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September 25, 2019 Italian Language Meeting

by | Sep 20, 2019 | Notices

Ciao a tutti –

THE FIRST ITALIAN MEETING of the DANTE ALIGHIERI SOCIETY’S 2019-2020 PROGRAM YEAR IS THIS COMING WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 at St. Patrick’s Church, Social Hall, 815 East Edgar Street, Seattle 98102

The speaker is Robert Thomson from Victoria, Canada who will be presenting his recently published book “Florence, Dante and Me.” Thomson spent the 1960-61 year in Italy on a scholarship from the Italian government. During the year he wrote many detailed letters to his fidanzata in Canada, telling her about Italian customs and habits, the Italian friends he made, the cities he visited, the operas he attended, his singing lessons, etc. Early that year Thomson decided to speak Italian only for the whole year. This served him well throughout his life.

In 2017 he took the letters and photos and made them into a book. He will be reading passages from his book and showing some of the best photos. To read passages and see some of the photos visit Thomson’s site: www.godwinbooks.com

Robert Thomson was born in Vancouver, B.C. in 1940. He fell in love with Italian in 1951 when he saw “The Great Caruso” starring Mario Lanza at his local movie theater. In 1962 he took his B.A. in French and Italian at the University of British Columbia then received his PhD from Yale in 1966.

Thomson had a long and varied career in teaching (e.g. The University of Toronto, The University of Illinois and various high schools). He took early retirement in 1995.

His main books are: “Italian for the Opera” (1990) and “Operatic Italian” (2009). Both books use extracts from operas to illustrate their language points; Thomson’s main goal was to analyze them in detail to show the richness of Italian librettos. The reader will also find chapters such as “What is lost in the translation?”; “How do you appreciate a libretto?”; “The influence of Dante”; and “A quick look at Neapolitan.” In 2015 Thomson published “Love Songs in Spanish” which comes with a CD and is useful as a tool to improve pronunciation.

At the moment he is finishing a book on how to teach English using audio-visual tools and multi-media sources. He now lives in Victoria, B.C. Asked who his favorite Italian authors are, Thomson replied “Dante and Alberto Moravia.”

MEETING DETAILS

As usual, the evening will begin with food and conversation at 6:30. There is no cost for the meeting, but you are encouraged to bring along an antipasto, dolce or vino to share. The presentation which will be mainly in Italian will start at 7:30.

The meeting will take place in the Parish Social Hall at St. Patrick’s Church, 815 East Edgar Street, on the North side of Capitol Hill.

Parking is available in St. Patrick’s parking lot, off of E. Edgar street. The meetings take place in the Parish Hall, located in the basement of the church and is entered on the West side of the church from the parking lot.

To reach St Patrick’s from the North, follow I-5 S. Take exit 168A for Boylston Ave toward Roanoke St. Merge onto Boylston, turn left at light onto E Roanoke St. Turn left at the first cross street onto Harvard Ave E. and then take the first right onto E. Edgar Street.

To reach St. Patrick’s from the South, follow I-5 N. Take exit 168A for Lakeview Blvd E. Turn left onto Lakeview Blvd E, and continue onto Boylston Ave E. Turn right at the light onto E Roanoke St. Turn left at the first cross street onto Harvard Ave. E. and then take the first right onto E. Edgar Street..

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

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Seattle-Perugia Sister City Association Scholarships

by | Sep 18, 2019 | La Voce, Notices
Ciao a tutti –

The Seattle-Perugia Sister City Association ( SPSCA) is now accepting applications for this year’s scholarships to study in Perugia, Italy in 2020. Please read the following bulletin from them to find out what’s involved and how to apply. In bocca al lupo!

Dan DeMatteis
Each year, the SPSCA awards up to four scholarships for one month of language study in Perugia, Italy. Each scholarship is worth approximately $1,200. It includes one calendar month of intensive language study at the University for Foreigners (Università per Stranieri) located in the historic heart of Perugia. There is also a stipend that can be used to defray the costs of room and board or transportation.To learn more about the program and the SPSCA go to www.seattle-perugia.org or come visit our booth in Fisher Pavilion at Festa Italiana at Seattle Center on September 28-29.

The application process is easy. Download the application form from the website and send by email to the SPSCA scholarship chair Cindy Musto at scholarship.spsca.

The application deadline is October. 31, 2019.

If you are one of the lucky recipients, you can generally choose which month you want to travel. SPSCA board members and former scholarship winners will provide suggestions for housing and share their favorite Umbrian restaurants and sightseeing tips with you.

There is no age limit or proficiency level required, though some basic knowledge of Italian is helpful. While in Perugia, you’ll have the chance to improve your language skills, meet students from all over the world and see what it is like to live in one of Italy’s most historic and well-preserved cities.

I hope you’ll take advantage of this incredible opportunity to improve your language skills and live la bella vita.

