Hofstra Cultural Center
Italian-American Experience Lecture Series
We have cancelled the balance of the Spring Cultural Center schedule and are working on trying to reschedule some of these events in the Fall 20/Spring 21 year, if feasible. Some events will be offered virtually. See our Virtual Events Calendar for the most up to date information.
Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.
All events are FREE and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated.
Advance registration is requested.
Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.
Fall 2020
Reflections on a Past Darkness and Present Hope in Italy
Tuesday, October 20, 7 p.m.
The Books of the Roman Ghetto Under the Nazi Occupation
In September 1943, the Nazi occupied Rome. A month later, a special unit of the SS paid a visit to the Synagogue and Rabbinical College. Returning the next day, they confiscated thousands of valuable and irreplaceable books and manuscripts, some dating back to the Middle Ages, and sent the collections to Frankfurt. The fate of the libraries is one of the lesser-known stories of World War II.
Speaker: Stanislao Pugliese, Professor of modern European history and the Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies
This is a Virtual Event. Advance registration is required.
RSVP
Thursday, November 12, 7 p.m.
Italy's Third Golden Age
Italy is the only country to give the world not just one, but three Golden Ages. A fascinating exploration of how Italy rose from the ashes and devastation of WWII to usher in its unprecedented third Golden Age. You will discover how Italy morphed from the face of Il Duce to the face of La Dolce Vita and how “Brand Italy” came to conquer the world through passion and excellence in the realms of film, fashion and design, gastronomy, and viticulture.
Speaker: Carla Gambescia, Lecturer and Author, La Dolce Vita University: An Unconventional Guide to Italian Culture From A-Z
This is a Virtual Event. Advance registration is required.
RSVP
- Spring 2020
Spring 2020
Tuesday, February 11
The Alchemy of ItalyWhat is it about Italy? Cultural superpower yet merely a mountainous Mediterranean peninsula, Italy has exerted an outsized force on the world, Western civilization and the popular imagination over the course of the millennia. Explore the special alchemy of Italy and the “cultural DNA” that has made Italy not only so influential, but also so beloved. An inspiring lecture in which you will discover fascinating insights about the
“Boot’s” long history of substance over size.
Tuesday, March 10
Leading Ladies of the RenaissanceDiscover the lives and legacies of the Italy's “Renaissance Women” and those of several unheralded women who inspired some of the greatest artwork of all time. An uplifting and illuminating program examining the evolution of the perceptions of women from Roman and Medieval times through the Renaissance, the inflection point when our concept of today’s modern woman began to take shape. You will discover the stories of women such as Isabella D’Este, Vittoria Colonna and Artemisia Gentileschi whose lives and accomplishments still inspire us today while you also gain fresh perspectives on some of the Renaissance’s most beloved artists and paintings.
In recognition of International Women’s Month.
Thursday, April 16, 7 p.m.
Italy’s Third Golden Age - CANCELLEDItaly is the only country to give the world not just one, but three Golden Ages. A fascinating exploration of how Italy rose from the ashes and devastation of WWII to usher in its unprecedented third Golden Age. You will discover how Italy morphed from the face of Il Duce to the face of La Dolce Vita and how “Brand Italy” came to conquer the world through passion and excellence in the realms of film, fashion and design, gastronomy, and viticulture.
Speaker: Carla Gambescia, Lecturer and award-winning author, La Dolce Vita University: An Unconventional Guide to Italian Culture from A-Z
Location for all events: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library
For more information, call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669 or visit hofstra.edu/culture.
![La Dolce Vita University]( "La Dolce Vita University")
- Fall 2019
Fall 2019
ITALIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE LECTURE SERIES
presents
LOOK AGAIN: Old and New Films in Italian StudiesTuesday, September 24, 7 p.m.
Film Screening: Assunta Spina (1915)
Live musical score performed by John T. LaBarbera, guitar, and Susan Aquila, violin
A silent black and white film classic from Naples, based on the play by Salvatore DiGiacomo, starring the queen and diva of the Italian silent cinema, Francesca Bertini. The operatic tale of love and sacrifice in working class, turn-of-the-century Naples is considered to be one of the first films of Italian neorealism. Bertini’s performance set a new standard for Italian cinema. The new musical film score created by LaBarbera creates an intimate atmosphere by keeping an accompaniment of emotions found in the melodic themes of the characters in a leitmotif style that highlights the melodramatic and picturesque style of the film.
Presented in collaboration with Hofstra University Professor Rodney Hill’s History of Film class.
