Education

May 26, 2016


Introduction to Studying Italian in the Greater Los Angeles Area

A good place to start in your search for Italian studies (language, literature, and more), in the greater Los Angeles area, the entire Southwest, and Italy, is the Web site of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura (IIC: See: INSTITUTIONS, Government, “Education.”) You will also find there information on scholarships. Here instead we provide a guide limited to Italian in Los Angeles: university departments where one can obtain a degree in Italian, community and city colleges, language institutes, high schools, elementary schools, tutors, and miscellaneous other courses such as cooking, opera, traditional music, and more.

Education Office (Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles), See INSTITUTIONS, Government

Fondazione Italia
10350 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 210
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Tel: 310-691-8909
manuela.furione@fondazione-italia.org

The Fondazione coordinates and promotes Italian at all levels, in collaboration with the Education office of the Consular authority, the IIC, and other partners:

Italian classes for adults and children offered in association with community organizations in Bakersfield, Montebello, Santa Barbara, San Diego, San Pedro, and other locations in Southern California
Italian language, cooking, and culture classes for adults offered in cooperation with Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Los Angeles
Saturday Italian classes for children offered in Santa Monica
Initiatives to promote and fund Italian language instruction in schools from pre-school through high school
Continuing Professional Education of elementary and secondary Italian teachers
Development of curricular materials and methods suited to Italian language instruction in the communities it serves.…

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Performing Arts

April 24, 2016

“The Italian Film Commission (IFC) is a division of the Italian Trade Commission (ITC) and operates as the promotional office for the Italian Entertainment Industry. The Italian Film Commission provides information and assistance to the American audiovisual industry by showcasing, promoting and assisting with Italian locations, facilities, and Italian crews above and below the line. The Italian Film Commission in 1998 became part of AFCI, the Association of Film Commissions International.” The IFC organizes events, seminars, screenings, and participates in entertainment trade shows. It publishes a national production guide (consultable on its Web site), provides marketing research, and sponsors industry-related events. It functions as a liaison between the Italian film community, its services, products, and the U.S. industry.

Los Angeles, entertainment capital of the world, could not help but attract Italian (-and other) actors, set designers, producers, directors, and photographers from its earliest industry days to the present. There is a long history of Italians in “Hollywood,” they are here today, and too numerous to list. They are both Italian and Italian American.

Efforts to promote Italian film in Los Angeles have increased in recent years, making this a high priority with the Italian Cultural Institute (Istituto Italiano di Cultura)óespecially under the ex-directorship of Guido Fink, professor of cinema at the University of Florence, Italy. You can see current Italian films in the Sala Rossellini of the IIC (see their monthly calendar online, or sign up to receive e-mail announcements). Further, LAIFA promotes Italian and Italian American film in America. Several Italian media maintain corresponding journalists in Los Angeles as well (See: MEDIA, Italian Journalists in Los Angeles). Here follows a very limited list of current Italians in film and TV:

Actors: Dom Deluise, Joe Mantegna, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Sylvester Stallone, Frank Agrama, Rose Colosanti,

Directors: Carlo Carlei, Bernard Hiller, Andrea Barzini, Marco Brambilla, Michael Cimino

Filmmakers: Teo Ruspoli, Paolo Borraccetti, Evelina Luongo, Luigia Martelloni

Agents: Paul Attanasio

Costume Designer: Milena Canonero

Producers: Dino De Laurentiis, Donald P. Bellisario, Doug De Luca

Production: Grazia Caroselli

Photography: Dante Spinotti, Kim Canazzi…

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Business: Services

July 28, 2015

“Americans in the West” Project included research on San Pedro, conducted by Doug Di Natale and David Taylor, Frank Russell, Paola Tavarelli. Further reading: Old Ties, New Attachments: Italian-American Folklife in the West, edited by David A. Taylor, John Alexander Williams, Library of Congress, 1992.

A Bit of History: Charles Speroni (1911-1984), Professor of Italian at UCLA, Dean of the College of Fine Arts, and perhaps best known for his Italian language reader, with C. Golino, Basic Italian, was one of the first to study Italian folklife in southern California. Among publications in this field, are: Charles Speroni, “California Fishermenís Festivals,” in Western Folklore, 14 (1955) 77-91; and “Observance of St. Joseph’s Day Among the Sicilians of Southern California.” Southern Folklore Quarterly 4.3 (1940): 135-139. University of California obituary, by Giovanni Cecchetti:…

