Articles by: Susannah Gold

  • Facts & Stories

    Mathematics, Climate Change and Moral Philosophy. A conversation with Balzan Prizewinners

    Carbon can be captured and sequestered (CSS) and there is no time like the present to begin this massive undertaking, according to two lectures by Professor Wallace Broecker of Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences last week. Broecker, the Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, spoke at the Italian Academy of New York and the Carnegie Institute in Washington last week, two events organized by the International Balzan Foundation.  
     

    Before Broecker began his lecture, the Italian Ambassador Giulio Terzi di Sant'Agata spoke eloquently about the role of science in Italy, tracing its history to Galileo and Michelangelo as well as physicist Enrico Fermi.  He also spoke of the importance of the International Balzan Prize in promoting the sciences and the arts.

     The International Balzan Foundation, an Italian-Swiss foundation gives out four prizes in the sciences and the humanities annually. The foundation was established in 1957 by Lina Balzan to honor her father, Eugenio Balzan. Balzan was a powerful Managing Editor of Corriere della Sera for more than 30 years until he left Italy in conflict with the Fascist regime of Mussolini.

    In 1933, he moved his life to Switzerland. The foundation aims to foster culture, the sciences and the most meritorious humanitarian initiatives of peace and brotherhood among peoples. 
     

    Broecker, won one of four annual prizes given out by the Balzan Foundation in 2008 for his work on Climate Change. Broecker was very persuasive as he spoke about the need to fix the climate. His major research interest for the past 50 years has been the ocean’s role in climate change. Broecker coined the term Ocean Conveyor Belt, one of the most important discoveries in oceanography in terms of its relationship to climate change.

    Broecker also studies past climate fluctuations on the Earth in order to understand current changes. 

    In Washington, Broecker gave a lecture on his research into fossil fuel while in New York, he shared the platform with two additional Balzan prize winners, Enrico Bombieri for Mathematics and Thomas Nagel for Moral Philosophy. 
     

    The three prize winners each spoke about their various fields and tried to speak about practical applications of their research. The event was the first of its kind for the Balzan Foundation in New York. Enrico Bombieri spoke about the use of mathematics in our everyday lives such as GPS systems in cell phones or cars and how important math is to out country’s future. He noted with evident dismay that most Ph.ds in Mathematics did not come from the United States.  

    Broecker spoke about climate change and fossil fuel in a shorter version of the lecture he developed in Washington while Thomas Nagel of New York University spoke about how difficult it is to have an over reaching theory that can encompass everything. 

    In his lecture, in Washington, Broecker said that he wished he could live another 50 years in order to see what happens. He noted that the problem of climate change and carbon capture is huge and that people don’t understand how difficult it is to counteract this problem.

    U.S. Energy Secretary and Noble Laureate in physics essentially said the same thing in the September edition of Science. Steven Chu noted that, “Roughly 6 billion metric tons of coal are used each year, producing 18 billion tons of CO2. In contrast we now only sequester a few million metric tons of CO2 per year.”

    Broecker said it would be ideal if we could replace the energy from carbon with renewable sources but he doubted that that would be possible. Carbon is responsible for 85% of our energy needs. Since we can’t rely on replacing our carbon sources, Broecker concludes that we should rely on carbon capture and storage. 
     

    Broecker also mentioned a number of crucial issues that will worsen our current situation: growing population, water scarcity and an expected shortage of food. Broecker made the case to use a new device to capture carbon by using modules created by a fellow scientist Klaus Lackner. He expressed his frustration with the lack of funding for science research through either private or government financing.

    The small sums dedicated to science research were disheartening, he noted, that we pay pitchers more than we spend on a problem that affects us all. 

    Broecker was not catastrophic in his prediction but did say that if we don’t do anything, many species of plants and insects that we know today will change and will perhaps die out. He was hopeful that in the future more work would be done in terms of capturing and burying carbon. 

    In his lectures, Broecker tried to bring the science behind climate change and what we can do about it to a level that the layman could understand. Science has not been a strong suit in the United States in recent years and much needs to be done to educate the population. According to a Pew Research/AAAS Survey, the public is interested in scientific research and understands basic ideas but has difficulty grasping complex concepts. 

    The Carnegie Institute and the Italian Academy are each trying to aid in the endeavor of educating the public about the importance of Science, as are many institutions in Italy. Carnegie is celebrating its 20th anniversary of Capital Science evening while the Italian Academy hosted its first annual three- day Science festival this year and a festival on Nanoscience in December 2008.