Thursday, October 24, 7 p.m.
Film Screening: War Cellar
Directed by Giovanni Pugliese, Writer, Producer
Set in Rome during the end of World War II, an American soldier and an Italian woman must find a way to trust one another in order to survive. A German attack on the city forces a wounded American soldier to seek shelter in a cellar. There, he realizes that he is not alone. He is accompanied by Lucrezia, an Italian woman in her early 30s, who happens to be the daughter of the king of Italy. Both have one thing in common: the guilt bearing on their souls.
Wednesday, November 20, 7 p.m.
Film Screening: il Signor Jackson
Directed by Anton Evangelista, Comprehensive Films
Award-winning filmmaker Anton Evangelista travels from the Bronx to Perugia, Italy, in presenting the documentary il Signor Jackson is the unique American story of Edward Jackson, an African American man raised in a predominantly Italian American Bronx neighborhood in the 1950s. Jackson went on to become an educator in the New York City Public School System and prominent cultural figure of Italian biculturalism and bilingualism.The Italian American Lecture Series is supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators.
Location for all events: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library
For more information, please call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669 or visit hofstra.edu/culture.
- Spring 2019
Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.
All events are FREE and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated.
Advance registration is requested.Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.
Tuesday, March 26, 7 p.m.
Italian Literature in the United StatesThis presentation is based on research that led to the book Un biculturalismo negato: la letteratura “italiana” negli Stati Uniti (Franco Cesati Editore, 2018). Anthony J. Tamburri examines five writers who live in the United States and write prose and poetry in Italian. Questions posed include: Where does “Italian” end and “Italian-American” begin? What are the issues raised by language? What relationship exists between literature in Italian written in Italy and literature in Italian written elsewhere?
Speaker:
Anthony J. Tamburri
Dean, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
Queens College, CUNY
Distinguished Professor of European Languages and Literatures
Thursday, April 18, 7 p.m.
Angels in the FleshLynne Lawner will discuss “the splendors and miseries” of Renaissance Italian courtesans, major figures in the cultural and social life of the era, above all in Rome and Venice.Muses and models for great writers and artists, they were noted for their own poetry, musical talent, and conversation.
Speaker:
Lynne Lawner
Independent Scholar
Author, Lives of the Courtesans: Portraits of the Renaissance and Harlequin on the Moon: Commedia dell’Arte and the Visual Arts
Editor of Antonio Gramsci’s Letters From Prison
Tuesday, April 23, 7 p.m.
Delirious NaplesDr. Stanislao Pugliese discusses his new book, Delirious Naples: A Cultural History of the City of the Sun, based on the Hofstra Cultural Center conference held in 2011. The book, edited with Dr. Pellegrino D’Acierno, boasts two dozen essays by leading scholars, writers, and artists. The lecture includes images of Naples and a discussion focusing on the renaissance of the city and its relationship with New York City. Special guest speaker Massimiliano Verde will discuss international promotion and teaching the Neapolitan language and cultural heritage.
Speaker:
Dr. Stanislao Pugliese
Professor of History and Queensboro Unico Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies
Hofstra University
Massimiliano Verde, President
Accademia NapoletanaLocation for all lectures: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library
- Fall 2018
Fall 2018
Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.
All events are FREE and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is requested.
Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.
ITALIAN-AMERICAN WOMEN, POLITICS, AND RECENT IMMIGRATION
Tuesday, October 23, 7 p.m.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and Monument
Speaker: Dr. Mary Anne Trasciatti
Associate Professor, Department of Writing Studies and Rhetoric
Hofstra University
Director, Superstorm Sandy Oral History Project
Long Beach, NY
President, The Triangle Factory Fire Coalition Inc.Tuesday, October 30, 7 p.m.
Frank Serpico (2017)
A Film by Antonino D’AmbrosioIn his own words, Frank Serpico tells the story of his one-man crusade for police reform in the NYPD during the early 1970s.
Speaker: Antonino D’Ambrosio
Filmmaker, Author, Visual Artist
“A finely etched and fascinating documentary.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
“A wondrous portrait.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Released by IFC Films Sundance Selects, playing in theaters, on-demand and on Hulu now!
Thursday, November 1, 7 p.m.
