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An Avant-Garde Italia: The Futurists, Modern Art and the Promise of the 20th Century

by | Sep 25, 2019

Speaker: Rob Prufer

In 1909 the writer Filippo Tommaso Marinetti published his Futurist Manifesto, in which he denounced the oppressive weight of Italy’s past and advocated a program of radical artistic, social and technological innovation. Soon, painters, sculptors, writers and musicians joined Marinetti in a quest to re-fashion Italian culture and are known collectively as The Futurists. What are we to make of their whirlwind of artistic output? What impact did they have? How Italian was this movement of passionate Italians?

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 Meeting

by | Sep 5, 2019

Dante Alighieri Society English Language Meeting Dominic Minotti Dominico Minotti Famous Women of Italian Descent Kicking off this year’s schedule will be a presentation by Domenico Minotti (Nick) on “Famous Women of Italian Descent”. This will be the basis for this year’s Festa Italiana quiz that Nick has been creating for the past few years to use at our booth. For Festa, reference information will be available to help visitors pick the woman who fits the description. The names of folks with successful entries (8 out of 10) will be entered into a drawing for a free dinner at one of our Dante events. The September 11 presentation for Dante, however, will be a straightforward talk about these 10 women, 6 well known, 2 less known and 2 probably new to most Dante members. In the late 1920s, Nick’s parents emigrated from Sant’Angelo, Limosano, a small hilltop town in Molise. The population at that time was about 1000 but is now 345 as Nick learned on a visit this summer. The family spoke their dialect at home. Nick studied Italian at Columbia University and Perugia and gotlots of practice while on Fulbright study grants in Milan in the mid 60’s.Nick returned to the states and to his first love, medicine, at Georgetown University and came to Seattle in 1976 to work at the US Public Health Hospital on Beacon Hill, better known as the Marine Hospital. He and his father Pasquale would attend Dante meetings back then but took a break until retirement a few years ago. Nick serves as a Consigliere for our Dante group.

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