News | The Center for Italian Studies

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Director Andrea Fedi Honored for Contributions to Italian Heritage

Congratulations to Dr. Andrea Fedi, director of the Center for Italian Studies and associate professor in the Department of Languages and Cultural Studies, who was recently selected as an inaugural honoree of an Italian American Heritage Society award for his contributions to teaching and preserving Italian heritage on Long Island.

On October 21, 2024, Fedi received a citation from the US House of Representatives recognizing his demonstration of exemplary dedication to the preservation of Italian heritage, and his tireless efforts and passion for ensuring that the rich culture, history and traditions of Italian Americans continue to be celebrated and passed down through generations.

(From left to right: IAHS Operations Director Lou Bernardi, IAHS Executive Board member Silvia Davi, Dr. Andrea Fedi, IAHS Executive Director Chris Vaccaro)

Concorso d'Eleganza celebrated in SBU News!

Read more about our XVIII annual Dr. Robert D. Cess Concorso d'Eleganza.

CommUniversity Day was a rousing success!

Several hundred people braved the rain and participated in the Center's table activities. Congratulations to our three LEGO mini-Vespa winners Bin C., Grayson F., and Richard M., and the winner of our trivia basket of Italian goodies, Zach S. There were 387 pieces of pasta in the jar.

The Humanist Project
by Peter Carravetta

Dr. Peter Carravetta (Philosophy) published his new book The Humanist Project: Will, Judgement, and Society from Dante to Vico. Exploring several outlets of humanist theory, Caravetta incorporates ideas of Dante, Boccaccio, Pico della Mirandola, Machiavelli, Campanella, and finally, Vico.

Crazy Fish Sing discussion

If you missed last semester's Crazy Fish Sing book presentation, please join Simone Brioni, Peter Bruno, and Loredana Polezzi on Thursday, November 7 at 5 PM at the Poetry Center (Humanities 2001) for another discussion of the visual art book inspired by Suranga Katugampala's forthcoming film Still Here.

News

Call for Applications: romeyne robert and uguccione sorbello fellowship 2024 | Deadline: october 12, 2024

Fellowship Grant promoted by the Romeyne Robert and Uguccione Sorbello Foundation

(USA) and the Fondazione Ranieri di Sorbello (Perugia, Italy).

The grant is co-sponsored with the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute (CUNY).

The grant is also in partnership with the University for Foreigners (Perugia, Italy)

Center for Italian Studies, Stony Brook University (SUNY)

The Romeyne Robert and Uguccione Ranieri Fellowship Grant is designed to promote and support quality research and scholarly work related to the political, historical, economic and cultural relationship between Italy and the United States, including public and private networks, institutions and individuals.

This fellowship seeks to strengthen and make visible scholarship on U.S.-Italy relations and on issues of cultural exchange.

Honoring the legacy of both Romeyne Robert and Uguccione Ranieri, the grant will be awarded to researchers of any nationality working on projects involving (but not limited to) themes and topics related to institutions active in fields such as:

- U.S.-Italy political, social and economic relations

- Cultural diplomacy and promotion of Italian language and culture in the U.S.

- Literary and artistic exchanges between Italy and the U.S.

- Women entrepreneurship and women empowerment through education

The fellowship will provide for research support up to $10,000.

The Romeyne Robert and Uguccione Ranieri Fellowship Grant selection committee particularly welcomes applications from post-doctoral students and scholars in the early stage of their academic career.

The research should result in original scholarship; e.g., an academic essay, a book chapter or a book-length manuscript. The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute has first rights of acceptance for intended publication.

Deadline for applications is October 12, 2024.

For info visit the website https://www.sorbellofoundation.org/fellowship/

For questions related to the application process contact the email address fellowship@sorbellofoundation.org
Call for Papers & travel grants: Italian Renaissance Sculpture Conference | Deadline: September 1, 2024

The Tenth Quadrennial Italian Renaissance Sculpture Conference, known colloquially as “Provo-Athens,” will convene at Stony Brook University on May 1-3, 2025. This conference will provide a forum for the presentation of new research on Italian sculpture during the Renaissance. The deadline for submission of abstracts is September 1, 2024. Prospective speakers should send an abstract (no more than 250 words) as well as a brief (1 page) CV to tenthprovoathens@gmail.com.

