A wide range of Italian classes for both children and adults will be available across the Chicago area this fall.

The Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia offers exploratory language classes for 5- to 7-year-olds, beginning classes for 8- to 12-year-olds, and intermediate and advanced classes for 12- to 14-year-olds. Locations include Elmwood Park, Highwood, Lemont, Carol Stream and Des Plaines. Adult Italian classes range from beginning, intermediate and advanced to conversational, and are taught at Casa Italia in person and via Zoom. All classes will start the week of Sept.19.  Private lessons for children and adults also are available.

For details, click here.

Casa Italia is looking to hire experienced and enthusiastic part-time language instructors for children’s classes starting this fall. Near-native language skills, fluency and relevant teaching experience are required. Email your resume to info@casaitaliachicgo.org or call 708-345-5933, ext. 2, for more information.

ItalCultura offers a range of language and cultural courses at the Italian Cultural Institute in downtown Chicago. Classes are taught at the beginner, elementary, upper-intermediate, advanced and mastery levels. Private and semi-private lessons are available, and instruction is offered both in person and online.

For details, click here.

Rome-based puppet troupe Teatro Verde has been entertaining and educating children and families in Italy for more than 40 years. This fall, they’ll take their act on the road, stopping off in Chicago for a pair of shows and workshops in September. On Sept. 18, they’ll combine Italian opera, puppetry and mime in a performance of “Opera Buffa” at 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 18 at the Atheneum Center in Chicago. In “Bravo Bravissimo,” strange host tries force the puppets into performing extremely complex musical pieces in a funny, poetic and touching show at 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 24 at Instituto Cervantes in Chicago. Both shows are free and followed by puppet-making workshops. The shows are being sponsored by the Chicago office of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura.

For details and to make reservations, click here.

As the director of the Chicago office of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Luca Di Vito’s job is to illuminate Italy’s vast cultural treasures and burnish the country’s image around the world.

In a sleek office on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, the Italian government offers up a wealth of cultural riches in the form of movie screenings, lectures on art and architecture, discussions on Dante, and more.

Luca Di Vito, director of the Chicago office of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, explains that Italy provides this resource to promote Italian culture around the world.

The Istituto has a devoted local fan base, but Italian Americans and Italophiles who are just discovering it may feel like they’ve stumbled on a treasure trove of cultural offerings. Even better, most are available to the public for free or just a modest fee.

Di Vito, 47, grew up in his mother’s hometown of Gorizia, then moved to Trieste and Rome. His parents are retired, his mother having worked as a teacher, and his father, originally from Salerno, having served as an officer in the Ministry of Education. Di Vito started his career as an attorney in Italy, hoping to contribute to the social good, but discovered that his passions aligned more with the arts and humanities. He joined the Istituto and has represented it in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

He arrived in Chicago in January 2020 just before the pandemic struck. He quickly pivoted to online offerings and has since live-streamed Italian films. He is planning more events, including animated films and puppet theater for children, starting in September.

Fra Noi: Being director of the Istituto seems like a dream job. You’re working with films, art and culture, and traveling the world. Is it as much fun as it seems?

Luca Di Vito: I consider it to be a gift, a blessing, especially for the people I’ve met and the experiences I’ve had. It’s a beautiful job — creative and challenging. Every time I come to a different country, I need to understand the perception of Italy in that country. It’s important to give people what they’re expecting but also to present what people are not expecting to see from Italy. I find it stimulating to cooperate with local cultural institutions. I can create a dialogue with the society I’m working with.

Fra Noi: Why does the Italian government fund and offer the Istituto Italiano di Cultura? Considering it must represent a big financial commitment, what is the Italian government’s goal?

Di Vito: This is the reason why the Italian Cultural Institutes are part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and not the Ministry of Culture — that we belong together with embassies, consulates, the Italian Trade Agency, to represent the image of Italy to the world. Cultural institutes are a means to create soft power and influence, to create a positive image of the country. Italy is recognized as a cultural superpower because we have the highest number of UNESCO sites and a long history and tradition in architecture, music, visual arts and painting. So it’s a way to create good relationships with the rest of the world and share these treasures that we have.

Fra Noi: You were posted in Seoul, Korea, from 2007-13. What was your experience like there? Are Koreans familiar with Italian film and art?

