Italy abroad: key October events
Every month, dozens of events are organized by the Institutes of Italian Culture around the world. Here is a list of events scheduled for October: 10 places that talk about Italian culture, cinema and arts.
Prague: Ennio Morricone bids farewell in his last Czech concert
Ennio Morricone concludes his world tour celebrating 60 years of music with a farewell concert in Prague. The icon of celebrated western movie soundtracks will play the O2 Arena on 16 October, accompanied by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, in a tribute concert entitled ‘Goodbye Prague’. Multi-awarded Morricone has also received accolades for his work on The Hateful Eight in 2016. He has won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award, as well as the Top Critics Award from New York Films.
Montreal: the musical ways of Neapolitan dialect in Canada
Within the “17th Week of the Italian Language in the World”, which explores the theme “Italian at the movies, Italian in the movies”, the Institute of Italian Culture in Montreal, in collaboration with the Département de littératures et de langues du monde of the University of Montreal, organized a conference entitled “the musical ways of the Neapolitan dialect: poetry, theater and cinema”, scheduled for 17 October at the University campus. The conference will look at the use of Neapolitan dialect in newly-united Italy, the dialect's musical adaptations and how music adapted to it. It will range from the parody of Ferdinando Russo's Petite bourgeoisie, to the “macchietta”, from the mute backstage of “Assunta Spina” to the comedy of Eduardo de Filippo. Journalist and writer Francesco Palmieri will be a guest of the Institute. The Neapoletan author's books include Magia e misteri a Napoli [Magic and Mystery in Naples], Vite pericolose [Dangerous Lives], Uomini e fantasmi delle arti marziali [Men and Ghosts of Martial Arts] and Il libro napoletano dei morti [The Neapolitan Book of the Dead].
Istanbul: ‘Harping on Jazz’, new sound with the harp of Lucia Melonacci
New, sophisticated Italian sound in Istanbul, where on 12 October the Institute of Italian Culture will host a concert featuring Lucia Antonacci on the harp, Mike Applebaum on trumpet, Maurizio Rolli on bass and Pierpaolo Bisogno on drums. This is an innovative project that explores a wide scenario of music styles, embracing genres such as standards jazz, classics, Latin, soundtracks, musicals and original scores composed by Applebaum. The harp is mostly known and appreciated as a classical instrument, but it is not new to Jazz: it has been widely used by celebrated jazz harpists and group leaders since the 1920s.
Paris: Toto’ at the ‘Maison d’Italie’
To mark 50 years since the death of Toto', the Institute of Italian Culture in Paris and the Paris committee of the Dante Alighieri Society are to convene at the Maison d’Italie on 5 October for a debate in memory of the great comedian actor from Naples. The debate will feature Fabio Gambaro and Michele Canonica, with interventions from Goffredo Fofi, cinema critic and Toto’ expert, and anthropologist Stefano De Matteis, who worked on the sense of theater characterizing the city of Naples. Presentations will be enhanced by clips of the actor's films directed by great Italian directors like Mario Monicelli and Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Lisbon: Orlando Furioso at the Institute of Italian Culture
The 'beauty and contradiction' of the Orlando Furioso will be the theme of a conference by Giulio Ferroni and an anthology exhibition. This is the program presented by the Institute of Italian Culture in Lisbon as a tribute to the famed character created by Ludovico Ariosto. The 'Orlando Furiosos 500' exhibition features xylographies from the 1556 Valgrisi edition, with drawings by Dosso Dossi; it is curated by Stefano Liberati and Dario F. Marletto, and is produced by Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Antica e Moderna Onlus. Ferroni is a professor from the Sapienza University in Rome, where he taught Italian literature until 2013.
Berlin: from Pasolini to Sorrentino, the long night of Italian cinema
A cinema review, beginning with a film by Pierpaolo Pasolini and ending with the more recent movies by Paolo Sorrentino, via Monicelli and Toto'. Friday 13 October in Berlin, the Klick Kino cinema in Charlottenburg will be open all night for an Italian film review entitled “Italian at the movies, Italian in the movies” featuring some of the masterpieces of Italian cinema. Starting at 6:00 pm, the Berlin event will feature the following films: l’Accattone by Pasolini; Toto’, Peppino e la Malafemina by Camillo Mastrocinque; L’Armata Brancaleone by Mario Monicelli and La Grande Bellezza by Sorrentino
Johannesburg: remastered "Amarcord" shows in South Africa
Amarcord, the masterpiece of Italian director Federico Fellini, will be shown on Monday, 23 October, at 6:30 pm at the Nu Metro cinema in Hyde Park Corner (Jan Smuts Ave & 6th Road, Hyde Park), Johannesburg. This is the first time this version, remastered in the celebrated Laboratorio dell’Immagine Ritrovata of the Bologna Film Institute, is shown in South Africa. Before the showing, Elena Correra, an expert in the field of photo archives and conservation, will talk about the work undertaken to remaster the film. The event is organized by the Institute of Italian Culture in Pretoria, together with the Emilia-Romagna Region and the Bologna Film Institute, as part of the celebrations of the 17th Week of the Italian Language in the World.
Toronto: Italy inspires Canada, physicist Faggin talks robots
The Italian Consulate General, the Institute of Italian Culture, the Emilio Goggio Chair in Italian Studies, the University of Toronto, together with ISSNAF Ontario and Altra Italia, present a conference by Italian physicist Federico Faggin, part of the ITALY INSPIRES CANADA series, scheduled for 5 October at the Innis Town Hall Theater in Toronto. Recent progress in Artificial Intelligence and automation have renewed the promise that we will have robots with a conscience in less than 50 years. The speaker is the Italian scientist renowned for having designed the first commercial microprocessor. He is also the founder of the Federico and Elvia Faggin Foundation, which supports scientific research on conscience in American universities and research centers.
Amsterdam: writers' homes, starting with Petrarca's in Arquà
The Institute of Italian Culture in Amsterdam organized a conference on the home of Petrarca in Arqua', on the hills surrounding Padua: a prototype for the entire category of writers' homes. The event, scheduled for 5 October, is part of the series entitled "Literary tourism Thursdays: a journey to Italy, visiting the homes of famous Italian writers". This is one of the most ancient homes in the world, it was designed by the poet in 1370 as an expression of his autobiographic vein. The conference is presented by Harald Hendrix, director of the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome and professor of Italian Studies in Utrecht.
Malta: Carabinieri from Syracuse guests of ‘Scatola magica’
The Syracuse chapter of the National Association of Carabinieri and its president Valentino De Ieso will be hosted by the Institute of Italian Culture of La Valletta on 10 October, for the ‘La Scatola Magica’ [Magic Box] event. Founded in 1886, the association includes 7 more sections in the province of Syracuse and 1700 sections around the world, and mainly provides voluntary work, such as surveillance and support during classic performances or religious ceremonies at the Greek Theater in Syracuse, and cleaning archaeological sites.