Ciao a Tutti,

This is Janet Lenart, Board member in place of Joyce Ramee, President.

The Dante Board members greatly value your participation in Dante activities and would like your input on future programs. Please complete a survey at https://forms.gle/rdivtXSSJ6x3ySLZ9 if you have not yet done so. You probably received this link by email last week.

March is a month in Italy when numerous festivals occur. March 8th is La Festa Delle Donne also known as the International Women’s Day which is actively recognized in Italy. Beautiful yellow mimosa flowers are given to women and often women share dinner together. If you eat at a pizzeria in Italy on March 8th you may see some very raucous, fun female groups.

Also in March, on the 25th is the National Dante Day designated by the Italian Government in 2020. It is thought that in March Dante began his fictional journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven, which he described in his book “The Divine Comedy.”

Don’t forget to renew your Dante membership if you haven’t done so as scheduled in January. Our membership fees are the lifeline of all our programs.

Save the date for our Annual Meeting Dinner: April 12, 2023 at St. Clement’s Church. Plan to attend and share conversation over dinner with your Dante friends. Details will follow.

As always, please consider writing a couple of paragraphs on an experience in Italy, or a book or article, or a recipe that you’d like to share in the next issue of La Voce! Send your work to stacey@danteseattle.org. Thank you!

Greetings all! It is I your humble vice president Bruce Leone to address you this month. As I write this there are very small tips of green emerging from the ground and boy am I ready for it. As I get older it feels like winter lasts longer each year. I’m not anti-rain mind you, just anti cold rain. I am all about moss and ferns and mushrooms and liverworts all created by our wet surroundings. Yes I think liverworts are way under-rated and need more publicity.

For quite a long time now I have been hearing nothing but encouraging things from our language school which makes me very happy. Dante is the only Italian group around here with an emphasis on language learning which is very important to me personally as well. I am eternally grateful to Giuseppe for his time and skillful direction of the school.

Joyce has done a superb job of informing and motivating and organizing us for the last couple of years and I am so grateful. I hope someone else can take the baton and continue the race for all of us.

Of course please renew your membership and please tell your friends and acquaintances about Dante. New members will help to maintain our organization into the future. The world is attracted to everything Italian so it is an easy sell. Recently I have seen multiple times in the media about the importance of active and varied social connection for a long and healthy life. I think I can safely say “be active in Dante and you will live longer.”

I also wanted to share this interesting article on Italy’s unusual vegetable ritual.

Lastly, I have an interesting puzzle around my father’s name.

Lezzini Leone or Leone Lezzini?
I have always wondered about my grandfather’s true name. He was born in 1882 in Milan Italy and arrived in New York in 1909. I’m not sure he was even able to read and write. I heard that he never learned much English. As is still customary, I think, in Italy in legal and formal situations it is typical to give your last name first and your first name after. I believe that when filling out legal documents and asked for his name he probably would give his last name first as was customary. I am still puzzled as to why it goes back and forth.

His funeral card read Lezzini Leone. His wedding license in NY says Leone Lezzini. His draft card says Leone Lezzini  (form labeled first and last name) and it also shows wife Maria’s signature as Maria Lezzini. He also signed it as Lezzini Leone In the 1910 census he is listed as Leon Lecini. His passport says Lezzini Leone.

What do you think it really was?

March is the month Italians celebrate their beloved poet, storyteller and visionary, Dante Alighieri, the eponym of our own Dante Alighieri Society. And so during this month both presentations will focus on Dante.

March 8 via zoom
First up, at the meeting on Wednesday, March 8, the classes from our Language School – under the able direction of our talented faculty and LS Director, Giuseppe Tassone – will each present their reflections on Dante. Many of you will remember the presentations from last year which were so warmly received. I’m sure we are all looking forward to hearing what the students have prepared for us this time.

This presentation will be in Italian and English.

March 22 in person
For our Wednesday, March 22 Italian meeting, Mario Cazzanti, a native of the area around Ravenna and Ferrara, will relate his experience participating in the “Lettura Perpetua” of the Commedia organized by the city of Ravenna on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante in 2021.

Here’s Mario’s summary of his talk:
“Storia della partecipazione di un Circolo Culturale di Seattle alle celebrazioni per il 7mo centenario della morte di Dante con l’iniziativa di Ravenna della ‘Lettura Perpetua’ della Commedia.

