Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
Casa Italia launches 2024 film series
Casa Italia’s annual Italian film series will run from Oct. 18 to Nov. 15. Films will be screened on Friday evenings in the Italian American Community Room in the Community Center at the Casa. Doors open at 7 p.m., and screenings begin promptly at 7:30 p.m. Complimentary refreshments will be available. Admission is free, but reservations and free will donations are encouraged. The film series is made possible through the support of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura of Chicago. For more click here.
Bulls celebrate the community on Oct. 30
The Chicago Bulls will celebrate Italian American Heritage Month when the Bulls square off against the Orlando Magic on Oct. 30. The special offer includes tickets to the game and an exclusive, co-branded New Era hat. Processing fees will be waved for groups of 15 or more. For more, click here.
Keeping the flame alive
Andrea Falcone is a musician on a mission. He seeks neither fame nor fortune. Instead, he and the fellow members of La Tosca Italian Mambo Ensemble are dedicated to performing and preserving the folk music of Italy. Featuring master accordion, violin, mandolin, stand-up bass and guitar players, the group is co-led by Falcone’s wife, Stephanie Pielok. “We perform a repertoire from the 1850s to the 1950s: tarantella, pizzica and tammurriata from Italy but also tango, fox trot, mazurka, and the music of the Romany, including gypsy jazz,” says Falcone, a native of Milan. La Tosca will perform at the Hard Rock Cafe in Rockford on Oct. 24, Artango in Chicago on Oct. 25 and Madame Zuzu’s in Chicago on Oct. 26. For more, click here.
Sumptuous showcase
European history buffs will have a field day at the Art Institute of Chicago’s Deering Family Galleries of Medieval and Renaissance Art, Arms and Armor. Unveiled in 2017, the expansive exhibit showcases nearly 700 objects from the museum’s rich holdings of art from 1200 to 1600 as well as an extensive arms and armor collection. Among the Italian items on display are a terra-cotta altarpiece by Florentine Benedetto Buglioni, works of art for the bedchambers of Tuscany’s merchant elite, and a tempera-on-panel diptych of the Virgin and Child Enthroned and the Crucifixion (pictured). For more, click here.
Several of these look very interesting. Thanks for sending.