Exhibition: Creativity and World War II Italian POWs in the United States, May 1–September 26, 2025

Unidentified Italian Service Unit member working on an inlayed wooden box, unknown camp location. Credit: National Archives

The exhibition, curated by Laura E. Ruberto and Joseph Sciorra, presents creative work made by Italian soldiers who were imprisoned by the Allied forces during World War II, focusing on those held in the United States. These objects, often made from salvaged materials, ranged in size from a small inlaid ring to a large Catholic chapel with a 65-foot bell tower. There is no archive or collective depository about World War II Italian prisoners of war in Allied hands. To document this creative work, the exhibit pulls from research completed by co-curator Laura E. Ruberto (Berkeley City College), including historical photographs, rare remaining artifacts, oral testimonies, written accounts, family memories, and private collections. The exhibition, designed by Polly Franchini, brings together a selection of these objects, images, and stories to present this little-known history. Highlighting the artistry of incarcerated Italian servicemen (some of whom maintained allegiance to Fascism) is not meant to trivialize the atrocities of war or to minimize the resistance of those who fought at great sacrifice. Rather, it offers an opportunity to reflect on the myriad ways that identity and imagination are shaped materially during the adverse conditions of war.

In addition to the Calandra Institute, funding for this exhibit comes from the Australian Research Council and the Mellon Foundation/American Council of Learned Societies.

ON VIEW May 1, 2025–September 2, 2025
Gallery Hours: Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm
EXHIBITION OPENING May 1, 2025, 6pm

Calandra’s Annual Conference: The Bitter Bread of War

Calandra’s annual conference, this year titled The Bitter Bread of War: Multidisciplicary Perspectives from Italy and the Diaspora, will take place in person at the Institute Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26, 2025.

This interdisciplinary conference explores a wide range of topics concerning war from an Italian—broadly understood—perspective. As in the past, the Institute’s conference proposes an inclusive approach to Italy and Italian mobilities, including inhabitants of the nation-state, members of the diaspora, current immigrants in Italy and their descendants, and former colonial subjects.

Click here to see the complete conference program.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Summer Minerva Presents Summer Within

Professor Fred Gardaphe sits at a table next to Summer Minerva
Fred Gardaphe and Summer Minerva

Yesterday at the Institute filmmaker Summer Minerva presented her latest film (with co-director Adam Golub), Summer Within, a documentary about the history and tradition of femminielli in Southern Italy. After the screening, Minerva discussed the film with Professor Fred Gardaphè, of Queens College and the Calandra Institute. For more on the film, click here.