Ravenna e’ stata crocevia di culture che hanno modellato una parte rilevante del bacino del Mediterraneo e del  continente Europeo. I mosaici che  decorano basiliche ed i battisteri testimoniano l’intensità di un periodo storico unico. La bellezza di tale arte ha contribuito quasi certamente in  Dante a descrivere in modo ammirevole la bellezza dei cieli del suo Paradiso. L’incontro con l’assessore alla cultura di Ravenna Fabio Sbaraglia e’ stata la prestigiosa conclusione della nostra visita alla città, col seguito della lettura del V Canto Inferno.

History of the participation of Seattle Cultural Circle in the celebrations for the 7th centenary of Dante’s death, specifically the initiative in Ravenna of the “Perpetual Reading” of the Comedy.

Ravenna has been a crossroads of cultures that have shaped a significant part of the Mediterranean basin and the European continent. The mosaics that decorate the basilicas and baptisteries testify to the intensity of a unique historical period. The beauty of this art has almost certainly contributed in Dante to admirably describe the beauty of the heavens of his Paradise.

The meeting with the councilor for culture of Ravenna, Fabio Sbaraglia, was the prestigious conclusion of our visit to the city, followed by the reading of the V Canto of the Inferno.

We hope you’re able to attend these meetings. An email with a pre-registration link will be sent to everyone on the Dante emailing list. There is, of course, no charge for our meetings but we urge to become a member or take one of our Italian classes in support of our promotion of Italian language and culture.

The Italian Language Program of the Dante Alighieri Society is approaching the end of the second quarter with classes ending on March 14th. After our spring break, classes resume on March 30th with the third and last quarter for the school year 2022-23.

March is a special month for us since we commemorate Dante Alighieri, the poet, and the man under which our organization is named. March 25th is Dantedì (the day of Dante). It is the day universally dedicated to Dante. When Dantedì was officially established in 2020 we thought that being Dante considered the “father of the Italian language”, it was appropriate to have our students enrolled in the Italian language program involved in celebrating him.

At the same time by having our students as protagonist of the event, meant to us also celebrating their accomplishments in Italian language and their commitment to the study of the language. So, we decided to dedicate one of the March meetings of the Dante Alighieri Society of Washington
to students’ presentations on Dante and his work: readings from the Comedy, illustration of historical and mythological characters, thematic presentations etc. all under the coaching of our talented instructors and my coordination. Thanks to the encouragement and the positive feedback from students who participated in the event as presenters or audience we will have the third edition of it on March 8th. My thanks to our winter quarter instructors Laura, Nicla, Francesca, Damiano and Paola for their collaboration.

To conclude, speaking of accomplishment, I want to congratulate our PLIDA B1 candidates since while I am writing this news, I received communications from Rome that all candidates at our last session successfully passed the exam with excellent results in the listening, speaking, reading, and speaking sections and they will receive their certificate. The PLIDA exam is challenging but as demonstrated by these candidates is doable with patience and dedication in preparation. The same is true for those who wish to learn our beautiful language. It takes time and this is one of the reasons to structure our program into quarters and levels.

Don’t miss March 20th registration deadline for spring quarter and June 9th for PLIDA.

Arrivederci al Dantedì.

Next time you’re on the UW campus, standing in front of the massive Suzzallo Library, be sure to check out the 18 terra cotta figures along its façade, each representing an individual who made significant contributions to learning and culture. Did you know there are three Italians represented: Dante, Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo?

But that’s not the only Italian connection. Anthony Henry Suzzallo, who served as the UW’s 16th president, was descended from Italian roots. His father, Peter Suzzallo, went to sea at an early age, got caught up in gold-rush fever, made some money, and sailed home to marry a distant cousin. The couple returned to San Jose, Calif., where Suzzallo was born in 1875, the eighth of nine children.

Not a terrific student, Suzzallo worked in a San Jose clothing store after high school. The owners took a liking to him, though, and convinced him to go to college, even loaning him the money. It turned out that Suzzallo was an excellent student after all, and turned his passion for learning into a career as an educator.

Suzzallo instigated a campus redesign and vowed that the UW library would take its place “with the best in the world.” Read the full story here.

