Colazione e Scambiamoceli

Save the date for the next Colazione and Scambiamoceli (Italian book exchange). Come along with a book or more, or just pop by to browse and meet new people. All welcome!

Dante Rooms

Freemans Bay Community Centre

Saturday 24 February

Colazione in Room 1: 10am - 12pm

Book exchange in Room 2: 10:30am - 12pm

For info about the Italian book exchange contact Beatrice on 02108180191

Colazione con le poesie di Vittoria Colonna e Michelangelo Buonarroti - e scambio libri!

Following August’s talk about Renaissance women poets,

Colazione alla Italian Language School Società Dante Alighieri Auckland questo sabato! Professor Bruno Ferraro will talk about poems of Vittoria Colonna and her friend Michelangelo Buonarroti, who was not only a figurative artist but also a poet.

Dal gruppo molto variegato di “Poetesse del Cinquecento” sono emerse varie donne: cortigiane, donne colte, cortigiane honeste. Ma non si può tralasciare un’altra poetessa che non rientra in nessuna tipologia: una donna sposata a un uomo illustre, colta, appartenente a una delle famiglie nobili romane: Vittoria Colonna. Alla fama che le spetta come poetessa (molto interessata alle forme tecniche e retoriche), si aggiunge quella dell’amicizia con Michelangelo: sì proprio lui il Buonarroti che – conosciuto come grande pittore e scultore – ci ha anche lasciato una ricchissima raccolta di poesie che illustrano – oltre a tante cose legate alla sua arte – i suoi tempi.

Motley is the group of women who, for lack of a better term, have been called “Poetesse del Cinquecento” and included courtesans, intellectuals and cortigiane honeste. In a class of her own, we meet Vittoria Colonna, a member of the noble Colonna family of Rome and the wife of an illustrious personage of the times. Vittoria was also a friend of Michelangelo Buonarroti, the great artist but also a poet. Michelangelo left us a collection of poems (more than 300) which highlight his art and his times.

In addition we will also have a book exchange, so feel free to bing your pre-loved books.

All welcome!

Vi aspettiamo! ☕📚🇮🇹

 

Incontro con la Dante di Verbania

Photo by Peter Dowling

On the 2nd of January we had a visitor from the Dante Alighieri Society of Verbania. Dante member Nicoletta Testori presented, on the behalf of Silvia Magistrini, president of the Dante Verbania, the book 

D COME DANTE - Il Comitato Verbanese della Dante Alighieri 1906 - 2018

to our Auckland branch. In the foto from left: Alessandra Zecchini, Dante Auckland former president and current committee member, Nicoletta Testori, Dante Verbania, Flavia Berucci, Dante Auckland vice-president, and Sandro Aduso, Dante Auckland former president.

Il Comitato Verbanese della Dante Alighieri (Dante Alighieri Society Verbania) and del VCO (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola) was founded in 1906.  Verbania is the most populous comune (municipality) and the capital city of the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in Piedmont. It is situated on the shore of Lake Maggiore. A very active society (see the program below for this trimester) located in a beautiful part of Italy! An article about the meeting also appeared on the local newspapers Verbano on 13 January and Eco Risveglio (see the clippingS at the end of the page).

A special thank you to Nicoletta and her husband Giacomo for the visit, and to the committee of Verbania for the lovely book, a welcome addition to our library.

 

Mercatino del Libro e Colazione

Great books bargains this morning at our Mercatino del Libro della Dante. Lots of pre-loved Italian books, caffè, cake and biscuits (grazie Alessandra and Mediterranean Foods) and a constant flow of visitors all throughout the morning. Plus it was lovely to meet everyone, Kiwis and Italians, and chat. We raised $288 in koha for our school

 

Colazione and Mercatino del Libro

 

Celebrating Dante Down Under with Marco Sonzogni

 

Top left: Marco Sonzogni with the first prize winner of the Italian poetry competition Jean Annan
Bottom right: Matteo Telara and Marco Sonzogni

On Friday 16 April we celebrated #Dante700 with an Italian cultural evening at the Dante Auckland with a special guest: Victoria University’s Reader Marco Sonzogni. Marco talked about the making of his latest projects, two books to celebrate Dante: Quantum of Dante and More favourable Waters. On the night prizes for the Dante Italian Poetry Competition were also awarded, and Marco, the judge, commended all the students who entered (over 30) for their great works. 

A few of the winners of our Italian poetry competition receiving their awards

The winners, in alphabetical order, were:

Andrew van der Poll

Anne Beresford

Claude Jones

Duncan Eastwood

Gray Taylor

Helen Renwick

Jean Annan

Kathy Meyer

Mary Mason

Naomi Estall

Nobuko Delowe  

Pamela Stone      

Plus a class prize for the collective poems of Barbara Martelli's absolute beginners class.