  • Vinitaly: Premier Wine Event. A Must For All Industry Insiders and Wine Enthusiasts



    If you have never been to Vinitaly, ask advice on what to wear and how to navigate the huge fair from those in the know before you go. Vinitaly is Italy’s enormous wine fair, held in Verona every year in April. It lasts for four days, two of which are open to the public and the other two are exclusively for the “trade.” The trade in this case can be restaurateurs, wine stores, wine importers and wine journalists, essentially everyone who works in the business in one fashion or another.  

    Vinitaly is tremendously successful and expands every year. This pattern is expected to continue and 2009 showed an increase 12% over 2008 in terms of the number of participants from the United States. The fair is impressive with its 12 pavilions and an additional building floor of the main Verona Fiera building. In 2009, there were 4213 exhibitors from all continents. The fair sees more than 151,000 visitors, 45,000 coming from 100 different countries, a 9% increase from the previous year.. 


     
    Vinitaly is so successful that is has taken to the road. This past October was the 7th annual Vinitaly US Tour. This year, the tour went to Chicago, San Francisco and New York. In February, Vinitaly went to Miami and Palm Beach as well. 

     
    Vinitaly is reaching out to US consumers at a crucial moment in the wine industry. There has never been so much wine available to consumers as there is today. Competition comes from all corners whether it is South America (Chile, Argentina), Africa (South Africa), Australia, New Zealand or other old world countries like Spain and Portugal. Despite all of this increased competition, Italian wine seems to be holding its own in terms of market share. Italian wine took first place as the most imported wine for the first time this year. That lead had been in French hands for the past decade. 

     

     
    Part of the reason that Italian wines do so well in the United States is that there are many Italian restaurants and the wines match perfectly with the food. Another reason that the wines continue to do so well is the varied nature of the offering. There are over 3000 well known Italian grape varieties and more than 15,000 varieties if you include all of the small and little known ones. This gives fodder to people’s insatiable thirst to drink new wines all the time. Italy has everything: sparkling, dry, sweet, semi sweet, dessert wines, late harvest wines. You name, some indigenous grape variety will be able to quench your thirst. 
    Next year’s edition will be held April 8-12. It will be the 44th edition of this trade show. In addition to Vinitaly’s tours of the United States, Vinitaly has embarked on a World Tour traveling to China, Japan, South Korea, India, Singapore, and Russia. Starting in 2010, Brazil will be added to the Vinitaly World Tour. 


      Vinitaly will be back in February to New York as part of an important Italian Wine Week which runs from Februrary 2 to February 6. Veronafiere, ICE and Buonitalia are all working together to make that week a huge success. This will be the second edition of Italian Wine Week in New York.  

     

    “We are quite pleased with this October tour and with the success of Italian producers who have been able to meet the needs of consumers during this time of crisis, offering good products at the right price without sacrificing quality,’Giovanni Mantovani, Director of Veronafiere noted.”     

     
    Mantovani also expressed his delight that American consumers have become so knowledgeable about Italian wines. He said he found consumers all of the country to be enthralled with Italian wine.  


     
    Looking ahead, Mantovani said he imagines that one day there will two huge events in addition to all of the Vinitaly tours, one in the United States and one in Asia. He also seemed unconcerned about competition from other wine fairs such as Germany’s Prowein which takes place in a similar time period.  

     
    “They have a different target and it really has not been an issue for us at all,” Mantovani said. He noted that visitors from the Northern countries continue to come to Vinitaly and said he expected that trend to continue.

    The fair is really an experience that shouldn’t be missed if one is either in the business or an enthusiast. Remember to wear comfortable shoes, bring water, a bag for brochures and your palate.
  • Op-Eds

    Primo Levi Symposium: Reflecting On The Holocaust


    The third annual Primo Levi Symposium was held this past week at the Centro Primo Levi in New York. I was able to attend the first day of the three day conference and hear the speeches of the General Consuls of Italy, Germany and Israel as well as the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations. I was also lucky enough to hear Andrew Viterbi's thoughts on his wife's cousin as well as the music of Tzvi Avni and his conversation with Samuel Alder. One of the most moving speeches was that of Mustapha Tlili of the NYU Center for Dialogues.


    I found his description of what he wished for in the future extremely touching. I was embarrassed as I wiped away my tears but that often happens to me when I listen to people speak about the Holocaust.


    It was interesting to see how far Primo Levi's works have reached and how he has influenced so many generations. I found it particularly touching to hear Italian Consul General Talo' speak of his own memories of reading Se Questo E Un Uomo when he was young and how that had taught him about the Holocaust. I also found the Consul General of Germany's words about how Levi made Germans face what had happened through his writings very powerful.