In addition, 10 grants of a maximum of $1,000.00 are available to assist in travel and conference attendance for pre-doctoral, early post-doctoral, and emerging scholars without permanent positions. Along with the paper proposal, individuals applying for attendance grants should include a short (75-word) biography that includes the date of conferral or anticipated conferral of the PhD and a budget for the funds.

The conference has been co-organized by Karen Lloyd (Art History) and Fernando Loffredo (Hispanic Languages & Literature) and is sponsored by the Center for Italian Studies, Stony Brook University. The conference is supported by The Samuel H. Kress Foundation and The Lila Wallace – Reader’s Digest Special Project Grant from I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies.

More Information
February 7 - May 19, 2024

Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Remaking the Renaissance offers a fresh take on this iconic period of textile and fashion history, transforming the way we think about and see the cloth and clothing of the early modern period. Looking at key textile innovations in the era c.1400-1700, Remaking the Renaissance suggests that objects and their histories can be restored and recreated through conservation and research.

For further information, please visit: https://cdmc.wisc.edu/event/remaking-the-renaissance.
Scholarships

for College-Bound, High-School Seniors of Italian-American Heritage

Applications are currently being accepted for The Italian Cultural Foundation at Casa Belvedere 2024 Scholarship Program. Applications must be supported by a member of the Italian Cultural Foundation (Staten Island).

Deadline: Wednesday, May 15, 2024.

For more information, click here.
Concert: "Italian Songs of the Sea / Canzoni Italiane del Mare"

Sunday, April 28th, 2024 at 3 PM

Montauk Public Library

This free concert will feature Soprano Cristina Fontanelli, accompanied by pianist Alexander Chaplinskiy, performing a musical tribute to the 500th anniversary of Verrazzano’s exploration of New York Harbor and Long Island’s South Shore. This is the first event in a series of three programs: WATERWAYS: Commemorating the Occasion of the 500th Anniversary of Verrazzano's Voyage. The concert is free and open to the public, but advanced registration is required.

Click here to register
Translation Italian Mobilities Annual Conference

April 26-27

Attendance at the conference is open to all and free of charge. Please call to register: 212-642-2094. The conference sessions will be livestreamed; you can access the livestream via these links:

Friday sessions: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_y7Fe5EkYRziME5AK4XifvA

Saturday sessions:https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__xFFFc9XTMitlMG_HfeLsw

For more information, email calandra@qc.cuny.edu or call 212-642-2094.

Click here for more information
Study Abroad Info Session for SBU STUDENTS

Wed., April 17, 2024, 1–2 PM

Wang Lecture Room 201

International Academic Programs invites you to explore the opportunities for you to earn academic credits through studying abroad!

To RSVP, click here.
Mary Jo Bona Featured on Italics, Television for the Italian American Experience

In honor of Women's History Month, Mary Jo Bona, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, was recently featured on CUNY TV's Italics, Television for the Italian American Experience where she discussed Italian American literature and its history.

Watch here:

https://tv.cuny.edu/homepage/show/italics/
AAIS Giornata di studio
Critical Conversations in Transnational Italian Studies
Friday, March 29th

12:00-5:00 PM EST

Please join us for the first installment of the AAIS 2024 Executive Council Conference Series.
The first of the two-part series is a virtual discussion on Friday, March 29 of the Forum Italicum special issue “Critical Issues in Transnational Italian Studies” published in August 2023.
The second panel of the ECCS will take place in Sorrento at AAIS 2024.

Registration link: https://aais.italianstudies.net/site_event_detail.cfm?pk_association_event=29956
Free access to the essays here: https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/foia/57/2

Schedule:
- Introductory remarks (12:00-12:30): ECCS Curators Serena Bassi (Yale U), Loredana Polezzi (SUNY-Stony Brook), Giulia Riccò (U Michigan)
- Forum “Methodology” (12:30-1:20). Respondents: Angelica Pesarini (U Toronto) and Qian Liu (U Michigan)
Break (10 min)
- Forum “Pedagogy” (1:30—2:20). Respondents: Vetri Nathan (Rutgers U) and Zach Aguilar (Yale U)
Break (10 min)
- Forum “Practices of Belonging” (2:30-3:20). Respondents: Clarissa Clò (San Diego State U) and Barbara Ofosu-Somuah (Duke U)
Break (10 min)
- Articles (3:30-4:30). Respondents: Respondents: Laura Ruberto (Berkeley City College), Akash Kumar (UC Berkeley), and Rhiannon Welch (UC Berkeley)
- Concluding Remarks/ Open Discussion (4:30-5:00)
Women of Italian Cinema series at Cinema arts Center

