Registration for spring quarter is now open for continuing students and new students and closes on March 20. Information on the classes and registration instructions are available here. The first day of class will be Tuesday, March 31. We recommend that absolute beginners start classes in the fall. Students with some knowledge of Italian are often able to start classes in the Spring quarter without difficulty. For assistance in choosing the correct class, please contact the Language Program director, Giuseppe Tassone.
Cerchiamo volontari per i nostri gruppi di conversazione guidata.
Un sabato al mese, i gruppi si riuniscono per 90 minuti di conversazione guidata da una persona madrelingua italiana.
Non e` necessario avere esperienza come insegnante: e` sufficiente il desiderio di condividere la lingua e cultura italiana con persone entusiaste dell’Italia.
Ti possiamo suggerire noi gli argomenti, o li scegli tu!
Just a reminder that Dante Alighieri Society memberships are up for renewal for 2020. The Dante membership year goes from January to December each year. Dues are $40 for a single membership and $50 for a family membership.
Your dues help support the many activities of the Dante Alighieri Society of Washington and allow us to keep our event prices as low as possible. All donations are greatly appreciated. You are now able to renew online on our website: https://danteseattle.org/join-the-dante-alighieri-society-of-washington/ . Its simple and easy. Or, if you prefer, we’ll have a membership table set up at the English Meeting on Wednesday, February 12. You can renew there.
The Dante Alighieri Society of Washington promotes the Italian language and culture and welcomes all who share those objectives. Each year we present English and Italian programs open to the public, and host the Christmas party and the Annual Wine Dinner featuring wines from throughout Italy. The Society also sponsors an Italian Language program with beginner to expert classes for everyone who wants to learn, improve or perfect their fluency in Italian. We are an official chapter of the Società Dante Alighieri, an international organization headquartered in Rome, Italy. When traveling in Italy, Washington Chapter members are eligible to receive discounts. Information on the available discounts is available on the Dante Seattle website: https://danteseattle.org/join-the-dante-alighieri-society-of-washington/. Be sure to ask for your Membership Card at one of our meetings.
Dante Alighieri Society of Washington is a 501(c)(3) organization. Membership dues and donations are tax deductible to extent allowed under federal law. Tax ID: 91-0988808.
Exciting things are happening this November for lovers of things Italian.
First of all, the lineup for SIFF’s Cinema Italian Style, November 7-14 has been announced. I’ve included some info below as well as a link to their website for more information: https://www.siff.net/year-round-cinema/film-festivals/cinema-italian-styleThis is a great opportunity to see some of the latest and best of Italian Cinema. Dante is once again this year a sponsor of the festival. I hope to see many of you there.
Then, the Seattle Art Museum has an exhibit of art works from the Capodimonte Museum in Naples ,Flesh & Blood: Italian Masterpieces from the Capodimonte Museum. Flesh and Blood offers a rare opportunity to experience the beauty of art from the 16th and 17th centuries from a Neapolitan point of view. It is truly a once in a lifetime experience, unless – that is – you’re lucky enough to make it to Naples some time! Sarebbe i migliori di tutti!
Finally, Dante has joined with Il Punto to present a special event on Milano on Wednesday, November 20 at St. Patrick’s Social Hall. Federica Gabardi, a Milan native and a Women’s Empowerment Expert, will be the guest speaker. The presentation will be in Italian. I’ve included more information below.
When: October 23, 2019 Speaker: Prof. Claudio Mazzolla Topic: Italian Cinema and Immigration
About the Speaker:
Dr. Claudio Mazzola received his “Laurea” in English from the University of Milan in 1981. He also received a degree in cinema studies from the City University of Milan. Claudio went on to receive a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Washington in 1986. His area of expertise is Contemporary Italian fiction and Italian Cinema. He has published a number of articles on those topics.
Dr. Claudio Mazzola, a long-time presenter at Dante, gave a fascinating lecture about “Italian Cinema and Immigration” at the Italian-language presentation to the Dante Alighieri Society on October 23, 2019.Italy, perhaps more than any other European country, has been at the forefront of the immigration debate in Europe.
