The Italian Language Inter Cultural Alliance (ILICA) commemorated its twentieth anniversary this weekend with a panel discussion on AI, held at Tribeca 360 in lower Manhattan. Free and open to the public, the conference portion of the event featured representatives from the US and Italy who specialize in a range of endeavors, from academia to medicine to technology and high finance. They gathered to discuss the future of artificial intelligence in their respective fields. The panel consisted of Mr. Francesco Rulli (CEO Querlo), Pierluigi Di Tomassi, Esq. (Di Tomassi Law Firm), Prof. Dean Anthony J. Tamburri (John D. Calandra Italian American Institute), Prof. Dr. Antonio Giordano (Oncologist, Pathologist, Researcher & Environmentalist), and Mr. Alfred (Ted) Douglass IV (The Douglass Group- Merrill Lynch Allentown, PA). The panel was moderated by Dr. Donna Chirico, president emerita of ILICA. After the panel and discussion, Vincenzo Marra, chairman and founder of ILICA, played host to assembled guests for a lavish dinner including musical accompaniment by Matteo Fedeli and Antonio Scaioli.

At the annual conference of the Italian American Studies Association in Boca Raton, Florida, this past weekend, Calandra's dean, Anthony Tamburri, was presented with the IASA's 2024 Distinguished Service Award. "The most important feature of Anthony's sense of the word service is one that comprehends all," said IASA's former president Alan Gravano. "Anthony serves his colleagues because he enjoys the success of others as his own. He loves to provide ways for others to succeed. He creates venues and means for others to shine. ... You could not find one person in our field who has not been helped or motivated to become a better scholar by Anthony Tamburri." Gravano, along with Dr. Ilaria Serra, presented the award. Congratulations to Dean Tamburri.

On Thursday, October 10, a slew of Italian dignitaries gathered at the Calandra Institute to toast a roots-travel initiative by Italea. From the Italea website: Italea is the program to promote roots tourism, launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation within the NRRP project and financed by NextGenerationEU. The project aims to attract Italians abroad and Italian descendants intending to discover the places and traditions of their origins, providing a set of services to facilitate travel in Italy, thanks also to the widespread organization of 20 groups, one in each Italian region, who will take care of informing, welcoming and assisting travelers from their roots. Italea is a project dedicated both to those who already know their Italian origins and want to organize a trip to discover and rediscover the places, customs and culture of their ancestors, and to those who need to identify them, and who will be able to make use of a network of reliable genealogists. The name Italea derives from “talea," a practice by which a plant is allowed to propagate. By cutting a part of it and replanting it, it can be given new life, making new roots grow: just as happens with migrations. This program represents gratitude to the “mother plant” for its flowering in the world. Photograph of Calandra Dean Anthony Julian Tamburri and Cons. Amb. Giovanni Maria de Vita courtesy of Catalina Santamaria

Last week, Calandra's Dr. Joseph Sciorra delivered a talk at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò on the topic of labor activist Pietro "Pete" Panto. Sciorra spearheaded a successful effort last year to have Panto's headstone made and installed in St. John's Cemetery on Long Island, where the longshoreman's remains are buried. Click here to watch the entire presentation at Casa Italiana.  

In April 2025 the Calandra Institute will mount an exhibit on the artistry of World War II Italian POWs in the United States. The exhibit will feature handcrafted objects, paintings, photographs, letters, newspapers, and other artifacts documenting creativity under captivity. During the war more than 51,000 Italian military personnel were held throughout the country, from Massachusetts to Hawaii. The curators, Laura E. Ruberto (Berkeley City College) and Joseph Sciorra (Calandra Institute), are looking for items, especially crafts and artwork, for possible inclusion in the exhibit. While the exhibit will focus on the United States, objects from other parts of the world concerning Italian POWs are also of interest. Such artwork may have been made while in a POW camp or after the war as a reflection of wartime captivity and experience. The exhibit is co-sponsored by the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute (Queens College, CUNY), the Australian Research Council, and the Mellon/ACLS Community College Faculty Fellowships. Please contact both Dr. Ruberto (lruberto@peralta.edu) and Dr. Sciorra (joseph.sciorra@qc.cuny.edu) directly with any leads, examples of artifacts, or questions.