Fall Quarter Class Opportunity

Annalisa Bellerio, an Italian journalist and writer currently residing in Redmond, gave the last in person presentation at our Italian language meeting in February 2020 on Leonardo da Vinci. In the upcoming Fall quarter she will be teaching a course of Italian Through Art, offered online by Shoreline Community College. A description of the class and registration information is available on the Shoreline Community College website.

Dante Society Member Interviews

Andrea Aldrich, long time Dante member and new consigliere on the Dante Board, has interviewed two of our members for her podcast, Italy Inside Out. Check on here interviews available These are the links to the two episodes:

A Quest for Her Cultural Heritage in Trentino with Mary Beth Moser
Mary Beth Moser is a long time and active member of the Dante Alighieri Society and she is the current president of the Trentino Club in Seattle. During this interview, she discusses the unique history of the region of Trentino-Alto Adige, the languages known as dialects, the traditional foods and wine, the stories of the family connections she made and the Trentino immigrants in America.

From Left to Right: Louise Sportelli, Melinda Jankord-Steedman, Jane Cottrell, Caterina Wartes, Gini Harmon, and Nancy McDonald. Behind the camera: Sharon Leone.

Ciao a Tutti!

I’m very honored to hold this office, following the long tenure of our beloved Dan. It’s my pleasure to send midsummer greetings to everyone. I hope this finds you, your “bubble family,” your extended family and anyone you hold dear in Italy in good health and spirits. We all hope for relief from this terrible pandemic and for a return to the gatherings, in person, that we as Dante members hold so dear. MAY IT BE SOON!!! Meanwhile, I’d like to plant some seeds with you for what lies ahead for Dante in the near future.  

1) LANGUAGE PROGRAM You already received word that Giuseppe Tassone and his wonderful faculty are presenting ONLINE SUMMER LANGUAGE CLASSES for the first time. This is an exciting development following the amazingly successful online classes this spring. Online learning will continue in the school year ahead. Watch the Dante web site for details.

2) FALL DANTE MEETINGS First, a big thanks (since we couldn’t do it in person) to outgoing Program Chair Cecilia Paul! Dan DeMatteis is our new Program Chair, and he is working hard to find interesting programs that will be presented online via ZOOM, on the usual Wednesday nights. We’ll try to devise ways to be interactive during these sessions. Programming and start-times should be available by late August – meanwhile, save these dates: English meetings: September 9, October 14, November 11, December 9 (Christmas Party!) and Italian meetings: September 23, October 28. Our running times may vary from normal meetings, since we can’t actually eat together – BUT — I envision us gathering on Zoom, glass and plate in hand, starting the session with “what is your antipasto and vino tonight?” We can do this….

3) FESTA DI NATALE PER I BAMBINI Before the pandemic shut-downs made this moot, Caterina Wartes and I had spoken at length and decided that this program is no longer viable for Dante, at least not at this time. In recent years, the number of children attending from within Dante member families has dwindled significantly, and it has become difficult to get enough people to help. Indeed, now someone would need to step up to actually run it, as Caterina has retired from it. At some future point, when gatherings are allowed, if someone from Dante wants to lead it – either by presenting the event or leading our collaboration with another organization in presenting it – we can revisit whether to hold it again. Meanwhile, THANK YOU CATERINA AND ALL WHO HELPED HER with this program, beloved for so many years!

4) LA VOCE NEWSLETTER UPDATE “Shout out with all voices” to Linda Heimbigner, who has officially retired her La Voce pen as our long time Editor. The newsletter – a means of sharing updates, stories, photos, recipes, events/books/movies and other bits of interest – is now going to have space on our beautiful Dante website. Andrea Aldrich, from our board, is receiving materials and coordinating how and when they will be posted. PLEASE JOIN THE FUN and send her some items of interest! aaldrichj@gmail.com

A few final notes – of course, Festa Italiana at Fisher Pavilion is postponed and the future date unknown. Also, continuing the news about memorials for Terry Hanlon, we will be thinking of a way to honor her memory online – most likely as part of our December meeting, since she was so involved in all things Festa di Natale. Stay tuned for details. Lastly, your Dante Board is meeting a few times this summer, discussing the Language Program classes and following up with Nic Minotti’s Governance Committee work (revision and updating of our Bylaws and Constitution). The latter will have a report out to all members in late summer, with plans to vote on the updates in September. Meanwhile, Board meeting minutes can be made available any time to any members who are interested. Email me.

For the rest of summer until we have more news, I wish you peace, sanity, occasional relief from your computer screen, and lots of good Italian food and beverage!

Salute!
Joyce Ramee, Dante President
joyce@danteseattle.org

Jeff Freiberg on the right with director Giuseppe Tassone and instructor Roberta Punzi at the end of fall quarter 2020 celebration.

Italy in Seattle with the Dante Alighieri Society – Italian Language Program

By Jeffrey Freiberg

Ciao a tutti, my name is Jeffrey Freiberg and I am thrilled to be heading to Perugia, Umbria next summer to continue my Italian journey. I’ve always been intrigued by Italian culture, due to having a grandmother whose family is from Palermo, Italy, to growing up in a city with a large Italian population – Philadelphia, to falling in love with calcio during the summer World Cup of 2006. It led to me selecting an Italian class with my two free elective classes while studying at Temple University ten years ago, and it culminated in my first trip to Italy last April. My wife and I got married at a villa in the small town of Poppi with our closest friends and family present, and then we spent the next 10 days touring 12 cities/towns mostly in central Italy. We fell in love with the playful spirit of the Italian people, the melodic language, the beautiful scenery and architecture, and of course, the heavenly food and drinks.

We immediately looked for ways to recapture that feeling we had in Italy once we got back to Seattle. Thankfully, we found the Dante Alighieri Society of Washington and the Seattle Perugia Sister Cities Association. Dante Alighieri offered two A1 classes this past year with two wonderful professors. Damiano Pinton and Laura Ciori are extremely skilled in helping all their students find an entry point into the language, no matter what their starting point is. They make class fun and social, and modify the textbook and curriculum to make it relevant to modern day Italy. I recently had the pleasure of meeting students from the advanced classes at an end-of-quarter social gathering in December and now I’m even more eager to continue through the classes at Dante Alighieri! Whether you just want to learn some basic phrases or become conversationally fluent, Dante Alighieri can get you there with their amazing professors.

DAS were quick to react to the COVID situation this winter and spring, leading to classes being held on Zoom. As a teacher myself, I know there’s no substitute to learning in person, but I’m amazed at how seamlessly and effectively our classes transitioned to Zoom. Luckily for me, DAS is offering a special summer session of classes where we will review the skills we’ve learned this year before we advance to the A2 classes starting this fall.

The application process for this scholarship was pretty straightforward. After filling out your scholarship application, Seattle Perugia Sister Cities Association (SPSCA) does a round of interviews before recommending their selections to their board. The interview was very informal and felt more like a fun casual conversation with others who share your passion for everything Italy related. SPSCA is a very welcoming community who shares Dante Alighieri’s mission of bringing people together to celebrate and explore Italian culture. Similar to Dante Alighieri, SPSCA also holds special gatherings and events throughout the year that are a great way to meet new people and enjoy various elements of Italy. 

I am currently a classroom teacher at Bailey Gatzert Elementary School in the Central District. While I love my job and cherish every day with my students, it’s hard for me to deny that I’m in full countdown mode for next summer!