This story is part of a new La Voce series about Italian Americans in Seattle, reproduced with permission from l’Italo-Americano, the country’s oldest Italian American newspaper. Stories are printed in both English and Italian, online and in print version. Subscribe here.

I would like to find out if anyone would like to volunteer to cook for any of our meetings in which we have dinners. If there is anyone interested in volunteering, I would be happy to answer any of their questions, for example, how many to prep for, the timing involved, how the kitchen is equipped, menu options, etc.

If anyone is interested, they can reach me at joan@danteseattle.org

Ciao a Tutti,
I hope this winter greeting finds you well and warm, and if you are travelling, having a wonderful time! If you ARE travelling, please consider sharing your stories in the next issue of La Voce! Email  stacey@danteseattle.org.

Our winter gatherings for Dante are taking place online, to avoid potential disruption from inclement weather and to include members and guests from beyond Seattle. So if you have a computer or a phone, you can join the fun – and what an amazing variety of programs are happening! January 11th featured Heather Stoven in a fascinating talk about olive cultivation.

This month we will offer a scholarly lecture and a tuba recital, presented live for us from Italy. Check out the details described in this issue, and watch for the email registration announcements for each presentation.

Don’t forget to renew your Dante membership if you haven’t done so. Our membership fees are the lifeline of all our programs, so please don’t forget to renew.

Member survey in the works!
Your Board of Directors wants to hear from you. Watch for an online survey coming out before spring.

Save the date for our Annual Meeting Dinner: April 12, 2023 at St. Clement’s Church.
Plan to attend and share this important event with your Dante friends. Details will be sent next month.

Meanwhile, see you soon at the Zooms!
Joyce

Both of our meetings in February will be on Zoom. Our English meeting presenter is Donald De Santis, a Dante member, former lawyer and currently a lecturer on Azamara Cruises throughout the Mediterranean Sea.

His presentation on Wednesday, February 8 will focus on “The Many Cultures of Southern Italy.” Here’s a brief description of his talk:

From the earliest periods of recorded history, the southern part of the Italian peninsula has been occupied/ruled by a host of outsiders – the Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Goths, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, French, and Spanish.  This has shaped and formed the unique culture of this region.  In ancient times, Syracuse was arguably the greatest of all Greek cities. Palermo was the site of an advanced Arabic kingdom in the Middle Ages and later was the seat of a Norman kingdom that was the intellectual center of Europe in the 12th century.  Come visit a region that is a blend of many cultures and religions.
Don will present in English. I’m looking forward to seeing all that sunshine on ancient antiquities; it’ll be a welcome sight during our cloudy Seattle winter.

We have a musical event for our February 22 Italian meeting his time, direct from Italy.

Gianmario Strappati, concertista, professore al Conservatorio G. Verdi di Ravenna in Italia and Ambasciatore di Missioni Don Bosco per la musica nel mondo will present a live concert entitled “Delle arie più celebri della musica classica, interpretate per Tuba, cimbasso e pianoforte.”

Gianmario will serenade us with some familiar and famous classical music interpreted by him on the tuba. He’ll also provide commentary in Italian on the music.

I hope you can attend one or both of these fascinating Zoom events.

The 2022-23 school year is now in its second quarter, with most of the students who enrolled in the fall quarter continuing in the winter in perfect alignment with last year’s enrollment. Our total number of students so far is coincidentally the same as last year, confirming attraction for our program and excellent retention.  Students’ satisfaction is high, as confirmed by the positive evaluations we received at the end of fall quarter.  Among others are:

 “This has been the best program I have tried”.

“I have learned much in just 3 months and I am so excited to keep progressing”.

“I feel like I have learned more in this format than others I have taken”.

Students praise our instructors:

 “Francesca is a very good teacher. She is approachable, well-organized, explains concepts clearly, maintained a good pace in class and made herself available to students who needed extra help. Her sense of humor and gentle teaching style created a classroom environment conducive to learning. She was familiar with Canvas and always posted our lessons in a timely manner. She is also proficient with Zoom and expertly navigates the environment.”

“Damiano is really patient and works with us when we are struggling to find the right conjugation and tense. Excellent Instructor!”

 “Both Roberta and Giorgio are skilled, sensitive and encouraging teachers. I was very fortunate to have been one of the other pupils.”

 “Teaching ability and attitude seem excellent.”

