by Joyce Ramee | Oct 5, 2018 | Notices
Ciao tutti –
NEXT MEETING of the 2018-2019 PROGRAM YEAR IS
THIS COMING WEDNESDAY, OCT 10
Our speaker this evening will be Professor Mary O’Neil, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Washington, who will be presenting “Niccolò Machiavelli on Politics, Religion, and War”. Machiavelli served for a time as political advisor to the Borgia family and immortalized the amoral warlord, Cesare Borgia, by dedicating his book, “Il Principe” (The Prince) to him. Machiavelli was excommunicated in his own time but remains a seminal figure in political thought even today.
Professor O’Neil received a BA from the University of Chicago and PhD from Stanford University. She has been a University of Washington associate professor since 1981. She also studied at the University of Bologna with Carlo Ginzburg, the Italian historian who has been a pioneer in the use of Inquisition trial records to study popular beliefs.
She has taught courses at the UW on Medieval and Renaissance Italy since the 1980s, including a course on “Rome: the City in History from Romulus to Mussolini”, which was designed as a basic introduction for students going on Study Abroad programs at UW Rome Center.
So come along and get to know more about another fascinating Italian from the Renaissance.
As usual our Pre-Dante Pasta Dinner will be ready at 6:30 and the program will start at 7:30. Please bring an antipasto, dolce, or vino to share.
If you plan to come for the dinner as well as the presentation, please make your reservation by 5:00 pm Monday Oct 8 by clicking on the button below, calling our Information Line at our NEW number, (206) 289-0419 or emailing your request to our NEW reservation email, reserve@danteseattle.org.
Let us know how many are in your party. This will help our volunteer cooks know how much pasta to prepare.
Cost is $8.00 per person or $15.00 per couple to be paid at the dinner. Cash, check, credit or debit cards accepted.
Our meetings are held at the Garden House (formerly Headquarters House) located at 2336 15th Avenue South in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
Avoid the traffic! The Garden House is a short walk from the Beacon Hill Light Rail Station.
Feel free to come early to help set up the room and start visiting. And, in any case, please come.
A presto –
Dan DeMatteis,
President, Dante Alighieri Society of Washington
by Joyce Ramee | Sep 25, 2018 | Notices
When: October 10, 2018
Speaker: Prof. Mary O’Neil
Topic: Niccolò Machiavelli on Politics, Religion and War
About the Speaker:
Mary O’Neil is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Washington where she has taught since 1981. She received her BA from the University of Chicago and her PhD from Stanford University.She has taught courses on Medieval and Renaissance Italy since the 1980’s, including the course Rome: the City in History from Romulus to Mussolini.
Her research interests focus on the Roman Inquisition, heresy and popular beliefs suppressed by the church courts.
by Joyce Ramee | Sep 20, 2018 | Notices
Ciao tutti –
Just a reminder that Festa Italiana is this weekend at the Seattle Center. Dante’s booth is in a new location, in the corner across from the doors, away from the main stage, Booth #8. It should be quieter than our old booth but still in the thick of things.
So drop by to see us and say ciao! More details on Festa’s webpage: http://festaseattle.com/
I also want to tell you about an upcoming Italian-themed musical event by the renowned local musical director and harpichordist, Byron Schenkman. Byron is featured on more than 30 CDs of Baroque and Italian music.
Boccherini & Scarlatti: Italians Abroad
Byron Schenkman & Friends, a Baroque and Classical chamber music series at Benaroya Hall is presenting an evening of Italian centered music, Boccherini & Scarlatti: Italians Abroad. The concert is on Sunday, October 14, 2018, at Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, at Third and Union in downtown Seattle, beginning at 7 pm. Prices range from $48 for Regular Price, $41 for Seniors, and $10 for Youth and Students with ID.
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries Italian musicians were in demand all over Europe and many of them became more successful abroad than they had been at home. Such is the case with all three of the composers on the program. The cellist Luigi Boccherini and the violinist Maddalena Sirmen both had extensive international performing careers. Domenico Scarlatti had a more obscure existence as a harpsichordist at the Portuguese and Spanish courts, yet his music became popular in all the other places where Boccherini and Sirmen themselves performed. Four sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti will be included to celebrate the release of Schenkman’s brand new Scarlatti CD.
Dan DeMatteis
President, Dante Alighieri Society of Washington
by Joyce Ramee | Sep 18, 2018 | Notices
Ciao tutti –
FIRST ITALIAN MEETING of the 2018-2019 PROGRAM YEAR
THIS COMING WEDNESDAY
Our presenter next Wednesday September 26 will be Federica Gabardi. Some of you will remember her from her energetic and entertaining Italian classes. Federica will discuss the recent book by the Italian journalist and cultural critic, Beppe Severgnini: La Testa degli Italiani.
