In the Institute's Writers Read Series's first event for the calendar year, Annie Lanzillotto returned to Calandra to read from her latest book Whaddya Call the Wind? (Bordighera 2022) and to engage in a discussion about the work with Hofstra University's Stanislao Pugliese.

Giorno della Memoria (Holocaust Remembrance Day) is today, January 27. At the Italian Consulate, Italians, Italian Americans, Italian Jews and non-Italian Jews, and others gather to read and to hear the names of Jews deported from Italy during World War II and to commemorate all the Holocaust's victims on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The Institute cosponsors the event every year along with the Consulate, the Italian Cultural Institute, the Centro Primo Levi, Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimó, and the Italian Academy at Columbia University.          

January 19 is the birth date of the remarkable Italian American poet Pascal D'Angelo. D'Angelo emigrated from Introdacqua at the beginning of the last century with a group of local men to work as manual laborers at various locations in the United States. After a number of years during which he executed grueling and underpaid and underappreciated jobs (building roadways and railways, among others), D'Angelo became intrigued by the idea of learning English well enough to write humorous sketches for his fellow "pick and shovel" men. Having achieved some success in this endeavor, he turned his ambitions in a more lofty direction and began to study to become a Romantic poet in the tradition of Keats and Shelley--and he did it. Although his poems did not appear in a host of publications and whereas he never earned serious money for his writing and died young (in wretched poverty), nonetheless his poetry did gain some favor at the time and is recognized for its quality to this day, particularly in light of the distance he traveled, metaphorically as well as geographically, from shepherd in Abruzzo to architect of sophisticated and beautiful verse in New York City. Click here to see Bordighera Press's tribute to D'Angelo and to hear one of his poems, "The City," recited aloud.

January 11, 2023, marked the eightieth anniversary of the murder of activist Carlo Tresca. Tresca was gunned down on the corner of Fifth and 15th St. in 1943 at age sixty-three. To remember this brutal end of a valiant life, Dr. Joseph Sciorra and Stephen Cerulli of the Calandra Institute organized a gathering of Tresca fans on the site of the assassination. Dr. Sciorra welcomed those present and put the event in some historical context, which Cerulli expanded on. They then opened the event up for others to speak, and a handful did so. Calandra's Dean Anthony J. Tamburri closed the remarks, and the event concluded with the placing of red carnations, Tresca's favorite flower, on the pavement near where he died. Sign up for Calandra's mailing list to receive advance notice of this kind of special event by clicking here.

On October 23rd, 2022, at the 86th Annual Italian Charities of America Dinner Dance these Italian American honorees were celebrated for their outstanding work and achievements. Joseph Petrosino, Esq. received the Christopher Columbus Award. Silvana Mangione received the talian American Ambassador Award. Giovanni Pinto received the Italian American Community Service Award. Dr. Donna M. Chirico received the Italian American Leadership Award. Dr. Antonio Carlo Vitti received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Louisa Calio received the Renaissance Award.