 “Laura is a great teacher. She was patient and greatly helped us. I improved my pronunciation by listening to her and her corrections always challenged me in a good way.”

To the question, “How would you rate your experience with Canvas?”  45.5 percent responded very satisfied, 45.5 % satisfied, 9.1 % neutral and 0% dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.

This is very encouraging since we are only at the beginning of the second year of Canvas implementation during which we have had to create not only the entire structure but also all the administrative and pedagogical content. The goal of the second year is to refine the content with a clearer distinction between core material and supplementary material, verify existing pages and links for accuracy, and create new ones as needed.

Instructors are getting more and more familiar with the platform and determining the best practices for its use in a language course.

A student wrote: “I use all the material and especially like the option to check our answers – it helps me see, before a class, what I need to practice more. It helps me to be prepared before class.”
From two other students: “I liked the after-class activities we did to reinforce what we
learned in class.” “Organizational structure for each session (what to do before, etc.) is great. “

The online option continues to be a favorite by students:
“I would definitely continue to enroll if there was an option for on-line in the future. I love it!”

“I can only enroll online because I live too far to commute! I did “attend” some virtual Dante monthly meetings when they were virtual.”

“The convenience of online courses cannot be beat. I honestly do not think I would physically attend a class held at the same time and with the same frequency.”

“Online – it makes it easier for me because I travel 3-4 days a week for work. I can take my learning material and computer anywhere!”

Thanks to the online environment, our mission of promoting the Italian language and culture locally has the potential to reach a larger community beyond the State of Washington.  We already have some students connecting from other states such as one from Oregon this quarter, and we want everyone to know of this possibility to take Dante courses within and out of state and take advantage of it. We also want to reach those who wish to learn Italian but for whom online is the best option.  This is the true spirit of the Dante Alighieri Society of Washington: open to everybody the door to all things Italian.

According to our latest survey, 63.6% of students choose to learn Italian because it improves the functionality of my brain, 45.5 % because I have relative in Italy, 45.5% because I am planning a trip to Italy, 36.4% because it is a beautiful language, 27.3 % because I am interested in Italian language and culture and 27.3% because I am working towards PLIDA Italian certification exam.  The linguistic skills acquired from our courses will allow students to take the PLIDA exam and obtain a certification (also required in order to obtain Italian citizenship) that is valid and recognized around the world.

Since 2011, we have been authorized to conduct the PLIDA exams in person here in Seattle under my coordination and with an approved examination board.  We are pleased to announce that just a few days ago, we signed a new agreement with the Società Dante Alighieri in Rome which grants us the use of the new PLIDA logo which, starting January 31, 2023, will recognized the PLIDA centers around the world. Visit our website for all the information about PLIDA, including the date for the next session open to everyone, not only students, on June 21st .

Image credit: MOHAI

Edo Vanni: The Heart and Soul of Seattle Baseball
By Rita Cipalla

Edo Vanni was as feisty as they come. Some called him a firebrand; others, a hothead. His wife once said he could start a fight in an empty room.

How much of that headstrong nature was just for show is hard to know. But no one disputes the fact that Edo Vanni was a talented athlete. Called the heart and soul of Seattle baseball, Vanni was a key member of the fledgling Seattle Rainiers team when they won three straight pennants in the Pacific Coast League starting in 1939.

Edo Vanni was born in 1918 to Raffaello and Esterina. The family had arrived in Washington from Garfagnana, Italy, and Raffaello found word in Black Diamond as a coal miner. A gifted athlete in high school, Edo got an athletic scholarship to the UW but during his freshman year he left to join the Seattle Rainiers.

During the team’s glory years, Vanni hit better than .300 and led the 1940 team with an amazing performance of .333. He missed most of his fourth season because of a broken leg. But at this point, there was no going back. Baseball became his life. Read the full story here.

This story is part of a new La Voce series about Italian Americans in Seattle, reproduced with permission from l’Italo-Americano, the country’s oldest Italian American newspaper. Stories are printed in both English and Italian, online and in print version. Subscribe here.

I would like to find out if anyone would like to volunteer to cook for any of our meetings in which we have dinners. If there is anyone interested in volunteering, I would be happy to answer any of their questions, for example, how many to prep for, the timing involved, how the kitchen is equipped, menu options, etc.

If anyone is interested, they can reach me at joan@danteseattle.org