The first prize was awarded to Jean Annan, (Luca's student) for this poem: 

Lo Shock Culturale

Jean Annan

 

La Poesia

 

Rigida come un tavolo, congelarmi via! 

Le braccia si lanciano verso di me

In silenzio frenetico, la mente urla, “Vai!”

Pressione onnipresente, un muro di cortesia.

 

Di notte in pizzeria aspetto il mio turno 

Aspetto, aspetto, aspetto, …

La voce dentro di me dice,

“Io sono arrivata prima di voi!”.

 

Affronto un gioco che non posso giocare

La voce sussurra, “Devi gridare! 

Gridare! Gridare!” Ma come?

Aspetto il mio turno che non arriva mai.

 

Sdraiata all’ombra, pronta per la caduta

Colpita dalla gentilezza di gente premurosa

Primo, secondo, il dolce … e ancora di più

Il sole dà una sbirciatina al momento laggiù

Thank you for all for attending, and special thanks to Marco for travelling to Auckland for the event, to Matteo for the MC, to Alessandra for the organisation and catering, to Il Forno for the bread and focaccia, to Edwards Sound Systems and Flavia for the PA system, and to all our volunteers who helped on the night.

If you missed the event: Marco will be at the Auckland Writers Festival on May 16, at 2pm, free entry, click here for more details. Also click here to find out more about Marco, and his books Quantum of Dante and More favourable Waters.

Special event: Dante Down Under

Join us for an Italian cultural evening at the Dante Auckland! Our special guest, Victoria University’s Reader Marco Sonzogni, will present two new books Quantum of Dante and More favourable Waters, and prizes for the Dante Poetry Competition will be awarded. A few books will be available for purchase on the evening.

Doors will open at 5pm for light refreshments, public seated by 5:30 - Free entry

Friday 16 April

5pm-7pm

Auditorium, Freemans Bay Community Centre

52 Hepburn St, Freemans Bay

Novità per la biblioteca e scuola per bambini della Dante Auckland

Scoprire le regioni d’Italia è ancor più divertente con questi libri di Geronimo Stilton - in italiano e inglese (Mille Meraviglie - A Thousand Wonders). Grazie Ambasciata d'Italia a Wellington e Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale! 

Available now in our library these fun books (in English and Italian) accompany young (and not so young) readers into a journey throughout Italy, exploring all the regions with the ‘simpaticissimo’ mouse Geronimo Stilton!

Festival Italiano 2020, a free festival with lots of prizes, tastings and presents!

Only just over a week to go to Festival Italiano 2020! Soon we will reveal the full entertainment programme for the day with live music, amazing spot prizes and special guests, plus a map with all the stall holders and pop-up restaurants. For all info on the day you can go to the Dante Alighieri Tent, where you can also try your Italian and find out about our school, and next to it this year you will find Radio Ondazzurra!

Inside Rialto Centre there will be more stalls, the Vips area, a Zona Bambini (children area) with art workshop and activities, plus a present for all the families, the big Food Atlas, the NZ edition of a beautifully illustrated Italian book. 

 

New this year also a tasting table of some famous Italian products: came and try Mortadella, Grana Padano, Finocchiona and Prosciutto di Parma!

And don't forget our annual Dante School Raffle, only 1000 tickets printed, and selling fast!

Incontro con l'autrice Heddi Goodrich alla Dante Auckland

Today we celebrated the International Week of the Italian Language, and the end of the Italian Festival Season in Auckland, at the Dante Alighieri Society of Auckland with a rich Italian colazione and the book presentation of Lost in the Spanish Quarter, by Dante Auckland member Heddi Goodrich. 

Heddi Goodrich, originally from Washington, D.C., spent over a decade wising up in Naples, where she graduated from the city’s Orientale Institute before moving to Auckland. Her debut novel, Lost in the Spanish Quarter, is a love story set in a Neapolitan slum between two university students from completely different worlds. Written directly in Italian, it was published earlier this year by Giunti as Perduti nei Quartieri Spagnoli. This translation into English, which she did herself, is published by HarperCollins.

 We enjoyed a delicious Italian breakfast followed by a talk by Heddi, the story of her experience in Napoli, filled with Italian and Neapolitan expressions, the story of how the book was written, and a session of Q&A. Book signing followed. 

Click here to find out more about the book in Italian, and here for the English translation.

Perduti nei Quartieri Spagnoli - Lost in the Spanish Quarter

To end the Italian Festival Season in Auckland, and to celebrate the International Week of the Italian Language, the Dante Alighieri Society of Auckland is pleased to invite friends and members to the book presentation of Lost in the Spanish Quarter, by Dante Auckland member Heddi Goodrich. 