To celebrate Women's History Month, Cinema Arts Center will screen three films featuring prominent female characters on Wednesdays at 7:30 pm: Federico Fellini’s La Strada (March 6), Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Mamma Roma (March 13), and Michelangelo Antonioni's Deserto Rosso (March 27). Stony Brook University professors Giuseppe Gazzola and Loredana Polezzi will provide introductions to the films. For tickets, please contact Cinema Arts Center.
The National Organization of Italian American Women (NOIAW) scholarship program is open to female-identifying undergraduate or graduate students, currently enrolled at an accredited US college or university.

For additional eligibility requirements and application details, please visit: https://www.noiaw.org/scholarships/

Deadline: March 18, 2024
Io Capitano is nominated for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards. Italian director Matteo Garrone's film follows the journey of two migrants from Senegal to Italy. Io Capitano is being screened at select cinemas on Long Island.
The film is based on the true life story of Francesca Xavier Cabrini, an Italian nun under Pope Leo XIII, who immigrated to the United States and worked to secure more humane conditions for the Italian American community at the turn of the 20th century. Following her death, Mother Cabrini was canonized as the first American saint--the "Patron Saint of Immigrants." Additional information and the film trailer: https://www.angel.com/blog/cabrini/posts/what-to-know-about-cabrini-movie

Click Here for More Information
Women of Italian Cinema series at Cinema arts Center

To celebrate Women's History Month, Cinema Arts Center will screen three films featuring prominent female characters on Wednesdays at 7:30 pm: Federico Fellini’s La Strada (March 6), Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Mamma Roma (March 13), and Michelangelo Antonioni's Deserto Rosso (March 27). Stony Brook University professors Giuseppe Gazzola and Loredana Polezzi will provide introductions to the films. For tickets, please contact Cinema Arts Center.
"Exploring Rome through Drawing in the 16th Century"

From March 6-8, the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max-Planck-Institute for Art History, in Rome presents "Gernsheim Study Days: Exploring Rome through Drawing in the 16th Century." There is no registration required and panels will be live streamed at https://vimeo.com/event/4038117. For further inforation and a program of talks, visit: Gernsheim Study Days Program Description.
"24 Italian art Songs and Arias"

6 PM Saturday, March 2nd, 2024

Concert at historic All Souls Church (61 Main Street, Stony Brook)

The evening will feature Stony Brook University doctoral student and soprano Heidi Schneider singing selections from the coveted collection of “24 Italian Art Songs and Arias.” The recital will also feature a new and exciting work by local composer, Kyle Krause. The new work surrounds lush poetry written about Italian opera star Adelina Patti.

All Souls Church collects food each week to help feed the hungry at the St Cuthbert’s food pantry. “Lend a hand, bring a can.”

For more information, contact Dan Kerr at 631-655-7798
D'amato Chair to speak at Yale Symposium

Friday, March 1, 2024

On March 1, 2024, Dr. Loredana Polezzi, Alfonse D'Amato Chair in Italian and Italian American Studies, will speak at Yale University for the First Annual Rossini Symposium, "Italians in New Haven and Beyond." Her paper is entitled "Affect and the Diasporic Memory: Narrating the Italian American Experience." The event, organized by Yale's Department of Italian Studies, is free and open to the public. For further information, please visit: https://italian.yale.edu/event/first-annual-rossini-symposium.
3 month English language assistantship available at a school in northern Italy (near Brescia), for the period March 1 – May 31, 2024.

Duties: Teaching English mainly to children ages 9-14 (Scuola elementare or Scuola media, in the morning), and to adults (on some afternoons), for a total 240 hours over approximately three months, with an average of 22 hours per week.

Pay: Euros 800 per month

Additional benefits: Full board accommodation with a local family

Candidates MUST be between 21 and 27 years of age, native English speakers with some competence in linguistics. Preference will be given to applicants who have a teaching certification.

Send your application to prof. Gianfranco Serioli (serioligianfranco@gmail.com) , and include a personal statement in English or Italian, describing your interest and motivation, your qualifications and willingness to comply with the requirements, as well as evidence of expertise and experience in teaching.

Deadline: February 10, 2024