In this book, Beppe travels along the Italian peninsula in the company of friends from abroad, becoming like an ironic and implacable Dante. He describes and comments on the cities, the streets, the houses, the squares, the shops, the churches, the stadiums, etc., that make up a country that “has too much style to be hell” but is “too disorderly to be heaven.”
Federica was born and raised in Milan and she is very fond of her city. She studied Latin and ancient Greek, among other subjects, in high school at the Collegio San Carlo of Milan. After her diploma, she graduated in Political Science from the Università Cattolica di Milano. Over the past 15 years, driven by her passion for brand communication, Federica has been working in different marketing and communication roles. In addition, extending her passion for brand communication and interpersonal communication, Federica began a parallel career as a professional coach. Federica loves teaching Italian, sharing her language and bringing alive with her students the Italian style and way.
As usual, the evening will begin with food and conversation at 6:30. Please feel free to bring an antipasto, dolce or vino to share. The presentation will start at 7:30.
The meeting will be in our usual place, Garden House, 2336 15th Avenue South (In the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle). Directions are on the DAS website: http://www.danteseattle.org/gather.html
Feel free to come early to help set up the room and start visiting. And, in any case, please come.
A presto –
Dan DeMatteis,
President, Dante Alighieri Society of Washington
by Joyce Ramee | Sep 5, 2018 | Notices
Ciao tutti –
FIRST MEETING OF THE 2018-2019 PROGRAM YEAR IS
NEXT WEDNESDAY, SEPT 12
Our speaker that evening will be Dominick Minotti, a longtime Dante member, a frequent presenter at our meetings and our resident quizmaster! For the past few years Nick has prepared a short quiz on Italian topics that we offer at the Dante Alighieri Society Booth at Festa Italiana.
The topic for this year’s quiz is “Le Regioni d’Italia” (The Regions of Italy). Nick will provide information and pictures about the foods, wines, tourist attractions and industry of the different regions of Italy and ask the audience which of the twenty regions those clues apply.
The presentation on September 12 is a beta test of the quiz to be offered at the Dante Booth at Festa on September 29 and 30.
So come along and try out your knowledge of Italy’s diverse and fascinating regions.
As usual our Pre-Dante Pasta Dinner will be ready at 6:30 and the program will start at 7:30. Please feel free to bring an antipasto, dolce, or vino to share. The cost of the dinner is $8 per person or $15 per couple.
If you plan to come for the dinner as well as the presentation, please make your reservation by 5:00 pm Monday Sept 10 by clicking on the button below, calling our Information Line at our NEW number, (206) 289-0419 or emailing your request to our NEW reservation email, reserve@danteseattle.org. Or you can just click on the Dinner Reservation button at the bottom on this email. Give it a try – it’s fast and easy!
Let us know how many are in your party. This will help our volunteer cooks know how much pasta to prepare.
Cost is $8.00 per person or $15.00 per couple to be paid at the dinner. Cash, check, credit or debit cards accepted.
Our meetings are held at the Garden House (formerly Headquarters House) located at 2336 15th Avenue South in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
Avoid the traffic! The Garden House is a short walk from the Beacon Hill Light Rail Station.
Feel free to come early to help set up the room and start visiting. And, in any case, please come.
A presto –
Dan DeMatteis,
President, Dante Alighieri Society of Washington
Gabriella Vagnoli was born in Pisa, Tuscany, home of the famous Leaning Tower. She grew up in a multicultural family thanks to her Brazilian mom and remembers teaching Italian for the first time as a child to her Brazilian cousins. She obtained a Laurea in English and Spanish Language and Literature at the Università degli Studi di Pisa and during her college years spent a year in the University of Reading, UK, studying mainly the works of Shakespeare. After obtaining a Certificate as a Teacher of Italian (DITALS II) at the Università per Stranieri di Siena, she has taught in a full immersion school in Florence, a children's full immersion program in Chicago and a Community College in Illinois.
Tiziana was born and raised in Sardinia, a beautiful Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea. She has always been passionate about foreign languages and cultures, and studied French and German at the Scuola Superiore Interpreti e Traduttori in Milan, where she obtained her first Foreign Languages and Interpreter BA degree. She then pursued her MA in English and German Language and Literature at IULM, one of the most prestigious universities in Milan, Italy for Language and Communication studies.
Nicla is a native of Napoli, Italy. She has a Laurea in Materie Letterarie (degree in humanities) and a Laurea in Pedagogia (degree in Education) from the Università degli Studi di Cassino. She earned her M.A in Italian and her PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Washington. She has published articles and book chapters on gender and theater as well as politics and religion in Counter-Reformation Italy and in the last years, has been teaching Italian literature, language, and culture in different institutions. In addition to teaching in our program, Nicla is authorized to cover the role of esaminatrice and intervistatrice in our PLIDA Examination Board.