    Of course, coming from an Eastern European Jewish family, I have my own family history to teach me about the Holocaust. Every year my father tells the same story about how his only surviving relatives ( two people out of a family of 80) made it back from the camps. They appeared at his doorway in the Bronx when he was 10 as he opened the door at Passover to let in the Prophet Elijah, part of our tradition. His shock was so profound that when he tells the story he gets the same shocked look I can imagine he had at that time. No one even knew these relatives had survived.


    Being Jewish in Italy wasn't always fun, even in Modern Italy. Sometimes, it created misunderstandings and sometimes it just felt awful. There were also humorous moments. I will never forgot my first encounter with what I thought was anti-semitism in Italy,. I lived in Florence and all over the streets there were negative words written next to the letter JUVE. At that time, my Italian was terrible but my French was pretty good. I thought JUVE was the word for Juif or Jew. Little did I know that it referred to the rivalry between soccer team Juventus and La Fiorentina (La Viola). My boyfriend got a real laugh at my hysteria but for me, it was a relief to know I was wrong and that it wasn't anti-semitism but harmless fun. He also gave me my first copy of Primo Levi's book. I remember how much he cried reading that book and how he spoke with me about what it meant to him.


    I learned quickly that being Jewish in Italy was somewhat complicated. While I never felt anti-semitism, I was uncomfortable with certain phrases that people seemed to use with impunity. Cheap like a rabbi was one that I heard very often as were silly comments about how all Jews are rich and about the Jewish lobby that runs America. Even good friends and people who I genuinely love and respect seemed to marvel at my discomfort with this stuff.


    Over the many years that I lived in Italy, it became less of an issue but I did realize that there could be misunderstandings and that most offhand comments were made out of ignorance not meanness. Dialogue and education were the only remedies I discovered that could remedy this ignorance. Works by Primo Levi can be an aid in this vein and should be required reading in many nations.
  • Facts & Stories

    Italian and American Officials Iluminate Current Antimafia Activities


    Last week's conference held at John Jay College in Manhattan was dedicated to the life of Joe Petrosino, a New York City police detective who apparently thwarted an assasination attempt on the life of President McKinley earlier in the century and was murdered by the Mafia in Palermo.  Some 200,000 showed up for his funeral in 1909. According to a New York Times piece last week, the diminutive Italian emigrant was a force of nature. I went to the conference because I wanted to hear the Judge and Super Attorney General against the Mafia, Piero Grasso. I had followed his career and those of his predecessors over the past years.

    In fact, I learned Italian in 1991 reading about the Mafia. It was the summer when Libero Grassi was murdered. Grassi was an Italian clothing manufacturer from Palermo who was killed by the Mafia after he refused to pay their demands, or the "pizzo." He wrote an open letter to the Sicilian newspaper in which he denounced the request for payment in order to keep his shop open. He was gunned down within the year.  I remember so clearly that August when he was murdered. I had been in Italy for three months. My Italian wasn't very good and I became obsessed with reading the newspaper and trying to keep all the names straight and the different mafias throughout Italy. It was also the first time that I had heard the names of Antimafia Judge Giovanni Falcone and his fellow Antimafia Magistrate Paolo Borsellino. These two men seemed like super heros to me in those early years 1991-1992 of my Italian journey.  I think of them every year on the anniversaries of their deaths, in May and in July. The year that they were killed, 1992, was shocking for the violence that ensued and for the audaciousness of both assasinations. When Falcone, his wife and his bodyguards were murdered, the Mafia blew up a huge part of the highway. I remember reading the paper that day and just staring at the photos in disbelief. The sheer scope of the gesture was beyond words. Less than two months later, Borsellino was murdered as he went to visit his mother. All seemed lost. These two men who had dedicated their lives to fighting the mafia were simply brutally murdered in broad daylight.


    The next year, 1993, I was  living in Florence when the bomb went off in Via dei Georgofili. An entire family was exterminated in that Mafia related  bombing.  I lived pretty close to the site of the bombing. We had friends over and all of a sudden all the lights in Florence went out and sirens started wailing. It was very scary as truck after truck of carabinieri came roaring into the center of the city and people were carried out bleeding from glass that had shattered and the building that had collapsed. Part of central Florence was closed off for years.  We ran to see what had happened but never imagined the scope of the damage. I remember feeling sick to my stomach and being scared.


    That same summer came further attacks in Rome and Milan, in Via Palestro where more people lost their lives in a war against a new law that had isolated Mafiosi in jail. All the years I lived in Milan, I would walk on Via Palestro everyday to get to work and reflect on that bombing. It was all very palbable at the time.  You couldn't get away from news of Mafia bombings and everywhere seemed unsafe. Years later in New York post 9/11, many of those feelings returned. It was all very disturbing about what it said about the ability to stop violence.


