viola answered “I see my role as introducing the communities of Italians all over the world to one another in a new way”, thus emphasizing the organization’s goal to act as a network and to positively promote Italian culture.

    Italian Consul General in New York, Natalia Quintavalle, also present at the gala, expressed her impression that the organization seems to be succeeding in doing just that.

    “Tonight I see many friends but also many new, interesting faces. This reflects how NIAF, the most important and most ancient of all Italian American organizations, covering the entire national territory, is making a change and reaching both old and new members of the Italian American community”, she explained.

    As anchor for WABC-TV’s morning and noon newscasts, Ken Rosato brought up in an interview he conducted with us in a completely fluent Italian, and as many Italian Americans will know, Italian heritage was once something people were ashamed of. “When I was little my grandparents kept telling me that it was important to only speak English at home” He told us.

    “But when I turned 13 or 14, I decided I wanted to learn Italian because I thought it was important to have a connection with the roots of Italy”

    Thanks to the work of individuals like Mario Cuomo and of organizations such as NIAF, more
    and more people have started to feel proud of their Italian heritage. The presence of Italian Americans in media is also useful in achieving such results. “There are many Italians in the US and it’s important for them to be represented on television” stated Rosato.

    Actor Ralph Macchio, whose parents are of Italian and Greco-Italian heritage, told us he has always been a “proud Italian American” and spoke of the importance of handing down the traditions of “the old country” to the younger generations.

    And the success of NIAF’s events shows that he is not alone, that many people find pride in their Italian heritage and that organizations focusing on its promotion can count on great support.
  • Facts & Stories

    The Italian Cultural Institute of New York finally Gets a New Director


    Yesterday, Monday March 30th, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Paolo Gentiloni, released a press conference in which the names of the new directors of three major Italian Cultural Institutes abroad were announced.

     
    These appointments were all based on the work of a commission that included representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry for Cultural Assets and Activities and Tourism, and the Ministry for Education, the Universities and Research.
     
    Marco Delogu and Olga Strada were respectively assigned to the cultural institutes in London and in Mosow, while the New York director’s office was appointed to Giorgio Van Straten, a writer whose works, such as the novel “Il mio nome a memoria” (My Name, A Living Memory), have won awards like the Viareggio Prize.
     
    Van Straten was also member of the boards of directors of the Venice Biennale and the RAI broadcasting corporation, as well as the chair Chair of the Azienda Speciale PalaExpo in Rome, and Chair of Agis (the Italian association for the performing arts).
     
    The position of director of the Italian Cultural Institute in New York had previously been vacant since February 2014, and the role was temporarily latched onto that of the Consul General. The appointment of a new director is therefore a promising signal and very exciting to all New York-based lovers of Italian culture.
     
    Van Straten’s past roles in the management of these important Italian arts organizations give very good reason to believe that he will be a great addition to the vibrant and very active “Sistema Italia”, which includes other institutions like The General Consulate, the ICE (Italian Trade Commision), the Italian Chamber of Commerce, the Italian Government Tourist Board, the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, and the Calandra Italian American Institute, in New York.
  • Facts & Stories

    The Italian Cultural Institute of New York finally Gets a New Director


    Yesterday, Monday March 30th, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Paolo Gentiloni, released a press conference in which the names of the new directors of three major Italian Cultural Institutes abroad were announced.

     
    These appointments were all based on the work of a commission that included representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry for Cultural Assets and Activities and Tourism, and the Ministry for Education, the Universities and Research.
     
    Marco Delogu and Olga Strada were respectively assigned to the cultural institutes in London and in Mosow, while the New York director’s office was appointed to Giorgio Van Straten, a writer whose works, such as the novel “Il mio nome a memoria” (My Name, A Living Memory), have won awards like the Viareggio Prize.
     
    Van Straten was also member of the boards of directors of the Venice Biennale and the RAI broadcasting corporation, as well as the chair Chair of the Azienda Speciale PalaExpo in Rome, and Chair of Agis (the Italian association for the performing arts).
     
    The position of director of the Italian Cultural Institute in New York had previously been vacant since February 2014, and the role was temporarily latched onto that of the Consul General. The appointment of a new director is therefore a promising signal and very exciting to all New York-based lovers of Italian culture.
     
    Van Straten’s past roles in the management of these important Italian arts organizations give very good reason to believe that he will be a great addition to the vibrant and very active “Sistema Italia”, which includes other institutions like The General Consulate, the ICE (Italian Trade Commision), the Italian Chamber of Commerce, the Italian Government Tourist Board, the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, and the Calandra Italian American Institute, in New York.
  • L'altra Italia

    “Camminando nella valle dell’ombra...”,


    Fino alla fine di marzo all’Accademia d’Ungheria di Roma alcuni quadri del “diario segreto” dell’ultima testimone della scuola romana del dopoguerra.


    La mostra “Camminando nella valle dell’ombra...”, inaugurata per la commemorazione del Giorno della Memoria, si protrarrà sino al 30 marzo, in memoria dei martiri delle Fosse Ardeatine. Un ulteriore importante legame tra la borrominiana sede dell’Accademia e la città di Roma.