Monuments, Memory, and the Italian-American Community:
Columbus, Italo Balbo, and Beyond
Events in Charlottesville, Virginia, have reignited a longstanding debate over how the past should be remembered in public spaces. Italian-Americans have a responsibility to participate in the larger national conversation about how to remember their history and experiences in the United States. Professor Fraser Ottanelli will explore the relationship between memory, identity, and politics by focusing the debate surrounding statues of Christopher Columbus and the ancient Roman column commemorating the 1933 transatlantic flight of fascist aviator Italo Balbo in Chicago.Speaker: Fraser Ottanelli
University of South FloridaTuesday, November 13, 7 p.m.
New Italian Migrations to the United States From 1945 to Present
The presentation will highlight the two-volume collection, New Italian Migrations to the United States (University of Illinois Press, 2017), which offers a radical rethinking of the history of Italian-Americans. The books’ editors will discuss how the continual immigration from Italy over the past 70 years has influenced immigration laws, impacted local communities, contributed to consumer culture, and continues to reboot Italian-American and U.S. culture in still-unfolding ways.Speakers: Laura E. Ruberto
Berkeley City College
Joseph Sciorra
Queens College, CUNYThe Italian-American Experience Lecture Series is presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators.
Location for all lectures, unless otherwise noted: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library
- Spring 2018
Spring 2018
Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.
All events are FREE and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is requested.
Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.
Bread, Roses, and Fire: Italian American Women at Home and Abroad
Tuesday, February 27, 7 p.m.
A film screening of Brooklyn Roses by Christine Noschese. Professor Christine Noschese is an Emmy award-winning writer, director and producer of both narrative and documentary films. In Brooklyn Roses, Professor Noschese blends documentary and fiction to re-examine her childhood and her mother’s feminist struggles in 1950s and ’60s working class Brooklyn. The film had its world premiere at the 2017 Fic Autor (Author’s International Film Festival) in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, where it was awarded best documentary feature.
Read more about Brooklyn Roses
Speaker: Christine Noschese, Associate Professor, Department of Radio, Television, Film at Hofstra University
Room 211 Breslin Hall, South Campus
Tuesday, March 13, 7 p.m. – POSTPONED
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and MonumentSpeaker: Dr. Mary Anne Trasciatti
Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Writing Studies and Rhetoric, Hofstra University
Director, Superstorm Sandy Oral History Project, Long Beach, NY
President, The Triangle Factory Fire Coalition Inc.Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library
Tuesday, April 3, 7 p.m.
When the War Came to Pulcherini: Italian Americans and the Italian Campaign, 1943-1945Speaker: Dr. Angela Danzi
Professor Emerita of Sociology, Farmingdale State College, SUNY
Author, From Home to Hospital: Jewish and Italian American Women and Childbirth, 1920-1940Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library
The Italian American Experience Lecture Series is presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators and the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association.
- Fall 2017
Fall 2017
Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.
All events are FREE and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is requested.
Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.
Celebrates the publication of
THE ROUTLEDGE HISTORY OF ITALIAN AMERICANS
Edited by William J. Connell and Stanislao G. Pugliese
The Routledge History of Italian Americans is a new, multi-authored history of one of the largest ethnic groups in America. Concentrating on themes ranging from immigration to religion, and labor rights to women’s rights, this collection reflects the field of Italian American studies as it exists now, and brings out aspects of Italian American culture that make this ethnic group one of the most interesting in the American experience.
Tuesday, October 31, 7 p.m.
Italian American Studies After 50 Years
Speaker: Dr. Salvatore LaGumina
Professor Emeritus of History,
Nassau Community College, SUNYTuesday, November 14, 7 p.m.
Why Italian Americans Need a New History
Speaker: Dr. William J. Connell
Professor of History and Joseph and Geraldine LaMotta Chair in Italian Studies
Seton Hall UniversityTuesday, November 21, 7 p.m.
The Future of Our Past
Speaker: Dr. Stanislao G. Pugliese
Professor of History and Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies
Hofstra UniversityLocation for all lectures: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library
Presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators.
- Spring 2017
SPRING 2017
Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.
All events are FREE and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is requested.
Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.
FROM ELLIS ISLAND TO YANKEE STADIUM:
ITALIAN AMERICAN IMMIGRATION,FAMILIES AND SPORT
Tuesday, March 7,7 p.m.
DiDonato and Puzo Classics: La Famiglia, From Cities to SuburbsTuesday, April 4, 7 p.m.
Generations: From Immigrant to Second, Third, Fourth — and Beyond "Salad Bowl" to "Melting Pot"Tuesday, May 2, 7 p.m.
How the "Low" People Moved Up: Sports as Pathways to Wealth, Celebrity (Respect?)Speaker for all three lectures: Michael D'Innocenzo, distinguished professor emeritus, Hofstra University.