    Listening to Piero Grasso and Don Luigi Ciotti brought back a flood of memories from those days and endless admiration for these men who dedicate their lives to fighting to bring men to justice and to help those left behind by such carnage. Libera, the association that Ciotti founded in the wake of the deaths of Falcone and Borsellino, does amazing work with schools and universities. On their website, there is a long endless list of people who have been victims of the Mafie (plural because there is more than one). It is actually staggering to read through the list and reflect on all of these lives that have been wiped out. His group, along with others, is working to pass a law that the property that is confiscated from the mafia is returned to the community to help the local economy.  Apparently, even the G8 voted on this law.


    It is easy to feel faraway from these types of events if you don't work in these fields or live in an area that is under siege but reading books such as Gomorra by Roberto Saviano about the Camorra in Campania or the film made from the book bring it all back. A film that I saw many years ago and that Ciotti mentions in an interview with I-Italy should not be missed. It is another one of those movies that leaves you shell shocked. It is called I Cento Passi and is the story of a young Sicilian man who comes from a Mafioso family but tries to go another way, Peppino Impastato, was his name.


    I'm not sure where that kind of courage comes from and why some people have it and some don't but I do think that we all have a responsibility to know what goes on and not pretend otherwise, even in small ways. I used to have the same feeling reading the names of all the people who died in the Twin Towers in that special section of the New York Times, A Nation Challenged. I would read through those stories one by one as if in some way paying homage to those who died.


    By joining an association, reading these books or watching films about the lives of people who are dedicated to fighting illegality, we too can strike out for civil society and can be a support to those who are on the front lines,whether in the streets, in courts or in schools. Be it a 5'3 Italian named Joseph Petrosino 100 years ago or some of our modern day heros, these men and women should be celebrated, supported and applauded.
  • Art & Culture

    Memories of Fernanda Pivano, A Truly Iconic Figure

    I remember the first time I ever heard the name Fernanda Pivano. It was December 1998. I was a reporter at Dow Jones Newswires in Milan and the Benetton Family was creating a library to house Fernanda Pivano's vast collection of literary works that she had donated to the Benetton Foundation a year earlier.  

    When I saw the invitation to the press conference which arrived on our fax machine, I asked to go and write a story on this fascinating woman. At the time she was 81. I remember her lively conversation and the passion that she expressed about her collection, the authors, literature and life in general. It was infectious.

    When I heard that she had died this past August at the age of 92, I went searching for the story I wrote. I haven't found the story but I did find the press photos that they gave us as part of the press kit.

    Pivano was such a unique figure and played such a pivotal role in bringing contemporary American literature to Italy that is almost impossible to overstate her importance.  Many diverse Italian writers and artists have credited her with changing their lives by allowing them a glimpse, in Italian, of what was happening on the other side of the ocean. 

    Renato Miracco, the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute organized a very moving and varied evening to commemorate her life and work. Among the speakers that night were Erica Jong, the writer, John Giorno, the poet, Jonas Mekas, the film director and Mauro Pagani, a renowned artist and musician. Each spoke movingly about what she had meant in their lives and careers and about who she was.

    I regretted that I hadn't heard of her earlier or followed her career in more detail when living in Milan, It was a very interesting evening and somewhat unlike most New York events. I was touched beyond words and truly entralled with her life.

    A film with Fernanda Pivano, "Farewell to Beat", was also shown. In 2001, she traveled to Hemingway's grave as well as to those of her beat generation friends with the movie director. She went to the City Lights bookstore in San Francisco and generally spoke about her life then and now. Of course I got teary as she was speaking about all of her long dead friends and how much they had meant her. She had been very close with Hemingway who she said was just a gigantic person. She noted that she felt like a pygmy next to him.

    Watching her speak about Hemingway or Allen Ginsburg or Gregory Corso or Fabrizio De Andre' was taking a trip to another era. It seems almost like another century. I once ran into Fabrizio De Andrè at a bar in a hotel that I like in Milan, the Hotel Manin. I remember vividly being truly excited to see him and then saddened to hear of his death not long after.

    Erica Jong was perhaps the most personal in her memories of who Pivano was and how much she missed her friend and confidant. Apparently the two had been friends for 30 some odd years. She said that Pivano hated hypocrisy most of all and that her wit and satire remained until the end. John Giorno read a beautiful moving poem that he wrote for her. It spoke of her light and life and moving forward.  Jonas Mekas, the avant garde Lithuanian film maker, who is 87 years old, spoke of what an influence she had been in his life as well and how she had opened the way for avant garde film in Italy holding major shows in Turin. Mauro Pagani also spoke of his connection to her, mainly through his friend Fabrizio De Andre.