Una ragazza americana a Napoli, ma non una delle tante. Heddi, studentessa di glottologia all’Istituto Universitario Orientale, non è venuta per un rapido giro nel folclore, ma per un’immersione che la porta ad avere della città, della lingua, del dialetto una conoscenza profonda, impressionante, che nasce dall’empatia, da un bisogno di radicamento e dall’entusiasmo della giovinezza…

Join us after the presentation for A colazione with Heddi!

Saturday 26 October, 10:00am – 12:00pm, Dante Alighieri Society, 52 Hepburn Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland

Heddi Goodrich, originally from Washington, D.C., spent over a decade wising up in Naples, where she graduated from the city’s Orientale Institute before moving to Auckland. Her debut novel, Lost in the Spanish Quarter, is a love story set in a Neapolitan slum between two university students from completely different worlds. Written directly in Italian, it was published earlier this year by Giunti as Perduti nei Quartieri Spagnoli. This translation into English, which she did herself, is published by HarperCollins.

The book will be available for sale on the day.

Colazione e Mercatino del Libro questo sabato

Intervista alla scrittrice Viola Di Grado

Some of you may have met young Italian writer Viola Di Grado at the Auckland Writers Festival last month, but if you missed her here is an exclusive interview with Matteo Telara for the Dante Blog.

Happy reading.

       

Pluripremiata autrice, non solo in Italia (con il suo primo romanzo Settanta acrilico trenta lana è stata la più giovane vincitrice del Premio Campiello Opera Prima e la più giovane finalista del Premio Strega) ma anche all’estero (ricordiamo, tra i vari riconoscimenti, il primo posto raggiunto dal suo secondo romanzo Cuore Cavo, nella lista Goodreads del Man Booker International Prize) e accreditata orientalista (si è laureata in lingue orientali all'Università di Torino e si è specializzata in filosofie dell'Asia Orientale alla University of London), Viola Di Grado è universalmente considerata una delle scrittrici più rappresentative degli ultimi decenni, un'autrice nella quale tematiche complesse (in particolare l'incomunicabilità, l'alienazione e l'illusorietà dell'io) e ricerca linguistica (che si avvale spesso di "sottili smottamenti anaforici" e di una varietà di linguaggi simbolici quali ad esempio quello degli ideogrammi) convergono nella realizzazione di opere d'indiscussa originalità.


1) Settanta acrilico trenta lana, pubblicato quando avevi 23 anni, ha vinto il Premio Campiello Opera Prima per “l’invenzione linguistica spinta fino alla visionarietà” e ha fatto di te e la più giovane finalista del Premio Strega. Com’è nato questo romanzo? E che intenzioni avevi (se ne avevi) quando l’hai scritto?

Volevo inventare qualcosa che non c’era. Utilizzare una lingua (il cinese) come personaggio di una storia. Stabilire nuove coordinate di tempo, un tempo irregolare che segue i moti della mente, che s’inceppa con il dolore e si riattiva con la vitalità. Volevo raccontare in forma narrativa una storia che

Conversation with Italian writer Viola di Grado

Thursday 18 May, 5pm

School of Cultures, Languages and Linguistics, 

Arts 1, second floor, room 206-209, Auckland University

Primo mercatino del libro della Dante

Exclusive Dante Auckland interview to Author Nicky Pellegrino

A few questions to Nicky Pellegrino

Do you have a favourite Italian word or sentence? What does it mean?

Buonanotte e sogni d’oro – which literally means goodnight and golden dreams and is what my father used to say to me every night before I went to bed when I was a child. This would be followed up early the next morning with a rousing cry of “sveglia” (wake-up)

Do you listen to Italian songs/music?

I love the old-fashioned songs. I have a CD called Nostalgia Italiana 1963 that’s full of singers like Rita Pavone, Gianni Morandi and Edoardo Vianello. It was the music my parents listened to when they were young and when I had a convertible I used to drive round Auckland blasting it out of my stereo feeling like I cut a very retro stylish figure! I also enjoy opera and have a soft spot for Neapolitan love songs and anything sung by Mario Lanza whose time in Italy I fictionalised in my novel When In Rome.

Which Italian dish do you cook more often? Any tips?

Pasta e fagioli (pasta and beans) because it’s simple, warming in winter, cheap and delicious. I use lots of celery leaves in it which horrified Auckland chef Gaetano Spinosa who tells me celery has no place in the dish. It’s the way my family has always made it though so I’m not changing.

What is your favourite Italian region and why?