Professor D'Innocenzo was named the Eugene Asher National Distinguished Teacher by the American Historical Association in 2008. Growing up in an immigrant enclave (13 people sharing his home), he went on to attend Columbia University and was named a Danforth Scholar and an Edward John Noble Leadership Fellow. He came to Hofstra in 1960 and developed the University's first course on immigration history, which led to the book American Immigration and Ethnicity: "Melting Pot" or "Salad Bowl"? (which he co-edited). Location for all lectures: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library
Presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators.
- Fall 2016
IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT
ITALY AND AMERICA IN FILM, MEMOIR AND ACTIVISMTuesday, October 25, 7 p.m.
Author and Activist: The Daniela Gioseffi StoryA docu-drama portraying a life-affirming struggle to make art of civil rights, democratic equality and climate justice by prize-winning filmmaker,Anton Evangelista. Daniela Gioseffi, a pioneer of Italian American culture, recipient of an American Book Award and author of 16 books of prose and poetry. Her career as a journalist in Selma, AL, during the Civil Rights Movement. She was among the first to integrate Deep South TV and was abused by the KKK for her activism. Ms. Gioseffi’s immigrant father, an inventor in the electronics industry, inspired her tenacity. As a poor, hardworking young man, he was among the first Italian immigrants to win a Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Psi from Union College. Speakers: Daniela Gioseffi, Writer and Anton Evangelista, Filmmaker, authorandactivist.com
Tuesday, November 1, 7 p.m.
Blaxploitalian 100 Years of Blackness in the Italian CinemaBlaxploItalianis a documentary that uncovers the careers of a population of entertainers seldom heard from before: Black actors in Italian cinema.BlaxploItalian cleverly discloses the personal struggles classic Afro-Italian and African diasporic actors faced, correlating it with the contemporary actors who work diligently to find respectable and significant roles. More than an unveiling of history, it is a call-to-action for increased diversity and esteem in international cinema.
Speaker: Fred Kuwornu, Writer and Director
Tuesday, December 6, 7 p.m.
Journey to the Heart’s Waters“Louisa Calio’s Journey to the Heart Waters is a searing personal work of eternal return and transformation. Calio sets out on a quest that unites southern Italy and east Africa through the image and bodies of the black madonnas who encourage her to seek, to question, to love, to grieve, to revel and to dance. These poems are a profoundly poignant and well-earned liberation from all that is oppressive in the modern world.”—Stanislao Pugliese
Speakers: Louisa Calio, Author; Gaetano Cipolla, Publisher; Nino Provenzano, Poet
- Spring 2016
THREE DOCUMENTARIES
ON
HISTORY, CRAFTSMANSHIP AND CONTEMPORARY ITALY
Tuesday, February 23, 7 p.m.
The Peasant and the PriestThe story of two elderly men whose ways of life have survived from medieval Italy. Sergio, a sharecropper, uses ancient farming methods that have become overshadowed by corporate agriculture, and Father Oreste Benzi, a Roman Catholic priest, fights the tide of sexual slavery. Both represent ways of life that are rapidly fading as the modern world closes in. The point of departure for exploring their parallel lives is the 14th-century fresco, The Allegory of Good and Bad Government, by Ambrogio Lorenzetti.
Speaker: Esther Podemski, Producer and Director
Tuesday, March 1, 7 p.m.
My Italian Secret: The Forgotten HeroesDirected by Oren Jacoby and narrated by Isabella Rossellini
With Robert Loggia as the voice of Gino Bartali
The story of how World War II bicycling idol Gino Bartali, physician Giovanni Borromeo and other Italians worked with Jewish leaders and high-ranking officials of the Catholic Church, risking their lives by defying the Nazis to save thousands of Italy’s Jews.
Speaker: Stanislao G. Pugliese, Professor of History, Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies, Hofstra University
Tuesday, March 15, 7 p.m.
Men of the Cloth: Three Master Tailors A Vanishing CraftDirected by Vicki Vasilopoulos
This film offers an inspiring portrait of three Italian master tailors who confront the decline of the apprentice system as they navigate their challenging roles in the twilight of their careers. The film unravels the mystery of their artistry and reveals how their passionate devotion to their Old World craft is akin to a religion.
Speaker: Vicki Vasilopoulos, Director
Location for all lectures: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library
The Italian American Experience Lecture Series is presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators.
- Fall 2015
Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.
All events are FREE and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is required.
Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.
