Articles by: Joelle Grosso

Friday January 27th is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day that consists of worldwide commemorations of the horrific events that took place in Nazi Germany during World War II. Centro Primo Levi is working with NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò, the Italian Cultural Institute, the Consulate General of Italy, and the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute to organize a week of events that will allow their audience to reflect on the Holocaust in a way that “challenges our idea of history and provides a lens to consider the crisis of the idea of Europe and ponder the current plight of refugees from surrounding countries.”

The week will begin at NYU’s Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò on January 24th with a symposium organized by the Consulate General of Italy, Centro Primo Levi, Casa Italiana, Italian Academy at Columbia University, Calandra Institute at CUNY, Alliance of Columbia University and the Italian Cultural Institute entitled “Under Glass: Museums and the Display of History.” Guest scholars include Guri Schwarz from the University of Pisa, Laure Neumayer from the University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, and Anna Di Lellio from The New School. This brilliant group of international intellectuals will gather to discuss museums of memory and history all over the world. By taking a deeper look at certain museums, they will analyze how those establishments chose to portray history and what measurements they took to do so. There are many museums that serve as living memorials to the Holocaust so it’s interesting to hear the opinion of the experts on how the displays take form and how they affect the viewer.

January 26th will be a day full of interesting events at the Italian Cultural Institute starting with a presentation by Anna Pizzuti. Pizzuti is a school teacher that has been compiling real stories for decades about the foreign Jews interned by the Fascist Regime in Italy. From her research she was able to create a comprehensive national online database which not only provides a different perspective but it has also spurred on historiographical interest worldwide. Following the presentation will be the screening of an experimental film called E42 created by Cynthia Madansky that focuses on the story of Katja Tenenbaum, a girl born in the south of Rome where her parents were interned as foreign Jews. The film sheds light on the ideas of twentieth century political philosopher Hannah Arendt and poses questions on displacement, memory, and oblivion. 

The annual public reading of the names of the Jewish people deported from Italy and Italian territories during the Holocaust will take place at the Consulate General of Italy on January 27th from 9AM to 3PM. Archival remnants of their journeys throughout the years of persecution and war will also be read during the ceremony. 

Take International Holocaust Remembrance Day as a moment to reflect and remember those whose lives were brutally taken so many years ago but also take it as an opportunity to ponder the issues that are currently happening in the world so that we can apply what we’ve learned from the past in an appropriate manner instead of just repeating our mistakes. 

The number of minor migrants arriving in Italy has drastically expanded from 12,360 in 2015 to 25,800 in 2016. According to UNICEF, the majority of children seeking asylum are arriving from Eritrea, Egypt, the Gambia, and Nigeria. Civil war, forced labor, and crimes against humanity are just some of the reasons people are fleeing their native lands. Although all European countries are receiving more migrants now more than ever, the situation in Italy is particularly unique because the majority of children arriving are unaccompanied or separated from their families. 

This is disquieting not only because extremely vulnerable children are risking their lives to get to Europe but once they arrive, they have no where to go. Lucio Melandri, UNICEF Senior Emergency Manager, says that “current systems in place are failing to protect these children who find themselves alone in a totally unfamiliar environment.” Most of the minor migrants are boys from the age of 15 to 17 years old but the younger girls are the ones especially at risk for sexual exploitation and abuse by criminal gangs. 

Melandri adds that “it is obviously clear that we have a serious and growing problem on our hands. Apart from addressing the factors that are forcing children to travel alone from their homes, a comprehensive system of protection and monitoring needs to be developed to protect them.”

In May 2016, UNICEF and the Government of Italy collaborated and signed a joint declaration of intent which pledged to monitor reception standards to ensure that they are in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They also pledged to monitor reception centers and to integrate migrant and refugee children into Italian society. Even though these steps are still necessary, much more needs to be done since the number of minor migrants is now exponentially larger. 

It is an uncertain time in Europe and the dangerous Central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Italy is only making matters worse. UNICEF and other organizations are working hard to ensure the safety of these young people but they also want to get to the root of the problem by resolving the issues that are happening in their home countries. This way their goal is to prevent these complications from ever arising in the first place. If you would personally like to help the cause, feel free to donate to UNICEF on their website.