    All’inaugurazione ha fatto gli onori di casa il direttore dell’Accademia Antal Molnár. La sig.ra Mónika Balatoni - sottosegretario per le relazioni pubbliche del Ministero della Pubblica Amministrazione e della Giustizia – ha chiesto ufficialmente scusa per il governo ungherese che 70 anni fa avallava la Shoah. Tra i presenti Riccardo Pacifici, presidente della Comunità Ebraica di Roma – che ha patrocinato l’evento assieme alla “Touro University Rome”– e Giacomo Moscati, vicepresidente nonché assessore alle relazioni internazionali, che ha preso la parola.


    Ha parlato anche Eva Fischer  che ha voluto essere presente all’inaugurazione della mostra anche in memoria di suo padre, rabbino capo ungherese, deportato dai nazisti assieme ad altri 33 familiari.


    Curatori della mostra Francesca Pietracci e da Pál Németh, che sono riusciti a mostrare al folto pubblico intervenuto fino ad oggi, la testimonianza, il ricordo e le interpretazioni attraverso i quadri, le sculture e le fotografie degli artisti ungheresi Szabolcs Simon e István Papp Sebők, dell’americano Justin Peyser e degli italiani Georges de Canino, Adriano Mordenti ed Eva Fischer, che con la sua fertilissima attività esposta in ogni angolo del mondo – non ultimo lo Yad Vashem, il Museo dell’Olocausto di Gerusalemme - funge appunto da trait d’union tra l’Ungheria e l’Italia.

    --

    Biografia di Eva Fischer


    Nata nel 1920 nella ex Jugoslavia da genitori ungheresi, Eva giunse in Italia dopo essere fuggita dalle deportazioni naziste (che uccisero suo padre e 33 suoi parenti diretti) e dopo un periodo di detenzione nel campo di concentramento italiano dell’Isola di Curzola. Fu un periodo travagliato, fatto di fughe e costellato da privazioni e duri sacrifici nel quale Eva non si sottraeva al pericolo di dare aiuto e solidarietà ai perseguitati, collaborando a Bologna, sotto falso nome, con i partigiani, tanto che è tuttora membro onorario dell’ANPI. Giunta a Roma nel dopoguerra e subito inserita tra gli artisti che vivevano nelle celebri strade del centro (via Margutta, piazza del Popolo, ecc.).


    Lungo il suo lungo percorso ha incontrato i più alti rappresentanti della cultura e della società del Novecento - da Picasso a De Chirico, da Dalì a Chagall, da Ungaretti a Pertini, Saragat, Alberto Sordi, Ungaretti, Guttuso, Carlo Levi e molti altri. Dal dopoguerra, Eva ha portato la sua espressività - ricca di storia personale e non - e la cultura italiana, nel mondo: quasi 130 sono le mostre personali e molteplici sono le opere che fanno parte di collezioni pubbliche e private. Per tali motivazioni il Presidente della Repubblica Giorgio Napolitano l’ha insignita nel 2008 del titolo di “Cavaliere dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana” per la sua lunga carriera.


    ===

    Fino al 30 marzo 2014

    Eva Fischer ospite alla Mostra d’arte contemporanea in memoria della Shoah

    “CAMMINANDO NELLA VALLE DELL’OMBRA...”

    Galleria dell’Istituto Balassi-Accademia d’Ungheria in Roma Via Giulia, 1 – tel: 06.6889671 orario: lun-ven 10.00-19.30, sab 10.00-12.30 e 13.30-19.30, dom 10.00-12.30 e 13.30-18.00.

    sabato 22 marzo solo dalle 16.30 alle 19.30. domenica 23 chiusa

    ingresso libero

    www.roma.balassiintezet.hu - www.facebook.com/Accadung Per maggiori info sull’artista: [email protected]
  • Art & Culture

    Italy Issues Anna Magnani Stamp


    To commemorate the greatly celebrated actress Anna Magnani, Italy will release a postal stamp on March 7, 2008 which would have been the 100th birthday of the legendary Roman. The honor of best actress was bestowed upon her at the Venice Film Festival in 1947 for her role in Luigi Zampa's Onorevole Angelina.

    She made cinematic history as the first Italian to win an Oscar for best actress in the 1955 film The

    Rose Tattoo, in a role expressly created for her by Tennessee Williams after being captivated by her, saying ''I never saw a more beautiful woman, enormous eyes, skin the color of Devonshire cream''. After 20 years of acting, Magnani first achieved international appreciation for her performance in Roma città aperta, Roberto Rossellini's neorealist classic film.

    She subsequently worked with Italy 's leading directors of the time, like Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Pier Paolo Pasolini, and international directors the likes of Jean Renoir, Sidney Lumet and Stanley Kramer. Magnani was nominated for an Oscar for George Cukor's 1957 film Wild is the Wind, a role that won her a Silver Bear at the Berlin film Festival. She even has her very own star on Hollywood 's Walk of Fame. She was given the Italian Nastri d'argento Awards for Best Actress in 1945–46, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1951–52, and 1956; and received the Grolle d'oro Award in 1958–59. Her final cinematic appearance was a brief one in Fellini's Roma (1972). She died of cancer in Rome in 1973.

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