    In the film, artists such as musician Luciano Ligabue told her how much she had meant to him. It was wonderful to see that during her lifetime she received the love and recognition that she deserved. I can't think of a similar US "literary figure" known for their translations and friendships.

    Her take on translating was also fascinating to me. She insisted that in order to be a good translator, one needed to get to know the subject, not just their works. This approach seems to have worked for her. I think I will read the Beat Generation writers and Hemingway again in her honor.
  • Art & Culture

    Bruce and Pino Daniele - Two Iconic Musicians Warm My Heart


    Last week was just magical for me in terms of music. I was lucky enough to see Bruce Springsteen for the nth time in his last appearance in Giant Stadium. My first concert there was 25 years ago. I love Bruce as all Jersey girls do I suspect. Not just for his music but for his politcal leanings and his kindred spirit. Of course his music isn't bad either.


    I will never get tired of Born to Run, Thunder Road, Badlands, The Promised Land, Dancing in the Dark and so many others. I have seen Bruce in the States and numerous times during the 15 years I lived in Italy. Perhaps the best concert of all was at San Siro in Milan. It was 2003 and The Rising was the album he was promoting. That album helped me deal with 9/11 more than anything else. It felt like he was able to transpose into words, in a spiritual way, the emotions that those days brought forth.


    He alone was solace for me during that time. At the 2003 concert, it rained cats and dogs but no one moved. That was the most amazing part of the concert, San Siro filled with Italian singing every word to Bruce's songs and enduring hours of rainfall. It meant a lot to me to see my friends singing every word along with me. I had the same experience the next evening when I went to see Pino Daniele at the Apollo. I know Massimo Gallotta a bit and knew that he was bringing Pino to New York. What I didn't realize was how packed the theater would be. I haven't seen Pino Daniele since 1993 in Bologna when I was in graduate school. It was truly touching to hear him again in such an intimate setting with hundreds of screaming fans singing along.


    Almost everyone I know in the Italian community in New York was in the audience that day. I think that is a real tribute to Daniele but also to the closeness of the community. I saw all of the local authorities as well. It felt like a big family reunion with people suggesting what Pino should play. One sour note was that a person I know saw me as I was walking in and said why are you here? You aren't Neapolitan. I didn't bother answering. There is no way to explain how much Italy feels like home to me. Just as much as the US. I don't need to explain that to anyone. I know what it feels  like and that is what this blog is about, being Italica even if you aren't from the Italian gene pool. I'm not alone in this feeling but it is an integral part of my being. Insomma, inizia la nostra avventura.

  • Cioccolati d’Italia Aims to Conquer International Markets with Regional Offering

    Chocolate is not generally one of the first items that come to mind when thinking about Italy. Cioccolati d’italia, a new industry association, tasked to promote Italian fine chocolate is trying to change that.  Chocolate has a long history in Italy linked to regional traditions, specific ingredients from specific terroirs, and superior artisanal craftsmanship.
     

    In the chocolate market, Italy competes with Belgium and France, better known chocolate making countries. Cioccolati d’Italia, which currently has 60 members, is trying not only to promote Italian chocolates but also to enable chocolatiers to have access to cacao farmers in producing countries.
     

    The idea is to group artisans together in order to afford them the opportunity to meet farmers in the countries of origin of the cacao product such as Ecuador, Santa Domingo, Colombia, and other Cacao producing nations. “Imagine if a wine

    producer was never able to see their grapes before the wine was made. That seems like an absurdity but that is the situation with chocolate producers today,” said Filippo Pinelli, Chief Executive Office of the Rome based organization, “Italian chocolate makers are true artisans of their craft but many have never had the chance to go to a farm in a producing country and see how the raw ingredients are produced.”
     

    Cioccolati d’Italia will encourage cacao producers and Italian artisans to meet and discuss their needs and product specifications. Some of the other benefits which accrue to members of the association are marketing and branding help as well as promotional opportunities at trade shows.  “Most chocolatiers are small family run firms without access to the producers of cacao. If we have a larger group, we can also buy cacao in larger quantities using fair trade principals. None of these smaller artisans could do that alone.”

    The price for raw materials is generally made by the large multinationals that control the chocolate market. While the small artisan producer could never hope to influence price, they can attempt to get better deals for themselves by joining together and buying in larger quantities.

    Cioccolati d’Italia participated in the recent edition of the Fancy Food show at the end of June with a large stand and numerous chocolate tastings from 15 producers including among others Mirco della Vecchia, Marco Vacchieri, Di Lorenzo Pasticceria, and A. Giordano from four principal chocolate producing regions in Italy: Sicily, Tuscany, Piedmont and the Veneto.
     

