Poche Parole February 2011
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February, 2011 Vol. XXVIII, No. 6 ppoocchhee ppaarroollee The Italian Cultural Society of Washington D.C. Preserving and Promoting Italian Culture for All www.italianculturalsociety.org ICS EVENTS Social meetings start at 3:00 PM on the third Sunday of the month, September thru May(except this February meeting will be at 7PM on Saturday, February 19) , at the Friendship Heights Village Center, 4433 South Park Ave., Chevy Chase, MD (See map on back cover) Saturday, February 19: Festa di Carnevale!! (See page 3). Please note, this is a Saturday evening program. Disregard the wrong date in the January issue. Sunday, March 20: Cam Trowbridge will speak on Guglielmo Marconi, about whom he has just written a new book. There will be no Italian lessons and no movie at the February 19 Festa di Carnevale PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Once again, dear members, we had a strong turnout for our social meeting. On January 16 we were treated to a lively and well-received lecture by Professor Vytenis Gureckas of Catholic University’s School of Architecture and Planning who selected five modern Italian architects and their signal works for our edification. These ranged from buildings in the Fascist period (Casa del Popolo by Giuseppe Terragni) to Renzo Piano’s recent Parco della Musica in Rome’s Eur section. Vyt started off by addressing us in Italian before launching into English to complete his presentation. We were also happy to have Joseph Grano available to announce the recently passed Congressional Resolution commemorating the 500th anniversary of Andrea Palladio’s birth that he had worked so hard to bring to fruition. Mr. Grano is working with What a crowd ! us to co-sponsor a presentation by Mr. Calder Loth, the pre- eminent American expert on Palladio sometime this spring…stay tuned. Now we turn our attention to having some fun. It’s time for Carnevale! Joining together with several other groups in the DC area, we are making plans for a great costume party, aimed at an adult audience, for the evening of Saturday, February 19, at Friendship Heights, 7pm to 11:30pm. We had a planning meeting attended by representatives from Italians in DC; Piazza Italia, the Washington, DC Italian Language and Culture Group; D.I.V.E.; and the Washington, DC Italian Language Meetup. Also present were bon vivants Aldo Grossi and Elisabetta Pirode who will spice up our party with a demonstration (and Nervi never got a degree in architecture, but !! instruction) of some groovin’ dance steps from Venezuela. Tasks were assigned, and work is well underway. It should CONTENTS be a memorable event, with prizes for the best costumes 2. Joint Congressional Resolution Honoring Palladio and/or masks. In addition, we will be holding an unusual 3. Carnevale, Saturday evening, February 19 raffle to support our ICS scholarship program in which the 4. Nobel winner Rita Levi-Montalcini biography prizes are two pairs of tickets to a performance by the 8. Medieval Saintly Relics in Italy Washington National Opera Company of Giacomo Puccini’s 10. Welcome to New Members Madama Butterfly. So please be sure to come and tell your 11. Local Events of Interest friends to join us. And let’s hope there is no snowmaggedon 11. Proposed ICS Opera Trip to Philadelphia this time! Ron Cappelletti, president On January 5, 2011, largely through the tireless efforts of ICS member Joe Grano, as well as countless others, Congress passed House Concurrent Resolution 259, honoring Andrea Palladio. The full text is below. One Hundred Eleventh Congress of the United States of America AT THE SECOND SESSION Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, the fifth day of January, two thousand and ten Concurrent Resolution Whereas 2008 was the 500th anniversary of the birth year of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio; Whereas Andrea Palladio was born Andrea di Pietro in Padua on November 30, 1508; Whereas Palladio, born of humble origins, apprenticed as a stonemason in his early life; Whereas under the patronage of Count Giangiorgio Trissino (1478-1550), Palladio studied architecture, engineering, topography, and military science in his mid-twenties; Whereas in 1540, Count Trissino renamed him `Palladio', a reference to the wisdom of Pallas Athena, as well as the Italian form of the name of the Roman writer of the fourth century, Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius; Whereas Palladio's designs for public works, churches, mansions, and villas rank among the most outstanding architectural achievements of the Italian Renaissance; Whereas Palladio's surviving buildings are collectively included in the UNESCO World Heritage List; Whereas Palladio's treatise, `The Four Books of Architecture', ranks as the most influential publication on architecture ever produced and has shaped much of the architectural image of Western civilization; Whereas `The Four Books of Architecture' has served as a primary source for classical design for many architects and