Di Vito: It was an enriching experience, probably because it was the first time I confronted myself with such a radically different culture. But the effort I put in was rewarded with friendships that are still lasting. In Korea, Italy is known for specific areas of art. The first one I’d mention is opera, then fashion and design, and then food and wine. There’s a big passion for cinema, but what they know about Italy is that it’s famous for neorealism — Rossellini, De Sica — so it was interesting to bring them contemporary Italian cinema. To surprise people, in a way. And to bring things like Italian jazz music. You could see how people were discovering something new.

Fra Noi: You finished an assignment in Abu Dhabi in November 2019. What was it like there?

Di Vito: I was there for a very short time compared to our usual posting because my task was to open and start from scratch the Italian Cultural Institute there. I had never been to the Gulf area before, so I jumped at the opportunity. I had to rent the building, hire the people and decide what kind of institute it should be. It was not easy, but it’s now working very well.

I would say I discovered an open and tolerant society. When I was there in 2019, Pope Francis visited the United Arab Emirates, the first time in an Arab country, and held a public Mass in the stadium. In fact, there’s an area of Abu Dhabi where you have churches, and people are allowed to worship and follow their religion.

Fra Noi: You arrived in Chicago in January 2020, just before the pandemic hit Italy and then the United States. How did COVID-19 affect your mission?

Di Vito: When I arrive in a country, I like to take it slow, get a perception of the place. I talked to my predecessor in Chicago, Alberta Lai, who did an excellent job here. But I wanted to be here to grasp what the people were like.

The first month I was here, I was overwhelmed by the vibrance and dynamism of Chicago. People were very open to discussing new projects, which is something I have never found anywhere else, so I was really enthusiastic about being here. Then the pandemic changed everything radically.

We started cancelling events, and we transferred language classes online. I’ve been touched that in such a difficult moment, people kept following our activities. It’s a testimony to the passion people feel for Italian arts.

Fra Noi: You have, however, aired movies and virtual events.

Di Vito: We launched this online platform that allows people to see Italian films that are not easy to see in the U.S. One of my interests is to offer works for children. For September, I commissioned a series of short puppet theater shows from Teatro Verde. We will probably release one a week and put them on Vimeo.

We have just launched a membership opportunity, which gives access to a digital library, which is part of a network of 6,000 Italian libraries. So if you become a member for $30, you can download two e-books a month and read Italian newspapers and magazines. You also get a tote bag.

Fra Noi: Do you have a favorite art form?

Di Vito: I would say film is the art that talks to me the most. And I think cinema is the art of our time. It’s like paintings in the Renaissance or Middle Ages, when people would enter a church and see frescoes. Many people were illiterate, so those frescoes were a means of communicating with them. Now we need a tour guide to tell us what those frescoes represent because we don’t have that cultural language. But movies speak to everyone.

The Istituto Italiano di Cultura is located at 500 N. Michigan Ave., Ste. 1450, Chicago. For details, call 312-822-9545, email iicchicago@esteri.it or visit iicchicago.esteri.it.

The above appears in the July 2021 issue of the print version of Fra Noi. Our gorgeous, monthly magazine contains a veritable feast of news and views, profiles and features, entertainment and culture. To subscribe, click here.

The Istituto Italiano di Cultura will complete its exploration of the work of actor Luca Marinelli with a virtual screening of “Lo chiamavano Jeeg” (They Call Me Jeeg). The film follows Enzo, a misanthropic small-time crook who uses superpowers gained after falling into the Tiber River to chase down a crazy gangster called “The Gypsy.” The film will be available for viewing from 1 p.m. April 23 to 1 p.m. April 25. To register, click here.

A wide range of Italian classes for both children and adults will be available across the Chicago area this fall.

The Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia offers classes for children between the ages of 5 and 13 at locations across the Chicago area. Adult Italian classes ranging from beginning to advanced are taught at the Casa. Private lessons for children and adults also are available. (708-345-5933, www.casaitaliachicago.org)

ItalCultura offers a range of language and cultural courses at the Italian Cultural Institute in downtown Chicago. In addition to group classes ranging from beginner to advanced levels, courses and workshops cover topics such as Italian art, cinema, literature and travel. Weekday, weeknight and Saturday classes are offered year-round. (LearnItalianChicago.com)

Scuola Italiana Enrico Fermi offers weekly playgroups in Italian on Wednesday and Saturday mornings for children up to 2.5 years old and their caregivers, as well as Italian language enrichment classes for children ages 3 to 10. Classes begin Sept. 16 and run for the entire academic year. (siefchicago.org)

A 15-story-tall wooden sphere inspired by the geometric shapes of Leonardo da Vinci’s studies will alight in Chicago in 2018 to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Chicago and Milan, Italy.