    All four of these regions have long traditions making chocolates which span hundreds of years. Each region produces a different type of chocolate and uses particular ingredients. The Medici family from the Tuscan city of Florence, for example, was among the first to drink hot chocolate in cups. Their chocolate apparently was enhanced by floral notes such as Jasmine flowers while some modern Tuscan producers also use refined local olive oil to flavor their products

    Piedmont on the other hand has always been quite well known for their chocolates which are made with hazelnuts known as nocciole in Italian while the Veneto makes chocolates with local products such as grappa or honey.
     

    Sicily, known for chocolates with pepperoncino, citrus fruits and pistachios has a very long history with chocolate which began under Spanish rule. The Spaniards had discovered chocolate through their possessions in the Americas. The most famous area where chocolate is made in Sicily is a county called Modica.

    Chocolate from Modica is very unique. It is textured and crunchy and quite unlike almost every other chocolate around the world today. In fact, chocolate from

    Modica is more similar to that of the Aztec Indians than it is to the traditions of Piedmont or Tuscany where creamier chocolates are made.
     

    These types of regional particularities are what make Italian chocolate so special and so

    interesting. Be it a cremino from Piedmont or a crunchy bar from Modica or a modern chocolate from Tuscany, Italy seemingly has a chocolate for every taste.
     

    At the Fancy Food Show, Monica Meschini, a consultant to the fine chocolate organization, a chocolate shop owner in Florence and an expert chocolate taster sat down with I-Italy and explained the extremely complex procedure by which cacao becomes chocolate. This elaborate process is also taught during courses at the organization’s Milan headquarters.
     

    Meschini noted that when tasting chocolate you have to do a sensorial analysis, much like tasting tea or wine. One does both a visual exam and then a more fun, exam of how the chocolate tastes on your palate. “Chocolate should have a deep color but not be too black because that means it has been over toasted to hide defects in the original product,” Meschini said.
     

    Meschini organizes full immersion seminars to prep artisans and producers on how to choose cacao beans. It would be great to do one of the full immersion classes to get a better sense of what goes into making chocolate but it would also be dangerous to one’s waistline.

    Currently there are no denominazione d’origine protetta (DOP) products in Italy in terms of chocolate. This designation is usually assigned to foodstuffs from a particular area of region such as Balsamic Vinegar from Modena, Radicchio from Treviso and Bresaola from Valtellina. One hopes a chocolate DOP will be assigned soon.
     

    Chocolate production has become much more refined as food safety, traceability and authenticity have become buzzwords in the food business. One example of this is that there are now ““cru” cacao plantations much like the revered 1855 Classification of the First Growths of Bordeaux. These plantations command higher prices and the quality of the cacao are considered to be superior. So much attention to quality of the raw materials can also benefit the farmers, a central tenet of Cioccolati d’Italia’s mission. “We want to help both our artisans and the farmers in developing countries through fair trade practices, “ Pinelli said.

    Pinelli has long term plans for the organization and hopes to open a sales point in New York City in the next five years.  That’s one project I sincerely hope comes to fruition.
  • Life & People

    Focaccia Blues – Promotes Italian Foods While Benefitting Orphan Drug Research

    The scene at the Italian Cultural Institute last week was striking for a few reasons. In addition to the local cast of characters that participate in events at the Institute, many new faces were in attendance in order to watch the New York premium of Focaccia Blues. 
     
    Pat Girondi, a consultant to the film and financial backer, was on hand to discuss the idea for the film. “We were looking at the hill of the city and saw the McDonald’s. It was very incongruous and just a scandal. We began talking about what we could do about it,” Girondi said.  A real character, Girondi grew up on the South Side of Chicago in what he said was a very tough neighbor. Girondi eventually left the South Side and went on to become a successful businessman. Girondi’s grandparents came from Apulia and listening to the mixed Chicago/Italian accent from that region was quite fascinating.

    Girondi and his family eventually moved back to Apulia in order to care for  his son who has Thalassemia, a disease which affects certain populations, among

    them people of Italian descent. Girondi began working hard to find a cure for the disease, creating the Orphan Dream Foundation and partnering with others who work on this incurable disease. 

    Girondi’s new career as a film producer and song writer keep him busy as he works to raise money to cure his son’s disease. Clinical trials for a potential drug are in the final stages.  
     