builders in the United States from colonial times to the present; Whereas Thomas Jefferson called Palladio's `The Four Books of Architecture' the `Bible' for architectural practice, and employed Palladio's principles in establishing lasting standards for public architecture in the United States and in constructing his own masterpiece, Monticello; Whereas our Nation's most iconic buildings, including the United States Capitol Building and the White House, reflect the influence of Palladio's architecture through the Anglo-Palladian movement, which flourished in the 18th century; Whereas Palladio's pioneering reconstruction and restoration drawings of ancient Roman temples in `The Four Books of Architecture' provided inspiration for many of the great American classical edifices of the 19th and 20th centuries, in the period known as the American Renaissance; Whereas the American Renaissance marked the high point of the classical tradition and enriched the United States from coast to coast with countless architectural works of timeless dignity and beauty, including the John A. Wilson Building, the seat of government of the District of Columbia; Whereas the American architectural monuments inspired both directly and indirectly by the writings, illustrations, and designs of Palladio form a proud and priceless part of our Nation's cultural heritage; and Whereas organizations, educational institutions, governmental agencies, and many other entities have been celebrating this special 500-year anniversary, including the Italian National Committee for Andrea Palladio 500, the Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio, the Palladium Musicum, Inc., the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, and the Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America, as well as other Italian and Italian American cultural organizations, such as the Italian Heritage and Culture Committee of New York, Inc., and the Italian Cultural Society of Washington, DC, Inc., with a wide variety of public programs, publications, symposia, proclamation ceremonies, and salutes to the genius and legacy of Palladio: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress-- (1) recognizes the 500th anniversary of Andrea Palladio's birth year; (2) recognizes his tremendous influence on architecture in the United States; and (3) expresses its gratitude for the enhancement his life and career has bestowed upon the Nation's built environment. 2 RITA LEVI MONTALCINI RITA LEVI MONTALCINI un saggio biografico di Romeo Segnan a biographical essay by Romeo Segnan 2007 foto Insieme alla sorella gemella Paola (nota pittrice, 1909 – 1963 photo 2000) Rita nasce a Torino il 22 aprile 1909. La famiglia Levi Along with her twin sister Paola (a noted painter, 1909-2000) Montalcini appartiene a quel ceto ebreo intellettuale che Rita was born in Torino on April 22, 1909. The Levi- fiorisce nella Torino della prima metà del novecento. Il padre Montalcini family belongs to that class of intellectual Jews è ingegnere elettrotecnico e la madre pittrice. L’ambiente that flourished in the first half of the 1900s. Her father was famigliare è vittoriano e Rita deve chiedere il permesso del an electronic engineer and her mother, a painter. The family padre per poter frequentare l’università e impegnarsi in una environment was Victorian, and Rita had to ask permission of carriera professionale nelle scienze. Mentre Paola studia her father to attend the university and devote herself to a pittura con Felice Casorati e diventa un’artista di valore, Rita professional career in the sciences. While Paola was nell’autunno del 1930 decide di studiare medicina studying painting with Felice Casorati and was becoming an all’università di Torino. La sua scelta è determinata in parte accomplished artist, Rita, in the autumn of 1930 decided to dalla circostanza che la sua amata governante muore di study medicine at the University of Torino. Her choice was cancro. influenced by the death of her beloved governess of cancer. A vent’anni entra nella scuola medica dell’istologo (studioso At 20 she entered the medical school of Giuseppe Levi, an della struttura microscopica dei tessuti animali o vegetali) histologist (scholar of the microscopic structure of animal or Giuseppe Levi, dedicandosi agli studi del sistema nervoso vegetable tissues), dedicating herself to studies of the che avrebbe proseguito per tutta la vita. Nel 1936 si laurea in nervous system, that she would pursue for her entire life. In medicina e chirurgia con 110 e lode. Nel 1938 in quanto 1936 she graduates in medicine and surgery with the ebrea è costretta ad emigrare in Belgio dove continua a equivalent of summa cum laude. In 1938, as a Jew, she is studiare il differenziamento del sistema nervoso. Poco prima forced to emigrate to Belgium, where she continued to study dell’invasione tedesca del Belgio La Montalcini ritorna a the differentiation of the nervous system. Shortly before the Torino. Dopo l’8 settembre l’invasione tedesca costringe la German invasion of Belgium, Montalcini returned to Torino.