L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 26 L'Italo-Americano I n collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute, under the patronage of the Consul General of Italy in San Francisco and Associ- azione Piemontesi Nel Mondo of Northern California, the Museo Italo Americano will present Programma Piemonte, a spring and summer program of special events through July 14, 2018, highlighting the culture of Italy's Piedmont region. Upcoming events include: Monday, June 11| 6:30 pm- 8:30pm P r e s e n t a t i o n o n U N E S C O World Heritage site Ivrea, at the Italian Cultural Institute (Part of the Olivetti exhibit at the Italian Cultural Institute, June 8-15) Sunday, June 24 | 4:30 pm- 6:30 pm Piemonte: Land of Slow Food by Renato Sardo, with cheese and wine-tasting at the Museo Italo Americano. Renato Sardo will present an illustrated lecture o n t h e b e a u t i f u l r e g i o n o f Piemonte and its famous Slow Food movement, with wine-and- cheese pairings. Learn the very Piemontese story of Slow Food, a grassroots organization found- ed in 1986 to oppose the opening of a MacDonald's near the Span- ish Steps in Rome, which has grown into a global movement to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and tradi- tions. Discover and taste some Piemontese wines (the legendary Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera and Moscato, to name a few) and the celebrated alpine cheeses that created the fertile environment for the inception of this move- ment. Saturday, July 14 Film: Don Bosco (1988) at the Museo Italo Americano fol- lowed by a reception of Pied- montese specialties organized by Associazione Piemontesi Nel Mondo. The Piemonte region of Italy is found in the northwest and b o r d e r s S w i t z e r l a n d a n d France.  T h e m e a n i n g o f t h e n a m e "Piemonte" is foot of the moun- tains and is just that, a land sur- rounded by the Alps with some of the highest mountains in Italy. Piemonte's provinces include T u r i n ( t h e r e g i o n a l c a p i t a l ) , Alessandria, Asti, Biella, Cuneo, Novara, Verbania- Cusio-Ossola, and Vercelli. T h e u n i q u e n e s s o f t h e Piemonte region is nicely illus- trated on the Piemontesi Nel Mondo of Northern California website at http://www.piemon- tesinelmondo.org. Piemontesi Nel Mondo of Northern Califor- nia is a 501(c) 3 not for profit educational organization dedicat- ed to the preservation and cele- CATHERINE ACCARDI Viva Piemonte! Celebrate the Culture of Italy's Piedmont Region Savoia. It was hampered first by the formation of independent c o m m u n e s a n d s t r o n g m a r - quisates, then by the interven- tion of powerful overlords from other regions in the 14th centu- ry, and lastly by Piemonte's involvement in the power strug- gles between Europe's largest ruling dynasties in the 16th cen- tury. Finally, in 1559 Emanuele Filiberto of Savoia and his suc- cessors were able to embark on the final stages of unification, which were not completed until 1748. " A f t e r t h e i n t e r l u d e o f Napoleonic rule (1796-1814), Piemonte followed the destiny of the Savoy Kingdom of Sar- dinia and played a central role in the Italian Risorgimento and the unification of Italy in 1861. From then until 1865, Turin became the first national capital. Piemonte today is one of the 20 Italian regions that make up the Republic of Italy, founded by popular referendum in 1946." Enjoy the Piemonte of today for yourself by attending the Programma Piemonte events at the Museo Italo Americano and the San Francisco Italian Cultur- al Institute. Museo Italo Americano Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Blvd., Building C, San Francis- co, CA 94123 (415) 673-2200 (415) 673- 2292 info@sfmuseo.org San Francisco Italian Cultur- al Institute 601 Van Ness Avenue, Suite F, San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 788-7142 https://iic- sanfrancisco.esteri.it/iic_san- francisco/it SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY bration of the culture, traditions, heritage and foodways of the Piemonte region of Italy and its people. The following descrip- tion of the region's history is from their website: "Piemonte is the region in north-western Italy that borders with France and its ancient historical and cultural roots date back to Neolithic times. During the first millenni- um BC, Piemonte was occupied by Celtic and Ligurian tribes (the Taurini and Salassi); they were then subjugated by the Romans (220 BC) who founded colonies, including Augusta Taurinorum, now modern Turin, the regional capital. "The name Piemonte first appears on recorded maps at the end of the 12th century in the Latin form Pedemontis (which means "at the foot of the moun- tains"). This region, located in the southwestern Alps, encom- passed part of the territory later p o s s e s s e d b y t h e H o u s e o f Savoy, which would in time become the royal family of unit- ed Italy in the 19th century. "After the fall of the Roman Empire, this strategically posi- tioned region became a target for invasions, clashes and con- quests (by the Goths and Bur- gundians in the 5th century, the Byzantines and Lombards in the 6th century, and the Franks in the 7th century),yet it managed to preserve a degree of autono- my. During the 9th and 10th centuries, it was subject to new invasions, this time by the Hun- garians and Saracens. Having been divided into counties the territory was partly unified in the 11th century by Olderico Manfredi who left Turin and Ivrea, two of the larger marches, to his son-in-law Oddone of Savoia. It took centuries for the unification process of Piemonte t o b e c o m p l e t e d u n d e r t h e A view of the Piazza Mercato, historic square Domodossola The beauty of Piemonte is celebrated in San Francisco in collaboration with the Museo Italo Americano

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