Cindy Musto
2019 Scholarship Chair
Seattle Perugia Sister City Association
scholarship.spsca

September 11, 2019 English Language Program

by | Sep 5, 2019 | Notices

Welcome back to another year of Dante gatherings, dinners and Italian language classes!

Kicking off this year’s schedule is a presentation by Dominick Minotti (Nick) on “Famous Women of Italian Descent”. This will be the preview of the Festa Italiana quiz that Nick has been creating for the past few years to use at our booth. The September 11th presentation at Dante, however, will be a straight forward talk about the 10 women – six well known, two less known, and two probably new to most Dante members – that Nick will be featuring in this year’s Festa quiz.

Nick is a longtime member of Dante and for the past few years has served as a Consigliere on our Board. He’s been a speaker at Dante for the past several years, always entertaining and engaging.

Joyce Ramee will be our cook so the evening promises to be delicious as well as informative.

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 September 9 by:

  • clicking on the DINNER RESERVATION button below or,
  • calling our Reservation Line at our NEW number, (206) 289-0419 or
  • emailing your request to our NEW reservation email, reserve.

Let us know how many are in your party. This will help our volunteer cooks know how much pasta to prepare.

The meeting will be in the Parish Social Hall at St. Patrick’s Church, 815 E Edgar St., Seattle.

To reach St Patrick’s from the North, follow I-5 S. Take exit 168A for Boylston Ave toward Roanoke St. Merge onto Boylston, turn left at light onto E Roanoke St. Turn left at the first cross street onto Harvard Ave E.

To reach St. Patrick’s from the South, follow I-5 N. Take exit 168A for Lakeview Blvd E. Turn left onto Lakeview Blvd E, and continue onto Boylston Ave E. Turn right at the light onto E Roanoke St. Turn left at the first cross street onto Harvard Ave E.

The parking lot will be on your right off Harvard. And the door to the Social Hall is located at the parking lot level in back of the Church.

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

Good-bye to Garden House Get-together

by | Oct 22, 2018 | Notices

Ciao tutti –

Please Come to a Good-bye to Garden House Get-together
on Wednesday, October 24

Usually at our second meeting each month we have a speaker, who makes a presentation in Italian.  And for the October 24 we had booked Claudio Mazzola from the UW Italian Department to present an overview of the films to be presented at the SIFF CInema Italian Style Festival, November 8-15.  Unfortunately SIFF has still not announced the lineup of films for the Festival, so our speaker has been unable to put together material for his presentation.

Since this is our last meeting at Garden House and since so many of you had asked for a chance to make suggestions for a new meeting place, give your feedback and have your questions answered – we decided to throw a Good-bye to Garden House Get-together in place of the scheduled Italian presentation.

So here’s the plan:

  • meet at 6:30 as usual.  Please bring along an antipasto, vino or dolceto share
  • 6:30 – 7:15 food and informal conversation preceded by a toast to Garden House
  • 7:15 – 8:30 information and feedback meeting:  where do we go from here?

Please join us on Wednesday, October 24 at 6:30 at Garden House.  You’ll remember that it’s 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.

As a special incentive to attend, I’ll be giving away 12 pairs of vouchers, good for free admission to any of the SIFF Cinema Italian Style films at the Festival to the members at our Good-bye to Garden House Get-together.  Please come for a chance to win.

And as usual feel free to come early to help set up the room and start visiting.  And, in any case, please come to say good-bye to this old friend, to this special venue that has hosted our Dante meetings for the last 40 or so years.

A presto – 

Dan DeMatteis,
President, Dante Alighieri Society of Washington

Garden House Update

by | Oct 10, 2018 | La Voce, Notices

Ciao tutti – 

I am sorry to report to the Dante Alighieri Society membership some disheartening news about the Garden Club, where we have been meeting for the last 40 years or so.

We received this morning an email from the President of the Washington Federation of  Garden Clubs (WSFGC)  informing us that the Garden House was sold as of October 10, 2018 and that we, that is Dante, are not able to have our meetings there after October 31, 2018 at which date the lockers we rent there have to be emptied as well.

So we’re looking for a new meeting space, both in the short and the long term.

We have not yet spoken with the new owners and are trying to find out who they are and how to reach them.  It may be that they will be willing to rent to us, at least in the short term.  We’re trying to contact them.

Short term I am particularly interested in finding a location for our November 14th meeting.   I would welcome suggestions from the membership.  Please email them to me and to the Board rather than to the membership at large.  I don’t want to fill up everyone’s inbox with emails.

At the next meeting on October 24 – at the Garden House – the Board is planning an Q and A / Feedback Forum  before the presentation.  I hope as many of you as can make it will be there.

I know that this is discouraging news but I’m sure that as a group we can come up with a solution that will enable us to continue to enjoy our gatherings and presentations.

Forza e Coraggio!

Dan DeMatteis,
President, Dante Alighieri Society of Washington