‘Le mani in pasta’ – Hands in the Dough

Forum ‘Le mani in pasta’ – Hands in the Dough. The Mediterranean diet in schools: educating about sustainability and health through food, on the occasion of the World Week of Italian Cuisine. Experts talk about the relationship between diet, health and sustainability and stress the importance of educating from a young age about the Mediterranean diet and active lifestyles. A show produced by the students of the Scuola d’Italia and inspired by the principles of the Mediterranean diet is also presented, together with educational videos aimed at raising food awareness in younger generations. Laura Di Renzo (University of Rome Tor Vergata) discusses the risks of the most popular diet in Europe and America today, based on high-calorie, low-nutrition foods, which is responsible for the increasingly early onset of obesity and related diseases. The Mediterranean diet is an alternative nutritional model that is extremely healthy and more sustainable in environmental, social and economic terms. Lois J. Aronne (Weill-Cornell Medical College) explains the main characteristics of the different Mediterranean diets, presents scientific data that prove this diet is the healthiest and offers practical advice on how to implement it in our daily lives. Luca Miele (Policlinico Universitario Gemelli) addresses the importance of a healthy diet in the prevention of various liver diseases, which affect children and young people with increasing incidence. Monica Fornier (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre) shows how a Mediterranean diet is not only an important tool for preventing various forms of cancer, but also an effective support during treatment and recovery.

Sustainability

Forum Sustainability: from cost to profit, organized by the ICI in New York and the digital newspaper La Voce di New York on the occasion of the Sustainable Development Festival. Experts from Italy and the United States are engaged in a multi-perspective and multi-disciplinary debate on sustainability, investigated in economic, technological, social, scientific, artistic and cultural terms. What emerges is an innovative idea of sustainability, perceived as an opportunity for all-round growth rather than as an impediment from a purely economic point of view.

European Day of Jewish Culture

On the occasion of the European Day of Jewish Culture, a series of videos investigate the deep connection between Jewish and Italian history. First, Edoardo Ballerini reads the Jewish-Italian Elegy, one of the oldest texts in Italian vernacular literature, with photographs from Jerusalem by Alessandro de Lisi. In the second video, Fabio Finotti – Director of the ICI in New York – in conversation with David Landau (art historian) and Marcella Ansaldi (Director of the Jewish Museum of Venice) about the restoration of the Venice ghetto. Founded in 1516, the ghetto of Venice is the oldest in Europe and has welcomed Jews from all over Europe for centuries; its architectural peculiarities, lively economic activities and cultural richness have made it a real city within the city. The aim of the restoration project promoted by David Landau and Marcella Ansaldi is to safeguard and enhance this heritage that is not only this Jewish but also Italian and European, restoring the city’s three oldest synagogues and their schools, as well as the Jewish Museum of Venice, to their former glory. Finally, Vincenzo Pascale in conversation with journalist Gianna Pontecorboli about her book America. The New Promised Land, which tells the stories of hundreds of Italian Jews forced to emigrate to the United States following the promulgation of the Fascist racial laws.

Columbus. History and Myth

Presentation of the seminar series Columbus. History and Myth. The lectures will be dedicated to Christopher Columbus, a crucial figure for the American and Italian sense of identity and today at the center of great controversy. The lectures will analyze critically his historical role, historicizing it and approaching it from multiple perspectives, creating a debate between academics and experts.

The New York Marathon

Video interview by Vincenzo di Pascale with some of the protagonists of Italian running history, on the occasion of the 50th edition of the New York City Marathon. Franca Fiacconi – the only Italian woman to have achieved this goal – talks about her victory in the New York Marathon in 1998; Gianni Poli recalls his own victory in 1986 – the crowning glory of the three golden years of Italian running, after Olando Pizzolato’s double victory in 1984 and 1985 – and promotes the Cortina Dobbiaco Run which he organizes. Luca and Chiara Brustenghi remember their father Gabriele, who in 1986 had the brilliant intuition of having Ellesse, an Italian brand that would become one of the symbols of Italian sports marketing in the United States, sponsor the New York Marathon. Finally, journalist and writer Roberto Di Sante tells how running and the impossible dream of running the New York Marathon changed his life and how the friendships he made through sport helped him recover in hard times.

This Is Not New York (Return)

Video interview by Fabio Finotti – Director of the ICI in New York – with Maria Teresa Cometto and Glauco Maggi, at the end of their journey through the United States. The two journalists recall their adventure through America’s lesser-visited destinations, talking about the strong sense of community they encountered, the enthusiasm and interest shown towards them, and the cultural initiatives in which they participated. They also claim that the adventurous spirit, the desire to leave behind a stable reality and to take on the challenges of a path yet to be explored were the ideals that guided them not only on this journey, but also in their first decision to leave Italy and move to America. This desire to be surrounded by local culture and become part of a new community has always guided them in their life in New York. Finally, they talk about the importance of local realities in their work as journalists: faced with the crisis in the publishing market, the enhancement of local newspapers with strong ties to local areas and small communities could be the winning tool to keep quality journalism flourishing.

This Is Not New York (Departure)

Video interview by Fabio Finotti – Director of the ICI in New York – with Maria Teresa Cometto and Glauco Maggi, who present their travel initiative across the United States. The two journalists talk about their decision to embark on a journey of discovery to America’s lesser-known destinations, along a route that starts in New York and moves westwards along the ancient routes of pioneer exploration. They will come into contact with American realities that are different from those of great metropolises and will try to understand what the common view on Italy in the more peripheral and rural areas of the United States is, where immigration from Italy was very limited. They will document their experience through articles and short videos, writing a travel diary whose pages will be available on the This Is Not New York map of the United States.