Dr. Mazzola began by providing a historical background of immigration in Italy, showing a series of informative statistical charts and graphs whose numbers tell a story of immigration and give insight into a changing demographic. Few immigrants were present before the arrival of 10,000 Albanians at Bari in 1990, when immigration laws were not in place. (The only law in place was from 1930.) By January 2017, the resident population of Italy was shown to be 60,579,000 with 5,029,000 foreign residents.
He highlighted information drawn from ISTAT (Isituto Nazionale di Statistica) data to bring to the foreground changing cultural elements that have been reflected in films and documentaries. Immigration over the last thirty years has influenced the relatively homogeneous Italian culture with changes in food, businesses, work hours, marriages, and religion. For example, an aging population is now supported by an influx of younger immigrants, including female caregivers (badanti), primarily from the Ukraine. Intermarriages between Italians and non-Italians are more common, particularly between Italian men and foreign women. (These are just a few of the fascinating trends and details that Dr. Mazzola highlighted.)
In the final part of the presentation, Dr. Mazzola listed films by decade and characterized them in response to immigration. In the first period, from 1990 – 2000, the films present a somewhat idealistic view of immigration. Lamerica (1994) by Gianni Amelio, Vesna va veloce (1996) by Carlo Mazzacurati, and L’articolo 2 (1994) by Maurizio Zaccaro are included in this period.
Films in the second phase, from 2000 – 2010, move away from the earlier paternalism and try to reflect the immigrant’s point of view. Titles include: Saimir (2004) by Francesco Munzi, Quando sei nato non ti puoi più nascondere (2005) by Marco Tullio Giordana, and La giusta distanza (2007) by Carlo Mazzacurati.
Films in the third period, 2010 – present, portray the anxiety of the immigrant experience. Listed in this phase are: Scontro di Civiltà per un ascensore in Piazza Vittorio (2010) by Isotta Toso , Io sono Li (2011) by Andrea Segre , Terraferma (2011) by Emanuele Crialese, La’-bas (2011) by Guido Lombardi, and Ali ha gli occhi azzurri (2012) by Claudio Giovannesi.
Dr. Mazzola ended with film clips of a most moving film, Fuocoammare, Fire at Sea, (2016) about the only doctor on the island of Lampedusa, where many of the North African refugees and migrants land. In the film, the doctor is responsible for the huge influx of refugees that the island’s port receives and processes and for the island’s inhabitants, who seem to have little interaction with the refugees.
In one heartbreaking scene, the doctor is in a monologue recalling the horrors and overwhelming numbness of having to examine and document so many corpses, as well as the desperate state of many of the living immigrants, who arrive on overcrowded boats. In another contrasting scene, the doctor is diagnosing an engaging young resident Italian boy with a patch on his eye for “lazy eye.” With these scenes, Mazzola highlighted the intentional contrast in the film, showing the doctor as the only point of interaction between the two groups.
Many thanks to Dr. Mazzola for an illuminating presentation on a timely and important topic. We appreciate his expertise in Italian Society in Film and Literature, which he teaches at the University of Washington, and hope he will return soon.
Giuseppe Tassone moved to Seattle from Italy in 1993. He has been the director of the Italian Language Program of the Dante Alighieri Society of Washington since 1998 and the PLIDA coordinator since 2011. He is a language educator, coordinator, and advocate of Italian language and culture. He has a background in economics and finance (B.A. in Economics), but chooses to specialize in Italian language and culture (M.A. in Italian Studies). He has 20+ years of experience teaching, developing curricula, coordinating, testing, and assessing in public and non-profit organizations (e.g. Seattle University, University of Washington, Shoreline College). Giuseppe reviewed and/or contributed to several Italian language textbooks, such as Da Capo, Oggi in Italia, Avanti, Piazza and Sentieri. He is the author of Ricordati di me, Buongiorno Notte – Italian Films Series by Edizioni Farinelli and Un buonAffare – Italian for Business by Hackett Publishing Company available in print (2016) and e-book (2019). Giuseppe teaches at Seattle University and heads the Italian Section in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures. Personal interests are: reading, traveling, cinema, economics, politics, playing and listening to music, swimming, biking, gardening and cooking.
