L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 20 L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019 SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY S eventy years and counting. The Leonardo da Vinci So- ciety of San Francisco celebrates its birthday after its creation in 1949. Three women - Countess Lillian Dandini, Mrs. Dobbins D'Anneo, Mrs. Louis Piccirillo - wanted to form a non-profit, not-political organiza- tion to promote a broad and deep understanding and appreciation of Italian contributions to art, litera- ture, and culture. They tried to achieve those objectives through the presentation of lectures, con- certs, exhibits, and receptions hon- oring distinguished people. This year, the Leonardo Society is also celebrating the genius of the Italian Renaissance five hundred years after his death. Not only did the organization organize many events - in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy, the Ital- ian Cultural Institute, the Human- ities West, ISSNAF, the Museo Italo-Americano, the Common- wealth Club, and Stanford Univer- sity - but also worked on an award prize to recognize three Italian sci- entists and researchers working in the Bay Area. The call for appli- cation, launched by both the Leonardo da Vinci Society and the Italian Scientists and Scholars of North America Foundation (ISS- NAF) Bay Area Chapter, meant to assign a prize in each of the fol- lowing three categories: biological SERENA PERFETTO San Francisco's celebrations of Leonardo and his genius coming to an end in May evidence, bringing to life for the modern reader the man who has been studied by scholars for cen- turies, yet has remained as myste- rious as ever. On February 22nd and 23rd, there was a two-days program in collaboration with Humanities West at the Marines' Memorial Theatre in San Francisco. Creating Leonardo gave the opportunity to learn about Leonardo's vast achievement and his interaction with the world that shaped him, thanks to the Stanford Department of History and the Center for Me- dieval and Early Modern Studies, the Stanford Humanities Center, the Italian Cultural Institute, the UC Berkeley Institute of European Studies. Coming up, the opening of the Exhibition Leonardo's Lost Li- brary: A Renaissance reader and his books, organized by Stanford University, that will take place on Thursday May 2nd. This will be followed by Leonardo and Music, a Lecture by Prof. Kate von Orden from Harvard University on May 6th at the Italian Cultural Institute. Celebrations will end on Tuesday, May 14th at 7pm with the presen- tation of The Signs of Time: Leonardo da Vinci's History of the Earth and the Fate of Man, or- ganized by Stanford University at Cemex Auditorium. To discover more about the Leonardo Da Vinci Society and its activities, you can have a look at their website http://www.davin- cisanfrancisco.com sciences, mathematical and phys- ical sciences, and engineering. Ap- plications were reviewed by sub- ject matter experts and winners were selected by a judging panel and presented with a certificate and a $1,000 prize during a Gala Dinner on April 5th, at the the Century Club of California in San Francisco. The sold out Gala had some special guests, among whom the Consul General, Lorenzo Ortona, and his wife Sheila; scientist Fed- erico Faggin and his wife Elvia; the President of ISNAFF - Bay Area Chapter, Enrica D'Ettorre Zappacosta; and members of the Board of Directors of the organi- zation, as well as many historical and new members of the Leonardo da Vinci Society. Mauro Aprile Zanetti, Chair of the program and marketing Com- mittee of the LdV, opened the night with the presentation of the Trio (Fulton, Brodo and Whelden: ropes and harp), who played some of the most famous music of Leonardo's youth - both impro- vised and composed - including music by European masters. He also talked about the death of Leonardo da Vinci outside his na- tive town, underlining how the Italian genius was forced to emi- grate becoming a "nemo propheta at home" (no man is a prophet in his own land). For those who don't know much about Leonardo, he used to define himself as "omo sanza let- tere:" when someone accused him of being a letterless person, that is, devoid of knowledge of Latin, Leonardo replied that his things were taken more "from experience than from the word outside." This is not too far from Einstein's think- ing that "imagination is more pow- erful than any formula and knowl- edge," as well as Federico Faggin's thoughts. Mr Faggin, honored with a medal for innova- tion and technology in 2009 by the President Barack Obama, has al- ways underlined how "conscience is an inner experience that no ro- bots can ever have. There is only darkness in a computer. While in every living being there is light: it's the light of awareness and con- sciousness. " President Amelia Antonucci has been leading the non-profit for the last five years, bringing the or- ganization to today's achieve- ments and accomplishments. She took also the stage and addressed the audience: "I had the honor to lead this Society for five years full of exciting moments and some worrisome situations, but always with pride and pleasure and with the full collaboration of the Board of Directors." And continued: "My special thanks goes to Vice Presi- dent and gala committee leader for the past four galas, Vincent Fau- sone, my partner all these years, and to Alessandro Baccari who has always supported and pro- tected me and tonight honored us with his presence. This is my last year and I am ready to step out, nevertheless I will always be close to the Leonardo da Vinci Society's life and attend the cultural activi- ties. It's a part of my life that I will not be able to forget." Also the Consul General, Lorenzo Ortona, recognized the honors and merits of the Leonardo da Vinci Society, with a shout out to Amelia Antonucci for the ex- cellent and incomparable guide in her years as President. The two were joined on stage by Elena Or- lando, the representative of IS- NAFF Bay Area Chapter, who called the three young scientists selected by an expert commission of the ISSNAF-BAC and Leonardo: Gaia Andreoletti for Bi- ological Sciences; Simone D'Am- ico for Engineering; and Vanessa Polito for Mathematics and Physics. Among the events that already took place in the first months of the year, we can recall the book presentation by author Mike Lank- ford, Becoming Leonardo - An ex- ploded view of the life of Leonardo da Vinci. On an event hosted on February 15 at the Museo Italo-Americano, Mr Lank- ford tried to answer a few ques- tions, such as why Leonardo Da Vinci left so many of his major works uncompleted; why he car- ried the Mona Lisa with him everywhere he went for decades; why he wrote backwards, and whether he was in conflict with Michelangelo. The presentation broke every cliché about Leonardo before reconstructing his character based on a rich trove of available From far left, Director Amelia Antonucci, Vanessa Polito, Consul General Lorenzo Ortona, and Elena Orlando - Credits_ Enrica Cavalli

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