The project, which was recently announced at a press reception at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Chicago, is being created by il Consorzio Orgoglio Brescia, a consortium of 18 highly specialized Italian companies from the Italian province of Brescia.

Orgoglio Brescia gained international fame for having designed the famous Tree of Life, which served as the focal point of the 2015 Milan Expo.

The Leosphere will be divided into two halves to symbolize the joining of the hemispheres of the world in which Milan and Chicago are found. The structure will rest amid a 100-meter-wide fountain that will feature water and light shows.

“Chicago is preparing for the 45th anniversary of its twinning with Milan in the best way possible and the Leosphere is the symbol of this extraordinary initiative,” says Joseph Monastero, co-chair of the Milan Chicago Sister Cities Committee.

The Leosphere will most likely come to rest in one of the city’s lakefront parks. A scale model will be on display until Jan. 7 in the ground floor space of Ernesto Meda at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.

The Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans and Istituto Italiano di Cultura put Italy’s best foot forward on March 5 during Navy’s Pier’s Neighborhoods of the World celebration.

What an appropriate name to promote all the diversity of Chicago. Our array of ethnic communities is presented for thousands of spectators who pass thru Navy Pier on any given Sunday from February thru April.

Entertainment was presented on March 5 by the IIC and the JCCIA presents the cultural displays.

For weeks prior to our day to shine, the JCCIA office was buzzing with costume fittings and other preparations. That day, volunteers from ages 8 to 87 donned authentic regional costumes and proudly represented our culture to visitors from throughout the Chicago area and beyond.

The following member organizations of the JCCIA were represented: the JCCIA Women’s Division; West Suburban Women’s Division and Young Professionals Division; the Calabresi in America Organization; Casa Italia and the Italian Cultural Center; Fra Noi; the Italian American Executives of Transportation, the Veneti Del Mondo; and our newest member organization, the National Shrine of St. Frances Cabrini.

All of the dresses in our collection have been in the JCCIA for many years with each one more beautiful than the one before it. We were a hit with the crowds at Navy Pier, with many visitors asking us to pose for pictures with them. We were all felt so excited and complimented.

Each year, a highlight of our heritage display is Marie Palello’s antique dolls in regional customs from Italy. The dolls are a fascinating lure for young and old. The assembly is carefully displayed on the tables reaching out in each direction from our large Sicilian antique cart.

This brightly decorated authentic heirloom was brought to the United States in the mid-1900s by the late Alfa Polidoro, a member of the West Suburban Women’s Division. Colorful posters and laminated photos served as a backdrop for our displays, as did flags from all the regions of Italy.

The Women’s Division offered literature about their upcoming events while the Shrine of St. Frances Cabrini gave out candy and provided information about their patroness and the many special events scheduled in honor of the 100^th anniversary of her passing.

The Italian American store on wheels was busy as always. Ashley Sklavos exhibited her collection of handmade wreathes brightly decorated in red, white and green. Fra Noi sold copies of Ann Sorrentino’s cookbook, the Italian Cultural Center sold a variety of titles, and the Italian American Veterans Museum sold copies of its award-winning DVD, “5,000 Miles From Home.”

Visitors also enjoyed watching our video of the Columbus Day Parade, which Christopher Columbus (Anthony Reboletti), Queen Isabella (Ashley Sklavos) and 2016 Columbus Day Queen Jaclyn Puccini greeted all in attendance.

So many volunteers contributed to the success of the event, few more devotedly than Dean Delaly of the Knights of Columbus, Holy Family Inverness Council 11981 4^th Degree. Dean so willingly stepped up to the task of packing the van with all of our paraphernalia and carting it to the Crystal Gardens, where Dean and my grandson, Tylor Serpico, set up our elaborate displays. All of our volunteers helped with take down.

Credit also goes to Nancy Cometa, Kelly Cerami, Christine D’Ambrosio, Vincenzo DeVito, Arlene Elia, Gina Gigante, Valerie Gigante, Laverne Marcheschi, Erin Menaco, Dawn Menaco, John Menaco, Lauren Menaco, Phyllis Menaco, Robert Menaco, Theresa Paterno, Rosemary Ranallo, Phyllis Schoene, Ella Serpico, Florence Sorensen, Anna Wiese, Barbara Willis, Florence Wire, William Wire and Debbie Yaccino. And a huge thank you to O’Hare Limousine for transporting 15 of our volunteers to and from Navy Pier.

The whole experience was extremely rewarding and satisfying.