L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016 www.italoamericano.org 13 L'Italo-Americano Dear Readers, A May minestrone of Italian connections for you: America's Mother's Day was "ideato" by Anna Jarvis, a West Virginia schoolteacher. When her mother died in 1905, s he petitioned minis ters , businessmen and Congressmen to s upport a national day honoring mothers. In 1914, our twenty-third president, Woodrow Wilson, officially established the s econd S unday in M ay as Mother's Day. "La Festa Della M amma", although les s commercialized than in the U nited S tates , has als o been officially celebrated on the second Sunday in May in Italy since 1950's. *** Books , w ith an Italian connection can be found at I AM Books , an Italian A merican Cultural hub situated in the heart of Bos ton's N orth End, a thriving Italian neighborhood. The s hop s its rig ht acros s the street from Paul Revere's hous e (189 N orth S t, Boston, Massachusetts, 02113, tel. 857-263-7665). A visit to the I A M w ebs ite at iambooksboston.com will let you brow s e throughout the stacks from the comfort of your home. In addition to the Art, Biographies, cookbooks, cultural s tudies , Italian Language Learning books, and Mystery mas terpieces by A ndrea Camilleri are many other categories. They also have an excellent selection of children's books. I AM has books for "Bambini" ages 2 and up. M y favorites are the children's Bilingual books . Travel books, Magazines, comic books , cros s w ords puzzles , along w ith ups cale leather goods, ceramics and toys are also available at the I AM book shop. "Grazie to Nicola Orichuia and his business partner Jim Pinzino for opening a bookstore with an Italian connection in Boston's North End. *** "In Bellezza", according to an Italian dictionary means "to leave on a high note" or with a flourish and so on April 23, 2016, last day of the Spring semester, the board of Directors of La Scuola di Lingua e Cultura (825 Southwood Dr, South S.F.) w hich had decided to ceas e operations , due to declining enrollment and other economic factors, held a small celebration that marked the ending of an era (1970-2016). A mong thos e thanked were long time teachers, s tudents , Board members , founders A lvaro Bettucchi, P aola Bagnatori, the italian G overnment and generous donors for their many years of support and encouragement that allowed La Scuola to flourish for over 45 years. Here is a brief history of La Scuola di Lingua e Cultura, a non-profit organization founded in 1970: In 1970, some Bay Area Italian- American felt the need to deal with change. A group of nine local leaders collaborated in es tablis hing a center w here children of Italian descent, could learn Italian so as not to lose the language and culture of their parents and grandparents. Thus, the School of Italian Language and Culture was established to provide the o pportunity for young s tudents to learn the richness and beauty of the italian Language and H eritage and "G razie" to founder A lvaro Bettucchi, principal of Borden A dult S chool, s pace w as provided. For the last 45 years, the Scuola's Board of Directors, teachers and generous supporters have provided the opportunity for approximately 100-200 students to immerse themselves each Saturday morning for about 8 months of the year in well- taught classes. While initially the focus was on classes for children, classes for adults were also established several years later. Then came lectures in history, culture, art, literature, music and cooking! Fees were deliberately kept modes t to enable the entire family to participate in the Italian language and culture learning experience. The School's founders, when requested, worked with other like-minded Italian Americans in Sacramento, San Jose, Marin, S an F rancis co and O akland, helping them to establish similar non-profit italian language programs. The SSF School's participants at all levels, Board, theaters and students, were often invited and encouraged to support activities sponsored by other groups s uch as Italian language contests, programs, publications, etc. They were also invited by the Italian Consulate to welcome Italy's President on his arrival in 1982 to visit San Francisco. *** For the last three decades, the S cuola, gained community recognition as an important Bay Area educational program for learning Italian. And, curriculum coordinators Maria De Venezia and Stefania Filigheddu, together w ith a remarkable cadre of teachers , all native Italian speakers, with at a minimum, a University Degree and extensive teaching experience in the U.S. and Italy established an excellent curriculum, which resulted in S cuola teachers being rated O uts tanding in s tudent satisfaction year after year. The Board of D irectors : Aurelio Pagani administrative director, Frank Massa president, Joe Barbaccia vice president, Joe Bronzini treas urer, Clara Barbaccia s ecretary, Carole Boccelli, Ivo Cardelli, P hil Marson and Maria Fassio Pignati along with longtime generous Scuola supporter increased their school contributions through the years to meet increased operation income needs, not met by modest student fee increases. O ver the las t few years , factors which initially supported the establishment of the Scuola, including the loss of founding fathers or their families, have given w ay to change. With contemporary modes of learning, including S kype, replacing earlier methods of classroom learning, students finding time available to fight the traffic and attend Saturday morning classes has significantly decreased. Under these circumstances, but w ith a s ens e of accomplishment from accolades within the community the Board reluctantly decided to "close its doors " w hile the S cuola di Lingua e Cultura Italiana and its reputation still "in Bellezza"... LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Ex President Sandro Pertini

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