Roberta was born in Salerno a city located in the region of Campania in Southern Italy where in the ninth century flourished the renowned Schola Medica Salernitana; the forerunner of the modern university medical schools. She holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and Management for Arts, Culture, Media and Entertainment from the Luigi Bocconi University, and a Master’s Degree in Piano from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Music in Milan. Roberta has been working in the field of arts management since 2008. She has served as a project manager, fundraiser and arts administrator in high-profile nonprofit organizations and music festivals in Italy. She has taught music and Italian language in middle schools, and has held lectures in performing arts management as a teaching assistant at the University of Milan and at the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala. She has performed many solo and chamber music recitals across Italy. She loves classical music, visual arts, reading, traveling, hiking and of course teaching Italian.
Giorgio is a native Italian who grew up in the outskirts of Milan. He holds various university degrees including a doctorate in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He works on engineering research and development projects in the fields of aircraft performance and commercial aviation. He became passionate about teaching and sharing his knowledge of Italy in response to the welcoming and inspiring interest in the Italian language and culture he witnessed and experienced while living in the United States. Throughout the years, Giorgio has taught Italian courses as well as privately tutored business professionals and students from various age groups.
In his free time, Giorgio enjoys photography, hiking, history and mathematics, museums and fine arts, theatre performances, and traveling.
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.
Besides teaching Italian, she has obtained a BFA in Illustration at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design and is a published children's book illustrator.
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.
Tiziana moved to the US in 2000 and started working in the software industry, where she applied her linguistic skills and cultural knowledge to localization and testing projects. She also took on various leadership roles and managed teams of linguists and testers across different countries and time zones. Tiziana is passionate about teaching Italian and sharing her insights into the Italian culture and lifestyle. She has taught from beginner to advanced Italian courses for the most prestigious schools in the Pacific Northwest: The Dante Alighieri Society, Seattle Language Academy and Bellevue College. She also privately tutors American business professionals who want to learn or improve their Italian. She is currently working on her Spanish, as she enjoys learning new languages and cultures.
In her free time, Tiziana likes to read, hike. cook, travel, and spend time with her family and friends.
Laura was born in Palmanova, in Northern Italy, a star shaped fortress built by the Serenissima Republic of Venice to protect the territory from the invasions of the Hapsburg and the Ottoman Empires. She was raised speaking Italian, French and Friulano (her native Northern Italian dialect). Laura received a Laurea in Linguistics from the Università di Udine where she specialized in Spanish and English literature. Since then she has lived and worked in Holland, Switzerland, Spain, England, America, and Italy. In addition to teaching in our program, Laura is authorized to cover the role of intervistatrice in our PLIDA Examination Board.
Francesca is an Italian native, born in Cremona, northern Italy. She holds a laurea in Biology from the University of Padua and Masters of Biology from Eastern Michigan University. She left Italy in 1994 and has lived in New Zealand and the United States. She has a passion for teaching her native language, as a way of maintaining and exploring the Italian language and culture with different eyes. She has taught privately and in many institutions to students of different proficiency levels groups. Francesca is interested in literature, art and design, and in her free time, she likes reading, cooking, and making ceramics.
Damiano is a native of a small countryside town in Northern Italy, about 17 miles away from Padua, a city famous among other things for its university, the fifth-oldest surviving in the world. He received his B.A. and M.A. Cum Laude in Japanese language and culture from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, while specializing in linguistics and translation. He lived in Japan for three and a half years, where he continued his studies and his sociolinguistic research on (im)politeness in language. While in Japan, he also started working as an Italian teacher, discovering his passion for conveying the beauty of the Italian language and culture abroad.
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.