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Institutions

February 28, 2014

Italians and Italian Americans. Amid this diversity of Italians, a self-selection process naturally occurs. Indeed a genuine gulf exists between Italian Americans and contemporary Italians—little interested in “folk” or “ethnic” manifestations of tradition. Since the vast majority of the historic Italian American community has rural and small town roots, however, traditional forms of folklife are the patrimony, whether acknowledged, remembered, or not, of this group. The historic community of Italians (now of second or third generation) who do form into associations, tend to make the preservation of cultural heritage and the celebration of town and regional festivities, a priority (See: CLUBS & ASSOCIATIONS). Post-economic boom Italians (1960s-) instead have a markedly different experience of Italian history and culture and have more often arrived as middle class professionals. Increasing economic parity and various other factors (e.g., shared work and educational milieux, recent experiences of Italian travel among older immigrants) have however helped blur such boundaries in recent years. Further, various aspects of Italian folk culture (festivals, foods, customs—but those associated with Italy rather than with Italians in America) have acquired renewed interest for descendents of the older as well as newer Italians. For instance, Italian traditional music collected in the field from oral tradition (See: PERFORMING ARTS, Traditional Music)—although little known—is showing greater appeal for young descendants of immigrants rediscovering their cultural roots, than is the “folk music” typical of Italian American (e.g., staged red, white and green, tambourine-shaking, “generic” tarantella dancers) festivals and other heritage events. …

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Media

February 26, 2014

A Bit of History: The only Italian newspaper on the West Coast, since 1908: L’Italo-Americano was founded in 1908 by Gabriello Spini, a learned Florentine, who wanted to “Inform, Unite and Assist” the rising Italian American community of Los Angeles. In 1924 Cleto Baroni, Spini’s nephew, became Associate Editor, and in 1933 assumed sole ownership and editorial responsibility of L’Italo-Americano directing its destiny single-handedly for 38 years. In 1963 Gabriello Spini died at age 89.

Mr. Baroni, to ensure stability of service, sold L’Italo-Americano (1971) to The Fathers of St. Charles (Scalabrinians) and Fr. Mario Trecco became the new editor of the newspaper. [Ö] in 1980 L’Italo-Americano acquired L’Eco d’Italia of San Francisco and became the only Italian newspaper on the West Coast. Two years later, Cleto Baroni died at age 85, after 65 years of service to the newspaper.

In 1983 L’Italo-Americano celebrated its diamond jubilee and in1986 acquired a more modern look by going tabloid size. Trecco remained in charge of L’Italo-Americano until 1990 when Fr. Augusto Feccia became its new editor. [Ö] In 1998 Fr. Feccia relinquished the position of editor to Fr. Ermete Nazzani. [Ö] The Fathers of Saint Charles in 1999 sold L’Italo-Americano to Mr. Mario Trecco, who became its sole owner and director. As of July 1, 2004 L’Italo-Americano became the property of L’Italo American Foundation, under the direction of Head Publisher Robert Barbera. Mario Trecco remains the editor of the newspaper.…

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Folk life Specialists

November 8, 2013

Roberto Catalano, Ph.D.
Tel: (909) 864-0132
E-mail: favax@earthlink.net

Luisa Del Giudice, Ph.D.

P.O. Box 241553
Los Angeles, CA 90024-1553
Tel: (310) 474-1698
Fax: (310) 474-3188
E-mail: luisadg@humnet.ucla.edu
(Italian oral traditions, oral history, folklife: foodways, celebration, belief, St. Josephís Tables)

Alessandro Falassi, Ph.D.

Universit‡ per Stranieri di Siena
 Piazza Carlo Rosselli, 27-28
53100 Siena
Tel. 011-39-0577-240111
Fax: 011-39- 0577-281030
E-mail: info@unistrasi.it
(foodways, Hollywoodís Italian kitchens, festivals, Palio of Siena)

Enzo Fina
 Tel/Fax: (626) 284-0031
E-mail: oznemrac@aol.com
(Salentine music traditions. Southern Italian musician)

Sabina Magliocco, Ph.D.

Department of Anthropology
 California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff St.
Northridge, CA 91330
Tel: (818) 677-3331
sabina.magliocco@csun.edu
(Sardinian & Mediterranean folklife, Neo-Paganism)

Ken Scambray, Ph.D., See: WRITERS
 scambrayk@verizon.net
(Watts Towers, Baldassare Forestiereís Underground Gardens, Fresno, Italian California/American writers)

Carlo Siliotto

Tel: (424) 228-4695
E-mail: carlo@carlosiliotto.com
(Traditional music of Lazio, composition of music for film.)

Edward F. Tuttle. Ph.D.
 Italian Department
212 Royce Hall, UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90095
tuttle@ucla.edu
(Romance historical linguistics & Italian dialectology, local Italian history, California wine history)

Americans in the West Project

c/o Library of Congress
American Folklife Center
101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, D.C. 20540-4610
Tel: (202) 707-5510
Fax: (202) 707-2076
Email: folklife@loc.gov…

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