I love the south…. particularly the Basilicata coastline and the hilltop town of Maratea which appears in many of my stories in the guise of Triento. I changed its name because I wanted to be free to rearrange it when necessary but really it is very much how I describe it.

Is there a part of Italy where you haven't been yet and you are keen to discover?

I’d love to go back to Sicily because I only visited a small part of it when I was researching my book The Food Of Love Cookery School and feel as if I barely scratched the surface. Also I’m desperate to go to the cave town of Matera and stay in one of the flash grotto hotels.

Can you recommend our readers one or two places to visit or itineraries in Italy?

Go to Venice but stay in Cannaregio or Santa Croce rather than the very touristy bits around Piazza San Marco. And don’t go alone like I did when I was researching One Summer In Venice because it’s not the best solo travel destination. I’d also recommend a food holiday with Katia Amore of Love Sicily in Modica. My week there was the best time I’ve ever had while researching a novel. The food was so good and we never stopped eating. Sometimes I think about the cannoli shop at the foot of the steps beside Katia’s house and regret not being able to manage more of them.

Did you ever do a house swap in Italy?

Not so far, but the house in Under Italian Skies, which I call Villa Rosa, is based on a place on the coast of Basilicata which belongs to some of my Italian family and we’ve been to stay there many times. It’s one of my favourite spots in the world.

Nicky Pellegrino’s new novel

After The Villa Girls and Summer at the Villa Rosa Nicky Pellegrino is back with a new novel, the third inspired by the beautiful pink villa in Maratea.

Under Italian Skies

Imagine swapping your house for a stay in an Italian villa and falling in love with the owner’s life…Stella has life under control and that’s the way she likes it.

For 25 years she’s been trusted assistant to a legendary fashion designer. But when her boss dies, suddenly everything she loves seems to vanish.

Stella is lost – until one day she comes across a house swap website and sees a beautiful old villa in a southern Italian village. Could she really exchange her poky London flat for that?

What was intended as just a break becomes much more as Stella finds herself trying on a stranger’s life.

Available on bookshops on 12 April.

Meet the Author!

If you want to meet the author personally come to our Colazione alla Dante on 30 April, 10 am -12pm, Nicky will be our special guest!

Other opportunities will be:

Exclusive Italian Lunch with Nicky Pellegrino

Date: Tuesday 12 April

Time: 12.15pm – 2pm

Location: The Esplanade Hotel, Devonport

Tickets: $69 includes a two course lunch, a glass of wine and a signed copy of Under Italian Skies, available from eventfinda.co.nz

An Evening with Nicky Pellegrino

Enjoy a glass of bubbles and some food while you escape to Italy

Date: Thursday 28 April

Time: 5.30pm – 7pm

Location: Paper Plus Newmarket

Free Entry, please RSVP numbers to newmarket@paperplus.co.nz

La Biblioteca della Dante si rimette in moto!

La bibilioteca della Dante ricomincia a lavorare a pieno regime!

Con un catalogo di centinaia di volumi, la biblioteca della Dante si presenta come il punto di riferimento per chiunque in Nuova Zelanda sia alla ricerca di un buon libro da leggere in italiano!

Fiction, non-fiction, libri di cucina e di viaggi, saggi, volumi d’arte, testi di storia, di filosofia e di grammatica… E poi riviste, libri italiani tradotti in inglese, romanzi facilitati, testi per bambini e soprattutto moltissimi nuovi arrivi!

Il nostro bibliotecario Matteo si è già messo all’opera per catalogare e riorganizzare gli spazi nella biblioteca con l’intenzione di creare un’area apposita per i nuovi testi.

Matteo sarà anche disponibile, di persona, tutti i giovedì mattina, alla Dante, dalle 11 alle 12, per chiunque voglia incontrarlo o essere consigliato sulle letture, oppure potrà essere contattato via email all’indirizzo matteotelara@gmail.com.

Voglia di leggere un libro in italiano?

Cosa aspettate? Venite alla biblioteca della Dante a Freemans Bay!

Dante’s library is fully operational again!

With a unique selection of hundreds of volumes, Dante’s Library is the point of reference in New Zealand for who wants to read a book in Italian.

There are fiction, non-fiction books, cooking and travel books, essays, books on art, history, philosophy and grammar books… And then there are magazines, Italian novels translated in English, books for children and many new arrivals!

Our librarian Matteo Telara already started re-organizing the library with the intention to create new shelves for new books.

For who wants to meet him, or ask suggestions about reading level or what to read, Matteo will also be available in person every Thursday morning from 11am to 12am, You can also contact him by email at matteotelara@gmail.com.

Feeling like starting your next book in Italian?

What are you waiting for! Come and have a browse at Dante’s Library in Freemans Bay!