To start the new year off, Palazzo Martinengo in the city of Brescia will host a fascinating exhibition called “From Hayez to Boldini: Souls and Faces of Italian 19th-century painting.” The event will begin on January 21st and will feature more than 100 paintings created by the masters of Italian art including Francesco Hayez and Giovanni Boldini. Hayez was a leading artist of Romanticism during mid-19th century Milan while Boldini focused more on genre and portrait painting. More work by Boldini will be displayed later on in the year at the Complesso del Vittoriano in Rome.

Next up on February 9th, the Galleria Gruppo Credito Valtellinese in Milan will present a show in honor of the late Renato Mambor who was not just a painter, but a writer, photographer, and actor as well. He passed away just two years ago but is remembered all over the world as the founder of the “Conceptual Neo-Figuration” movement. The exhibition serves as a retrospective of his greatest pieces and avant garde style. 

The fifth centenary since the death of one of the most brilliant Venetian Renaissance painters, Giovanni Bellini, will be commemorated at Palazzo Sarcinelli in Conegliano in the province of Treviso. The exhibition, entitled “Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani,” will begin on the 25th of February and will display the masterpieces of the man who revolutionized the way Venetians paint.

In March, various works of art created by the prominent 17th-century artist from Emilia Romagna, Guercino, can be admired all throughout Italy. Visitors can attend an exhibition featuring his work at the Palazzo Farnese in Rome but they will also have the opportunity to go up to the dome of the beautiful cathedral of Piacenza to view the spectacular frescoes Guercino made hundreds of years ago. He is known for painting in the typical Baroque style characterized by dramatic lighting and bold colors. 

Liguria will celebrate their native painter, Amedeo Modigliani, at an exhibition that will take place at Palazzo Ducale in Genoa on March 16th. Even though the influential artist died young at the age of 35, he had a prolific career full of inventive work that still inspires young artists today. His art is instantly recognizable and consists of classic forms with primitive undertones.  

Last but certainly not least is a show at the Magnani Rocca Foundation in Mamiano di Traversetolo near Parma called “Depero, the Magician.” Fortunato Depero was a futurist painter, writer, sculptor, and graphic designer who grew up in Rovereto. There, he would go on to establish the “House of Futurist Art” which manufactured futuristic toys and furniture. At this particular exhibition, over 100 paintings, collages, drawings, clothing, pieces of furniture and other items will be on view starting March 18th. 

If you’re planning to take a trip to Italy in 2017, take time out to see some of the greatest masterpieces the country has to offer!

150 years have passed since the legendary writer, Luigi Pirandello, was born in 1867 in Agrigento, a stunning city that lies on the beautiful southern coast of Sicily. A multifaceted artist who wrote plays, short stories, poetry, and novels, Pirandello was best known for the works The Late Mattia Pascal and Six Characters in Search of an Author. In 1934, he even won the Nobel Prize in Literature. His writing resonated, and continues to resonate, with readers because the main themes revolve around universal issues such as identity and illusion. Not only did Pirandello put out prolific amounts of work during his lifetime but he had an astonishing influence on the world of drama even after his death.

American theater critic Robert Brustein refers to Pirandello as “the most seminal dramatist of our time” saying that his work anticipated the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Samuel Beckett and Eugene O’Neill. This is why Helluva Theater and Film Forum thought the 150th anniversary of Pirandello’s birth would be the perfect opportunity to commemorate his finest contributions to the world. 

Helluva Theater’s “Pirandello 150” festival will continue all year long but it’s stay at Film Forum will last just a week. They will host several screenings including the 1984 film Kaos, a drama directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani based on Pirandello’s short stories. You will also have the chance to see adapted films of Six Characters in Search of an Author, Henry IV, Tu Ridi, Liolà, The Nanny, and a special version of The Late Mattia Pascal which will feature a live piano accompaniment.

According to their website, Film Forum was opened in 1970 “as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a $19,000 annual budget.” Over time they have relocated and expanded with thousands of members and a $5 million operating budget where 77% of it is spent directly on programs. They pride themselves on being the only autonomous nonprofit cinema in New York City that commits to “presenting an international array of films that treat diverse social, political, historical and cultural realities.”

Keep an eye out for other events held by Helluva Theater Company throughout the year as they are planning to add lectures and panel discussions on Pirandello as well as numerous theatrical productions. Join them in celebrating the life and work of one of Italy’s most influential writers, Luigi Pirandello!