L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano 2 017 has been a stel- lar year for S an Francisco, Italy, so much so that I've coined the phrases, "Italy by the Bay" and "Bay A rea, Italy." This pas t year offered the Bay Area Italian community a continuous , sparkling and varied array of events highlighting all facets of Italian culture. In spring of this year, I sat down with San Francisco Italian Consul General Lorenzo Ortona for a conversation that provided insight into the year ahead. I as ked him w hat 20 17 had in store for the Bay Area Italian community, to which he replied: "The Consulate is organizing and s upporting numerous events involving the many various aspects and sectors of Italian life, culture and community, includ- ing music, film, food, automo- biles and technology." And that commitment was well delivered! An absolute highlight of the year was the tremendous effort by the San Francisco Italian Ath- letic Club (S F IA C) to bring together the Italian community at the September 20th Northern California Italian A merican Symposium. The SFIAC hosted over 39 Italian organizations attending what proved to be a ground-breaking event. It was the beginning of "CIAO," Coali- tion of Italian American Organi- zations. When L'Italo-A mericano asked SFIAC President, Guido Perego, to describe the intent of the symposium, he replied, "We set out to bring all California Bay Area Italian organizations to the table to talk about how we can have better communication between all organizations. Part of the impetus was a result of the rapidly declining visibility of contributions by Italians. These contributions have been signifi- cant in many industries, public projects and social ways. It is growing more evident, however, if we do not cooperate among the various organizations, we risk the future loss of our presence for generations to come." During the year, many other outstanding visitors and events underscored the significant con- tributions of Italians in America. On February 1, L'Italo-Amer- icano was pleased to interview Elis a and Eleonor a Tallone, granddaughters of Alberto Tal- lone who, in the early part of the 20th century, purchased 18th century type and equipment to create hand-set books. Tallone Fine Print Books, based in Tori- CATHERINE ACCARDI Italy by the Bay 2017 – a retrospective cano in S an F rancis co. The Leonardo da Vinci Society con- tinued fundrais ing efforts through December and all dona- tions were given to the Ameri- can Red Cross. It wouldn't have been "Italy by the Bay" without the Week of Italian Cuisine, November 13- 19. Eat, Drink and Be Italian was the theme aptly demonstrat- ed by s pecial Italian menus offered by 18 restaurants certi- fied by the Accademia della Cucina Italiana (Academy of Italian Cuisine) San Francisco Chapter. During the week, San Francisco welcomed two special guest chefs – Michelin starred Accursio Craparo from Modica in S icily, and Eleonora de Marchi, a classically trained chef from Mantova. Delizioso! These are just a few of the many enjoyable events in Italy by the Bay, 2017. Look forward to even more Italy by the Bay in 2018! Chef Eleonora de Marchi, Consul General Lorenzo Ortona & Michelin Star Chef Accursio Carparo. Photograph courtesy of the Italian Consulate Carlo & Giovanna Castiglioni. Photograph by Flavia Loreto Italian Fashion Show to benefit the victims of the Northern California fire. Photograph by Flavia Loreto SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY no, Italy, represents Italian print- ing at its finest. Science and technology made an appearance with Guglielmo Marconi and his San Francisco Bay Area connections. There is a very good reason why, on May 11, the Leonardo da Vinci Soci- ety, in collaboration with the San Francisco Italian Cultural Institute, presented "Guglielmo Marconi-A Conference." It was the second in a cycle of confer- ences celebrating Italian scien- tists who have made unique and distinguished contributions to the world at large and have left their imprint in the San Francis- co Bay Area. S peaking at the M arconi Conference were two Italian sci- entists, Marco Pavone and Fab- rizio Capobianco, who described their work and their achieve- ments, both in Italy and in the Bay Area. San Francisco Design Week, June 14-22, brought an extraor- dinary opportunity to Vivere all'Italiana (Live in the Italian Style) with Milan based Casa Castiglione. Their exhibit and presentation, at both the Italian Cultural Institute and San Fran- cisco Design Week, reflected the grace and elegance of Italian furniture and innovative prod- ucts, more aptly described as functional works of art. Italy is world renowned for millennia of awe-inspiring antiq- uities and so October's Artifacts & Antipasto welcomed ancient Etruscan and Roman pieces. This special event, held at the U.C. Berkeley's Phoebe Hearst M us eum of A nthropology, showcased Etruscan and Roman works. Artifacts & Antipasto was made possible by the extra- ordinary work of Dr. Lisa Pier- accini, Project Director of the Mario Del Chiaro Center for Ancient Italian Studies at U.C. Berkeley. Originally begun as an infor- mal, one-time only presentation of Italian movies in a college lecture hall, the Marin County Italian Film Festival has grown over its 41 years into a perennial favorite. This year, from Sep- tember 23 to November 4 at the Marin Center Showcase Theatre, thousands of fans gathered to bask in the joy of Italian films. It is a festival in every sense of the word thanks to the efforts of fes- tival director, Commendator Lido Cantarutti. The October Northern Cali- fornia fire storm caused devas- tating destruction, possibly one of the worst catastrophes of this kind in recent decades. That is w hy the Leonardo da V inci S ociety thought that it w as important to put its efforts into trying to help, to give a hand to the people who are struggling with the loss of their homes and businesses. They did so with the October 14th Italian Fashion Show at the Museo Italo Ameri-

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