FALL 2015
HOFSTRA CELEBRATES SINATRAA century after his birth, Frank Sinatra still looms large in the American imagination and in our popular culture. Join us as we celebrate his 100th birthday and his extraordinary life and career with a series of lectures, interviews, and a master class followed by musical interludes by Hofstra students, professional singers and musicians from The Great American Song Book. Featuring legendary musicians who played and toured with Frank Sinatra: Jerry Bruno, bass, D’Addario Foundation Visiting Artists; and Grammy Award-nominated jazz vocalist Jane Monheit; authors and biographers James Kaplan, David Evanier and Will Friedwald; scholars John Gennari, University of Vermont, and Shalom Goldman, Middlebury College; journalists Sandy Kenyon, WABC-TV, Carol D’Auria, 1010 WINS, and Mark Rotella, Publishers Weekly; multimedia journalist and founding member Greg Dunmore, National Association of Black Journalists; and Sal Scognamillo, Patsy’s Italian Restaurant.
Advance registration is required where indicated:
Tuesday, November 10, 7 p.m.
Gay Talese (Frank Sinatra Has a Cold and Other Essays) and Pete Hamill (Why Sinatra Matters) discuss “Sinatra As American Icon.”
Wednesday, November 11
Bassist Jerry Bruno, who played and toured with Sinatra, will be interviewed at 5 p.m. by John Bohannon, host of WRHU-FM’s The Jazz Café. The interview is followed by an 8 p.m. master class.
Thursday, November 12, 4 p.m.
“Racism, Civil Rights and Israel” focuses on Sinatra as a champion of civil rights and a staunch supporter of Israel. There will also be a screening of 1945’s The House I Live In, a short film opposing anti-Semitism, starring Sinatra.
Thursday, November 12, 7 p.m.
The Great American Songbook: Past, Present and Future is a panel that features musician, record producer and songwriter David Finck; musical director, pianist and arranger Tedd Firth; Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Jane Monheit; and Debbi Whiting, president of My Ideal Music.
Wednesday, November 18, 4 p.m.
“Lessons Learned From Sinatra” is a lecture and master class with radio personality Mark Simone.
Wednesday, November 18, 8 p.m.
Will Friedwald, music critic and author of Sinatra! The Song Is You: A Singer’s Art, presents “Sinatra: The Television Factor,” with an introduction by Robert Foster, executive director of the Hoboken Historical Museum.
Thursday, November 19, 4 p.m.
“Frank Sinatra and Italian American Culture” features University of Vermont Professor John Gennari; Joe Scognamillo and Sal Scognamillo of Patsy’s Restaurant in New York City; author Mark Rotella; and scholar Rocco Marinaccio.
Thursday, November 19, 7:30 p.m.
“Assessing Frank Sinatra” features celebrity journalist Sandy Kenyon, music critic and author Will Friedwald, Sinatra biographer James Kaplan, radio host Ron Forman, and Bronx Opera Company Artistic Director Michael Spierman.
Sunday, November 22, 7 p.m.
The Peter B. Clark Memorial Scholarship Fund Concert Sinatra
Past, Present and FutureLegendary Guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli
WILL NOT BE PERFORMING
(due to health reasons)
with Guest artist, the Legendary Jazz guitarist extraordinaire, Rick Stone
featuring the
Hofstra Jazz Ensemble
Hofstra Vocal Jazz Quartet
and the
Sinatra Future Singers(A free master class and open rehearsal with Rick Stone will be given at
4 p.m. prior to the evening performance. Interaction is limited to Hofstra students only)This performance takes place at The Helene Fortunoff Theater.
Tickets are $10, $8 for senior citizens (over 65) or non-Hofstra students with ID.
This event is sold out. - Spring 2015
ITALIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES
Divertimenti: From a Female Renaissance Painter to Soccer in War-Torn Palermo to the Recipes of Italian American South BrooklynTuesday, March 10, 7 p.m.
Sofonisba Anguissola: Neglected Renaissance Female Painter
Speakers:
Louis Barrella, NYC Department of Education; Louis Leonini, St. John’s University; Snjezana Smodlaka, Rutgers UniversityRecognized by Michelangelo, Sofonisba Anguissola became a court painter for King Philip II of Spain and lady-in-waiting to the king’s third wife, Elisabeth of Valois. This presentation explores Sofonisba Anguissola’s expertise as an artist, as well as her intelligence, determination and independent spirit. Historical perspectives and a connection to Verdi’s Don Carlo round out this diverse presentation of art, music, history, culture and real-life escapades.
