Canceled – March 25, 2020 Italian Language Meetiing
When: March 25, 2020
Speaker: TBD
Topic: TBD
Postponed – March 11, 2020 English Language Meeting
When: POSTPONED
Speakers: Pat Hoffman
Topic: Seated at Lorenzo’s Table – From Farm to Table
About the Speaker:
Pat grew up on the east coast and had a long career in immunological research at both for-profit and non-profit institutions. After a year of retirement, she started a 2nd career as a part-time paralegal for a small law firm and is now working part-part-time, giving her more time to travel. Pat is a Dante member whose passion for Italy was ignited in 2002 when her daughter, Kelcey, moved to Italy to work in Rome. Eighteen years and numerous visits later, the desire to discover the beauty of Italy’s diverse regions is still strong and the love of the art, food, wine and people continues to grow and satisfy. She is delighted that she is able to have conversations with “la gente” using her modest command of the Italian language.
About the Presentation:
FarmerChef Lorenzo Polegri owns Ristorante Zeppelin in the enchanting Umbrian town of Orvieto, Italy. Invited several times to cook at the James Beard house in NYC, he also cooked for President Obama at the White House in 2010.
Ristorante Zeppelin is home to Chef Lorenzo’s internship program for culinary students and his cooking school, featuring afternoon cooking classes and one-week and two-week “culinary adventures” that include cooking classes and visits to the sources that produce the ingredients used in Chef Lorenzo’s recipes. Join six friends on their excellent adventure who spent two weeks with Chef Lorenzo immersed in the history and culinary experiences of the FarmerChef.
February 26, 2020 Italian Language Meetiing
When: February 26, 2020
Speaker: Annalisa Bellerio
Topic: Leonardo Da Vinci: Cinque secoli di un mito
About the Speaker:
Annalisa Bellerio is an Italian journalist, editor and writer. After graduating in History of Art from the University of Pavia, she worked in publishing as editor-in-chief, copywriter, published author and consultant for Italian publishers, magazines and literary agencies. In Milan, the city where she comes from and returns every year on vacation, Annalisa has also worked as a teacher of Italian language, Literature and History, as a guide for art exhibitions and as a volunteer in a middle school specialized for disabled children.
In the United States, where she has lived for six years, she is an Italian language teacher at South Seattle College and Bellevue College. She has been certified “Competent Communicator” by Toastmasters International and “Docent” by Bellevue Arts Museum, where she works as a volunteer.
His paintings have been exhibited in private and collective exhibitions.
About the Presentation:
Leonardo da Vinci
Cinque secoli di un mito
Cinquecento anni dopo la sua morte, Leonardo continua ad attirare folle di visitatori, a sfidare studiosi e biografi, e a ispirare scrittori, artisti e visionari di tutto il mondo. Milioni di pagine sono state scritte su di lui nel corso dei secoli, ma la sua persona rimane ancora in gran parte avvolta nel mistero. In questo incontro esploreremo la vita e le opere, il contributo innovativo e l’eredità culturale di questa icona del Rinascimento italiano, che ha posto domande cruciali e trovato risposte spesso centinaia di anni in anticipo sui tempi.
Leonardo da Vinci
A Five-Century Lasting Myth
Five hundred years after his death, Leonardo continues to attract crowds of visitors, to challenge scholars and biographers, and to inspire novelists, artists, and visionary innovators around the world. Despite the millions of pages written about him over the centuries, his person still remains mostly shrouded in mystery. In this meeting we will explore the life and works, the innovative contribution and cultural heritage of this Renaissance man icon, who asked crucial questions and found answers often hundreds of years ahead of his time.
February 12, 2020 English Language Meeting
When: February 12, 2020
Speaker: Prof. Lloyd Howard
Topic: The Power of Music on the Shore of Dante’s Purgatory
About the Speaker:
Lloyd Howard received his PhD from the Johns Hopkins University in 1976, after which, the subsequent year, he was appointed to a tenure-track position at the University of Victoria, where he taught until his retirement at the rank of Professor in 2016. Along with teaching in the Department over 39 years, he served as Chair of the Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies for a total of 15 years, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Humanities for six-month terms in 1997 and 2000, and Director of the Medieval Studies Program for 3 years. His research focussed initially on the extant poetry of Guido Cavalcanti, before turning to Dante’s Commedia. His approach to interpreting this work follows an alternate, non-linear journey through Dante’s three realms of the afterlife. The signposts that mark the way consist of recurrent linguistic patterns, or formulas, by which the reader is guided through the space that comprises the poem’s 100 cantos. Along with numerous articles, he has written two books adopting this method: Formulas of Repetition in Dante’s Commedia: Signposted Journeys across Textual Space (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001); Virgil the Blind Guide: Marking the Way through the Divine Comedy (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2010). Scholarly recognition of his methodology includes the former book being chosen as an “Outstanding Title” for 2002 by the American Library Association, and one of its chapters being selected by Harold Bloom to form part of Bloom’s edition on the Commedia: Dante Alighieri, published in 2011. His articles in more recent years have been published by Letteratura Italiana Antica in Rome.
About the Presentation:
Professor Howard will begin his talk with a brief description of Dante’s world and how the Commedia was transmitted both in written form and orally by singing Dante’s text. He will then turn to the second canto of the Purgatorio, where Dante introduces the soul of the musician, Casella, who, while living, sang Dante’s love poems. He will explore how Casella’s “encore” performance of Dante’s song, “Amor che ne la mente mi ragiona,” goes wrong, as opposed to the Psalm “In exitu Israel de Aegypto,”sung in tonus peregrinus by all the delivered pilgrim souls earlier. Lastly, Professor Howard will discuss the Paradiso where, by flight through the music enhanced spheres, Dante, a famed writer of worldly love songs, reaches the Celestial Rose and, in contrast to when his attention was focused on unworthy loves, the once straying poet fixes his attentive eyes upward to the Virgin Mary, whose intercession brings Dante the pilgrim home to God.
January 22, 2020 Annual Wine Dinner
When: January 22, 2020
Speaker: Arnie Millan
Topic: Annual Wine Dinner
About the Speaker:
Arnie is a Sommelier certified by the Guild of Sommeliers. He has been a wine aficionado for nearly thirty years. During his first visit to France in 1973, Arnie toured several French vineyards and began to learn about wine from wine merchants and collectors. Arnie has been consulting to restaurants about wine since 1987. In 1997, he opened his own restaurant, Avenue One. Avenue One was highly regarded for its extensive and carefully chosen wine program, winning four Wine Spectator Magazine Awards of Excellence and accolades from Wine Press Northwest, Seattle Magazine and other publications. He recently appeared in the video, “Wineworks: The Complete Video Guide to Wine,” available in selected wine shops and book stores.
Arnie has been a guest sommelier at Taste Washington and he has been in charge of acquiring the wines for the 2002 – 2006 Beaujolais Nouveau Festival at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, sponsored by the French-American Chamber of Commerce. Since 2003, Arnie has been a Guest Sommelier for the Auction of Northwest Wines at Chateau Ste. Michelle, He has been a member of the Seattle chapter of the Chaine des Rotisseurs and other food and wine organizations. Arnie also has been privileged to judge the Boeing Wine Fest for four years, Seattle Magazine’s Washington Wine Awards as well as the Seattle Wine Awards in 2007 and 2008. In 2004, Arnie was elected to the Board of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Institute of Wine and Food.
Arnie speaks fluent French and German. Last year he conducted his first wine tasting entirely in French (a 3 hour event!) for Seattle’s Alliance Française.
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.
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.
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.