Carla Fracci

A tribute by Fabio Finotti – Director of the ICI in New York – in memory of Carla Fracci, the goddess of dance who was named “prima ballerina assoluta” by the New York Times. Carla Fracci has always been an emblem of the lightness of dance that lifts humanity to the heavens, but also of the vital strength that comes from art and unites all human beings. Throughout her career, she never ceased to enchant and to attract an increasingly wide audience to the timeless wonder of ballet.

Il giretto d’Italia

Video interview by Fabio Finotti – Director of the ICI in New York – with Mico Licastro (USA delegate of CONI), to present the initiative Il giretto dItalia (the small giro d’italia). The aim of the initiative is to promote sport, and in particular the use of bicycles, among Italian families living in New York. The Giretto d’Italia is meant as a symbolic miniaturization of the Giro: the route consists of a series of stages that symbolize the Italian regions and aim to promote the very rich regional facets of Italian culture. Finally, Finotti and Licastro discuss the myth of Italian cycling in America and the growing popularity of bicycles on New York streets.

Il giro d’Italia

A text by Fabio Finotti – Director of the ICI in New York – on the history of the Giro d’Italia. Since the Unification of Italy, bicycles have been a crucial tool for connecting different areas of Italy, which was formally united but deeply fragmented from the linguistic, social and infrastructural point of view. Since its foundation in 1908-09, the Giro d’Italia has been a sport but above all patriotic event; however, it has also highlighted the deep divide between the north and south of the country. While the first historic Giro only reached as far as Naples, the islands and much of the south of Italy are excluded still today, so we must continue to work to make Italy truly united and the Giro a race through the whole of Italy.

The 2021 Giro d’Italia 2021 – The Bicycle Museum

Video interview by Fabio Finotti – Director of the ICI in New York – with Fabio Dal Pan (Italian reporter of the Giro d’Italia), about the Toni Bevilacqua Historical Bicycle Museum in Cesiomaggiore (Belluno). He tells the story of the museum’s founder, Sergio Savido, who for many years collected and restored hundreds of vintage bicycles that are now the heart of the collection, and of the athlete to whom the museum is dedicated, Toni Bevilacqua, a Venetian cyclist from the 1950s. Finally, Fabio Dal Pan presents the book ABiCi by Claudio Gregori, which is closely linked to the history of the museum and discusses the importance of the culture of bicycle restoration.

The Bicycle

Text by Fabio Finotti – Director of the ICI in New York – on the bicycle revolution. Since its advent, bicycles have never been just bicycles, but a promise of freedom, a dream of progress, an instrument of emancipation for subordinate social groups. For women in the 19th century, bicycles were the first chance to take full control of their own movement, and one of the first revolutions in women’s clothing came as a response to those who opposed this revolutionary freedom. In the 20th century, bicycles became the embodiment of the Futurist myth of speed and the fusion of man and machine: a technological version of ancient mythological semi-human creatures, such as centaurs, satyrs, and the natural god Pan himself. Finally, after World War II, bicycles became the daily means of transport for the working class, and cycling – a sport made of labor and endurance – became the symbol of the class of common people who made the economic rebirth of the country possible with their hard work.

Per riveder le stelle

A night of music and poetry with dimmed lights. At the Politeama Rossetti Theatre in Trieste, Emanuele Fortunati and Francesco Migliaccio, actors from the Compagnia dello Stabile, accompany the reading of Per riveder le stelle, a text by Fabio Finotti, with verses by Giacomo Leopardi (Canto di un pastore errante dell’Asia) and Théodore de Banville (Odes Funambulesques) and music by Francesco Guccini, B3N, Francesco De Gregori and Ottorino Respighi. Since the nineteenth century, the spread of artificial lighting has been one of the symbols of progress and human triumph over nature; however, electric light has eclipsed the light of the stars and the moon, which for centuries have been the inspirational muses of artists. Today, a new model of progress is emerging: no longer the reckless development of man against nature, but the enhancement of the fragile riches of the planet. “M’illumino di meno” thus becomes a hymn to the possibility of “seeing the stars again” (“riveder le stelle”): by switching off the artificial lights we can rediscover an authentic connection not only with nature, but with our deepest humanity.

Migrant Music

Video interview by Fabio Finotti – Director of the ICI in New York – with Luca d’Ambrosio (Music Letter blogger), Umberto Marin (Time for Africa Association) and Alieu Saho aka Kora Hero (Gambian musician) about music as a tool for cultural mediation. Luca d’Ambrosio talks about his book Musica migrante (Migrant Music), which tells the story of the long-standing musical contamination between Europe and Africa. He explains that it is in Afro-American music that the most popular musical genres of the last century – from blues and jazz to rock and hip hop – have their roots. Then, Umberto Marin presents the work of the association Time for Africa based in Udine, whose mission is intercultural exchanges. He then introduces the stories of some talented African musicians who have immigrated to Italy and wish to share their culture through music. Kora Hero, the stage name of Alieu Saho, whose desire is to introduce the world to the music of his instrument – played by his family for generations – and who performs traditional African songs and original pieces composed after he moved to Italy. Finally, three versatile artists from the Time for Africa association sing songs celebrating the harmony between different peoples.

In memory of Milva

A tribute by Fabio Finotti – Director of the ICI in New York – in memory of Milva, the great diva of Italian music of the 1960s and 1990s. Finotti portrays a multifaceted artist, capable of combining her singing skills with her performance and histrionic abilities, thus emphasizing the sophisticated theatricality of her performances. Through her life and successes – from her debut with Il mare nel cassetto, to the success of Da troppo tempo a Sanremo, to her musical interpretations of Alda Merini’s poems – Milva became the embodiment of post-war Italy, which was able to shine again thanks to culture.