Tuesday, April 21, 7 p.m.
The Macaroni’s in the Basement: Stories and Recipes, South Brooklyn 1947
Speaker:
Fran Claro, Independent AuthorYou can almost smell the aroma of roasting garlic and hear the laughter of the nonnas punctuating their daily conversations about the truly important things in life – family, faith, and the best way to prepare roast pork! Fran Claro serves up a savory slice of Americana, complete with mouth-watering recipes straight from the nonnas of Brooklyn. The Macaroni’s in the Basement is a treat for the soul and for the taste buds.
Tuesday, April 28, 7 p.m.
Life Is a Great Game
Speaker:
Salvatore Cottone, Independent AuthorA work of historical fiction based on an actual soccer match that occurred near Palermo on July 10, 1943, the same day the Allied forces nvaded Sicily during World War II – based on a story retold by the only player still alive among both teams. Many factual details are included on subjects ranging from ancient mythology, art history and literature, to the sociological bases and consequences of emigration across many decades of the Sicilian experience.
Location for all lectures: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library
- Fall 2014
ITALIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES
New Books on Italian AmericanaLuigi Bianco, Chief Carver of Mount Rushmore (1933-1940)
Speaker: Douglas Gladstone
The author speaks about his book, Carving a Niche for Himself:
The Untold Story of Luigi Del Bianco (Bordighera Books, 2014) and
the Italian immigrant's largely forgotten role in creating the monument.
Tuesday, September 16, 7 p.m.Orange Peels and Cobblestones
Speaker: Rose Marie Calicchio Dunphy, Independent Author
In her debut novel, Orange Peels and Cobblestones (2013) the author
follows Marietta, "who from her early childhood days in Italy to her life as a
young wife and mother in Brooklyn… is haunted by hard questions from her past."
Tuesday, October 7, 7 p.m.The Kennedy Assassination and Organized Crime
Speaker: Stefano Vaccara, Lehman College/CUNY, Editor-in-Chief, "La Voce di New York"
Over 50 years after the assassination of JFK questions linger as to the identity
of his assassin. The author delves into the alleged role of the reputed New Orleans
organized crime boss in his book, Carlos Marcello:
The Man Behind the JFK Assassination (Enigma Books, 2013)
Tuesday, October 14, 7 p.m.Tweeting Da Vinci
Speaker: Ann Pizzorusso is a geologist-naturalist whose first book uses the Renaissance genius to explore Italy’s underground secrets that have confounded people since the dawn of time: from the gateway to the underworld to the stairway to heaven and the gems described by Dante in the Divine Comedy.
Wednesday, November 19, 11:30 a.m.Clash of Civilizations in Italy
Speaker: Amara Lakhous, author, Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio, examines the theme of identity through the descriptions of idiosyncrasies in multicultural Italy by way of a story of a murder in Rome.
Tuesday, December 2, 9:30 a.m. - Spring 2014
ITALIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES
The Italian American Past: The Personal and the PoliticalWaiting for Yesterday
A revealing picture of Parenti's early years as a youth in New York's East Harlem, along with some of the influences that helped shape his lifelong commitment to activism and social justice.
Speaker: Michael Parenti, political scientist, historian, and cultural critic
Author, Waiting for Yesterday: Pages from a Street Kid's Life, 2013Date: Tuesday, February 11
ETHNICITY AND MULTICULTURALISM IN CONTEMPORARY ITALY
Film Viewings led by Italian Ghanaian Filmmaker Fred Kuwornu
Fred Kuwornu, film director and activist, will present two of his acclaimed documentaries and conduct a question and answer period after each screening.
Date: Wednesday, February 12
Finding the Motherlode: Italian Immigrants in California
Through stories set in seven Italian communities throughout California, this film examines how economic and social mobility became possible for many Italians in the Golden State. It is also a look at how immigrant identity is maintained and transformed as immigrants become assimilated into mainstream America.
Speakers: Gianfrano Norelli and Suma Kurien, directors
Date: Tuesday, March 11
Umberto E
Award-winning filmmaker Anton Evangelista's heart-warming documentary about the epic story of Umberto Evangelista, a dynamic and charming ninety-year-old Italian immigrant.
Speaker: Anton Evangelista, filmmaker and director
Date: Tuesday, April 1
Time and location for all lectures:
7 p.m.
Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater
Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, First Floor, South CampusAdmission: Free
Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association (www.italianamerican studies.net) and the Association of Italian American Educators, Cav. Josephine Maietta, President.