    Focaccia Blues is a docu-fiction according to Italian actor Lino Banfi who together with Renzo Arbore, another beloved Italian actor does a little skit about the rivalry between two cities in Apulia, Bari and Foggia. Even for those who have never been to Apulia, this film will give you a sense of a place and of its people and will lure you into taking your next trip to Apulia. While the film was playing, fabulous aromas of focaccia permeated the entire room. Luckily the institute offered focaccia to the hungry crowd at the end of the film. If they hadn’t, it is possible there may have been a mutiny or at the very least, a run on the nearest place where it is sold. The film is essentially the story of how one little focaccia shop was able to contribute to the disappearance of McDonalds, the interloper. McDonalds in the movie is cleverly represented by a tall actor in a red jacket, driving around pompously in a yellow corvette while continuously blocking traffic. 
     
    The golden arches are seen as well as they cover up poor Dante the protagonist’s tomatoes which are drying in the sun. Mr. McDonald’s most egregious act though is not succumbing to the charms of Rosa, the female protagonist and her home made focaccia. He takes a slice, sneers at it and begins to take off the layers of crushed home grown tomatoes, true sacrilege. 
     
    One of the main themes running throughout the film is the superfluous nature of a McDonald’s in a town like Altamura. The director interviews numerous people in town to find out their ideas and if they had visited McDonald’s or not. What develops is truly comic as each of the town’s members become familiar faces.  
     
    What we learn is that people went and tried McDonald’s because it was new but then went back to their old ways and their traditions. After all, Altamura is the city of bread, the first (Il tuo browser potrebbe non supportare la visualizzazione di questa immagine)denominazione origine protettta (DOP) bread product in Europe. Some older members of the population went into McDonald’s for the air conditioning, bringing along a slice of focaccia.    
    Intertwined with the story of the focaccia shop is a love story between Dante, the fruit seller and Rosa, a sexy local lady with impossibly plunging necklines. Dante’s quest for his lady love passes through a series of products and herbs that he gives her, hoping to entice her into a more meaningful relationship. Our hero is thwarted for a time but Rosa eventually comes to her senses. 
     
    The film is a labor of love about maintaining traditions. It is also very funny. The audience burst out into giggles a variety of times. Lino Banfi and Renzo Arbore do a wonderful skit wearing human form aprons that you can buy on the street in Italy . 
     
    The documentary part of the movie is Onofrio Pepe’s travels to the U.S. to ask people questions and to visit the McDonald museum. Obviously the countryside in Apulia compares favorably with the skyscrapers and grim cityscapes of cities in the United States.  
     
    However, this film is not anti-American in any way. Nor even anti-McDonald’s. It’s just a love story about people who care deeply about the place where they were raised and would like to see the traditions of old continue. If you go to see it, make sure you bring something to eat.
  • Events: Reports

    Italian Actor Roberto Benigni Creates a Stir in New York

    When many people think of Italy, they often focus on the wonderful food and wines, the fabulous landscapes or the glorious art works that can be found throughout the peninsula. For opera buffs, Italy can also mean performances at La Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice or the Auditorium in Rome, as well as a host of smaller theaters throughout the country. Design is the next aspect that people think of when they consider Italy. 
     

    Many of the most famous tradeshows in the design world are held in Milan, the Salone Del Mobile and Euroluce are two that come to mind immediately. No one could blame you if you didn’t look any further but you would be missing out. What a shame that would be.
     

    Italy has many modern artists to share with the world. Among them is R

    oberto Benigni, the Tuscan actor who is most widely known in the U.S. for his film about the Holocaust, Life is Beautiful, for which he won three Oscars. Benigni was in town for one night only to do his one-man show, Tutto Dante, where he was up to his usual antics and comments before he launched into a recitation of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy.
     

    Getting into the Manhattan Center wa s a real feat. Tickets were sold out weeks in advance. The scene at the door looked like a who’s who of Italian society in New York. Most of the Italian community came out to see Benigni as did many others including film director Jim Jarmush. Scalping tickets was impossible and the line to get into the show snacked around the corner on 8th Avenue.

    Benigni, dressed in blue, flew onto the stage with his trim build and began a long monologue about his inability to speak English. Despite this handicap, he was the same Benigni that one sees in Italy. Excited, energetic and even maniac at times, Benigni told a series of jokes centered around Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, sex, young woman, old age and when all failed back to Berlusconi. He has done a riff on Berlusconi for the past 15 years, ever since Dio Silvio entered politics. Even those in the audience who don’t follow Italian politics that assiduously got a real kick out of the actor. His enthusiasm for life and the Divine Comedy was effervescent and most of the packed audience sat through his 90 minute show without moving.

     

    Benigni did his show in halting English, immediately putting the audience at ease when he explained how he wanted to kiss each and every member of the audience. Many remember his performance when he won the Oscar, climbing on chairs and kisses those who gave out the awards. Pictures of that event went around the world and to this day, even for the Americans who didn’t see his seminal film, Benigni is recognizable. This same ruckus was in full swing on Saturday night. His shtick got a lot of laughs from the crowd although some Italians were distressed that he didn’t do the whole show in his native language. 
     

