Circolo Italiano

Year Review : Session 2006/7. September 2006 to July 2007.

  1. The Circle has met 41 times this session including our end-of-term festive evenings and although attendance has naturally varied, and we have lost members on the way, the enthusiasm has continued unabated.
  2. In group approval a flexible programme was devised incorporating experience and new ideas. We have included therefore this session, roughly fortnightly, listening practice comprehension sessions; we initiated bi-weekly texts provided in turn on topics of interest and controversy; we also have included “show-and-tell” sessions to present and discuss strange or particular objects dear to our individual members.
  3. Our visiting Italian national friends have delighted and enlightened us in cultural and linguistic aspects. Antonella Novarina, part-time teacher of Italian and mainstream science teacher came first and she was so open and enjoyable in conversation; then in January Roberto Mobili kindly joined us with an “accento proprio di Toscana”, and in beautifully clear and crisp Italian we heard of his experiences as a teacher in Italy and with the Consulate in Manchester. Then in February Maria Baldini-Waters regaled us with stories of her work as a public interpreter and of her life and family. Finally, in May, Nicoletta Bobola shared an evening with us about her life and work as a scientific researcher and in all we had a wonderful evening of listening and speaking Italian with her. We hope that our Italian acquaintances and friends will continue to support us.
  4. Presentations in Italian took place at a rate of one every three weeks or so. The life and work of the artist Di Chirico, and Giorgio Morandi took two spots whilst the study of aspects of the Lampedusa novel “Il Gattopardo” together with clips of the ballroom and other scenes filled out our cultural enthusiasms. We had an outline of the cosmology of “La Divina Commedia” to provide the context for the fifth Canto of Purgatorio. Later there was an abbreviated version of a talk at the Società Dante Alighieri dealing with “Segreti  e Leggende delle Dolomiti”. In December we sang seasonal carols in Italian and a presentation of how Christmas is celebrated in the remote valleys of Piemonte. We had the intriguing story of a 1000 lire note with a cryptic message on it, almost the starting point of a novel !  We also thoroughly enjoyed games and quizzes without prizes !!
  5. The texts idea carried us through a whole gamut of cultural and environmental concerns such as Emergenza Climatica, and alternative energy and Nuclear Power or the influence of SMS text messages on the changing nature of language. Artistic matters came up with texts from Vasari on Leonardo’s La Gioconda and its meaning. In literature we studied passages by Elio Vittorini from “Conversazione in Sicilia” illustrated by Renato Guttuso. We appreciated Tim Parks’ detailed and humorous analyses of Italian society and people in “Vicini Italiani” and tales of the “Brigate Giallo/Blu”. There were delightful folk tales from the Abbruzzo like the “Finta Nonna”and even a fable from Lincolnshire in Italian called “La Tomba della Luna”. A fascinating literary essay was enjoyed with “Bambini Pendolari che si sono Perduti”, a tale of almost surrealistic intensity by Gianni Celati from “Narratori delle Pianure” evoking the alienation of the Milanese suburbs.
  6. In video we enjoyed more of Dario Fo’s rendering of history in the Piazza del Duomo of Modena, we watched again the bell makers of Agnone in Molise and were able to watch “La Dolce Vita”. Various Circolisti saw films in Italian at the Cornerhouse which we discussed, films such as “Nuovomundo” directed by Emanuele Crialese of “Respiro” fame; and at the Italian cinema course the films “Le Chiavi di Casa” (Gianni Amelio), “Cento Passi” (Marco Tullio Giordano) the true story of Giuseppe Impastato’s fight against the Mafia. DVD’s and videos of Italian films were freely loaned around.
Recapping we can be proud of a rich cultural and linguistic experience, our Circolo goes from strength to strength thanks to members’ energetic participation.

  FW/31.07.07. Ref : CIRCITAL025.Recap