During the 2023-2024 academic year, the Center for Italian Culture will explore the Italian immigrant experience, past and present, with our programming series Nuovo Mondo--A Century of Migrations from and to Italy.
Through lectures, film series, food events, discussions, workshops, and more, the CIC will examine the impact and legacy of the emigration of Italians to the United States and contemporary migration into Italy.
This term, we will be “flipping the script” on our theme and turning to the topic of recent immigration into Italy. The films and other events that we will be sponsoring this term will explore aspects of this phenomenon from a variety of perspectives.
Past Events from Nuovo Mondo Series
Nuovomondo - This 2006 drama film recounts the Mancuso family's migration from rural Sicily, Italy to New York City at the beginning of the 20th century. Screened at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21 in Ellis White Lecture Hall in Hammond Hall.
On Feb. 29, the screening series continued with Billo - Il grand Dakhaar (2007), a delightful Italian comedy directed by Laura Muscardin. In this film, a quasi-documentary, hip-hop designer Thierno Thiam is the star of his own real-life story as a Senegalese boy who arrives in Italy in search of fortune with the desire to work in the fashion industry, but life puts him face to face with tragicomic situations. This film screened at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb 29 in Ellis White Lecture Hall in Hammond Hall.
Keynote Address
Thursday, Oct. 19 | 3:30 p.m. | Hammond Hall, G02 (Ellis White Lecture Hall)
Dr. Joseph Luzzi Residency Keynote Address: My Two Italies-A Personal and Cultural History - The child of Italian immigrants and an award-winning scholar of Italian literature, Dr. Joseph Luzzi, Asher B. Edelman Professor of Literature at Bard College, discussed the subject of Italian immigration to America, with special reference to his 2014 memoir, My Two Italies: A Personal and Cultural History.
Genealogy Workshop
Thursday, Oct. 26 | 2-4 p.m.
Virtual Italian Genealogy Workshop: Getting Started in Italian Genealogy (co-sponsored by ALFA) - This two-hour custom webinar program, hosted by nationally-recognized professional genealogist and lecturer, Rhonda R. McClure, Senior Genealogist with American Ancestors/New England Historic Genealogical Society, explored how to get started in researching your Italian ancestors by examining the records generated in the U.S. and Italy and what is most important in effectively researching in Italian records.
Immigration Film Series, Part 1: Italian Diaspora to America
Italianamerican - This 1974 American documentary film, directed by Martin Scorsese, features his parents, Catherine and Charles Scorsese, who reflect on their experiences as the children of Italian immigrants to New York City. Thursday, Nov. 9 | 5:30 p.m. | Hammond Hall, G02 (Ellis White Lecture Hall)
Do the Right Thing - This 1989 American comedy-drama film, produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee, explores the simmering racial tensions in a Brooklyn neighborhood between African-American residents and the Italian-American owners of a local pizzeria, culminating in violence and tragedy on a hot summer day. Thursday, Nov. 30 | 5:30 p.m. | Hammond Hall, G02 (Ellis White Lecture Hall)
Maka (2023) presents Geneviève Makaping's life in Italy and perilous migration journey. Inspired by Reversing the Gaze by Geneviève Makaping, a Cameroonian-Italian anthropologist, writer, and the first black woman to serve as the editor of a newspaper in Italy, Maka explores Makaping’s perilous migration journey and her life in Italy, offering a poignant reflection on displacement, identity, and belonging. Tuesday, April 2 | 5:30 p.m. | Ellis White Lecture Hall. Following the screening, Associate Professor Kevin McCarthy of the Communications Media Department facilitated a virtual question and answer session with the film’s writer, Simone Brioni.
Scambio - A Dinner with Fred Plotkin
5:30 p.m. Friday, April 12 | Hammond Main Lounge
Fred Plotkin, co-author of Rick Steves' Italy for Food Lovers, discussed the scambio, or exchange of food, between Italy and America and back. Come taste how American corn made its way into Italian polenta and how a popular sandwich on the streets of Palermo turned into a classic of New Orleans. Guests savored enduring mealtime customs and wine pairings as they learned about the cross-cultural influences of food.
Italian Citizenship Workshop
6 p.m. Tuesday, April 16 | Online
This custom virtual webinar program, hosted by genealogists and members of the Vermont Italian Cultural Association, Lisa DeNatale (President), Mark D'Ambrosi, and Jerry Carbone, examined how to apply for Italian citizenship as an Italian American. The workshop was free and open to the public.
An Introduction to Obtaining Italian Citizenship took place Tuesday, Apr. 16.
Digital Exhibit: Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month
To celebrate Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month, the Fitchburg State University Archives and Special Collections, the Center for Italian Culture, and the Fitchburg Historical Society collaborated to present this digital exhibit on Fitchburg's Italian-American neighborhood, the Patch. All materials were sourced from the Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library, the Center for Italian Culture Archives, and the Fitchburg Historical Society.
This digital exhibit was created by Ross Caputi, archival assistant at the Center for Italian Culture Archives, and Asher Jackson, archivist at Fitchburg State University, in collaboration with the Fitchburg Historical Society.