    Instead the audience was treated to a stanza by stanza description in English of what was taking place as Dante and Virgil descended into hell. Thanks to the brilliance of the English translation done by one of the foremost Dante scholars in the U.S., Robert Hollander, and Benigni’s power and love of the story, the audience was quite taken with the show. By the time the screen went a beautiful steamy red and Benigni began to recite the entire quinto canto by memory in Italian, the audience was rapt. One could have heard a pin drop as the audience followed Benigni’s flawless recitation. When he spoke the last words of the canto, the audience burst into a resounding standing ovation for over 10 minutes and Benigni danced happily off stage. It would be more accurate to say that he went off stage and came back for more applause numerous times, as is the comedian’s way. The audience was happy to oblige.
     

    While this weekend was very special, throughout the year, numerous Italian directors, artists, journalists, designers, musicians, scientists and intellectuals come to the Big Apple. While the old stones of Italy are what draw you in, it is the combination of the old and the new that keeps you coming back for more.  It is refreshing to see modern Italy alive and well and in New York.
  • Art & Culture

    Italian Actor Roberto Benigni Creates a Stir in New York

    When many people think of Italy, they often focus on the wonderful food and wines, the fabulous landscapes or the glorious art works that can be found throughout the peninsula. For opera buffs, Italy can also mean performances at La Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice or the Auditorium in Rome, as well as a host of smaller theaters throughout the country. Design is the next aspect that people think of when they consider Italy. 
     

    Many of the most famous tradeshows in the design world are held in Milan, the Salone Del Mobile and Euroluce are two that come to mind immediately. No one could blame you if you didn’t look any further but you would be missing out. What a shame that would be.
     

    Italy has many modern artists to share with the world. Among them is R

    oberto Benigni, the Tuscan actor who is most widely known in the U.S. for his film about the Holocaust, Life is Beautiful, for which he won three Oscars. Benigni was in town for one night only to do his one-man show, Tutto Dante, where he was up to his usual antics and comments before he launched into a recitation of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy.
     

    Getting into the Manhattan Center wa s a real feat. Tickets were sold out weeks in advance. The scene at the door looked like a who’s who of Italian society in New York. Most of the Italian community came out to see Benigni as did many others including film director Jim Jarmush. Scalping tickets was impossible and the line to get into the show snacked around the corner on 8th Avenue.

    Benigni, dressed in blue, flew onto the stage with his trim build and began a long monologue about his inability to speak English. Despite this handicap, he was the same Benigni that one sees in Italy. Excited, energetic and even maniac at times, Benigni told a series of jokes centered around Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, sex, young woman, old age and when all failed back to Berlusconi. He has done a riff on Berlusconi for the past 15 years, ever since Dio Silvio entered politics. Even those in the audience who don’t follow Italian politics that assiduously got a real kick out of the actor. His enthusiasm for life and the Divine Comedy was effervescent and most of the packed audience sat through his 90 minute show without moving.

     

    Benigni did his show in halting English, immediately putting the audience at ease when he explained how he wanted to kiss each and every member of the audience. Many remember his performance when he won the Oscar, climbing on chairs and kisses those who gave out the awards. Pictures of that event went around the world and to this day, even for the Americans who didn’t see his seminal film, Benigni is recognizable. This same ruckus was in full swing on Saturday night. His shtick got a lot of laughs from the crowd although some Italians were distressed that he didn’t do the whole show in his native language. 
     

    Instead the audience was treated to a stanza by stanza description in English of what was taking place as Dante and Virgil descended into hell. Thanks to the brilliance of the English translation done by one of the foremost Dante scholars in the U.S., Robert Hollander, and Benigni’s power and love of the story, the audience was quite taken with the show. By the time the screen went a beautiful steamy red and Benigni began to recite the entire quinto canto by memory in Italian, the audience was rapt. One could have heard a pin drop as the audience followed Benigni’s flawless recitation. When he spoke the last words of the canto, the audience burst into a resounding standing ovation for over 10 minutes and Benigni danced happily off stage. It would be more accurate to say that he went off stage and came back for more applause numerous times, as is the comedian’s way. The audience was happy to oblige.
     

    While this weekend was very special, throughout the year, numerous Italian directors, artists, journalists, designers, musicians, scientists and intellectuals come to the Big Apple. While the old stones of Italy are what draw you in, it is the combination of the old and the new that keeps you coming back for more.  It is refreshing to see modern Italy alive and well and in New York.

Pages