Events

Previous Events

Fall 2023

Merenda Italiana

Tuesdays 3-4 pm New Dorm Dining Hall

Why: To chat informally in Italian and get to know people in the Department

For more information, contact Daria Bozzato,
dbozzato@brynmawr.edu

 

 

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Senior Thesis Presentation and End of the Semester Party

Dinner will be provided. Get ready for a karaoke and dancing session featuring Italian songs!

Friday, December 15 | 5:00 pm - 8:00 m
London Room, Old Library

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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New Italian Cinema. Film Festival in Philadelphia

Saturday, December 2, 2023 | 3-9pm 
Rainey Auditorium Penn Museum, Penn Campus

Join the Department of Transnational Italian Studies for a field trip to Philadelphia to attend "New Italian Cinema", the 23rd edition of Philadelphia's Italian Film Festival. Two 2023 acclaimed and prize-winning films by directors Fiorello and Moretti will be screened in Italian with English subtitles, and a dinner "Italian style" will be included. The Blue Bus will leave Pembroke Arch at 1.30pm and return to BMC/HC around 9.30pm. Please RSVP by adding your name here or contact lzipoli@brynmawr.edu.

 

 

 

 

 

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Anna Bolena. Opera Night with The Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts

Tuesday, November 28, 2023
7:30pm | The Haverford School's Centennial Hall 

Join the Department of Transnational Italian Studies for an opera night to attend "Anna Bolena", Gaetano Donizetti's musical rendition of the powerful story of King Henry VIII's second wife. The show will be performed by Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts and will take place on Tuesday, November 28, 2023, at 7:30 pm at The Haverford School’s Centennial Hall (450 Lancaster Avenue). The Blue Bus will leave Pembroke Arch at 6:45 pm and tickets will be sponsored by the Tri-Co Philly Program. Please RSVP by adding your name here or contact lzipoli@brynmawr.edu.

 

 

 

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Vita Mia. Students in Conversation With the Author Dacia Maraini

Thursday, November 9, 2023
3-5pm | Quita Woodward Room, Old Library 

Join us for a conversation with Dacia Maraini, a prize-winning author who in 1943 – at the age of seven – was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Japan with her family because her parents refused to swear allegiance to the Fascist government of Japan’s ally, Italy. Students from Roberta Ricci and Luca Zipoli's course "The Italian Margins" (ITALB332) will discuss with her "Vita Mia" (2023), Maraini's memoir of her experience in the prison camp. In Italian.

Info: lzipoli@brynmawr.edu

 

 

 

 

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Dacia Maraini in conversation with Luca Zipoli

In Praise of Disobedience: Clare of Assisi and Other Revolutionary Women

November 8, 2023, 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Carpenter Library B21

Refreshments and book signing to follow in Old Library · Quita Woodward Room.

The event is co-sponsored by the President’s Office, Praxis, Comparative Literature, the Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, and by the Consulate General of Italy in Philadelphia

Click here for more information.

Abstract:

The internationally acclaimed and prize-winning author Dacia Maraini is joining Bryn Mawr College for the first time to discuss her latest works in conversation with Luca Zipoli, who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Transnational Italian Studies. Dacia Maraini will present her two most recent books: the English translation of her novel on Clare of Assisi (In Praise of Disobedience, transl. Jane Tylus, Rutgers University Press, 2023), and the collection of the historical essays and articles on women’s rights that she has written throughout her long career (In nome di Ipazia, Solferino, 2023). In her presentation, Maraini will discuss historical women figures as part of a broader focus on the key Flexner theme of responses to collective trauma, specifically how gendered traumas have impacted Italian communities of women in the 20th and 21st centuries. Maraini will tell how, as an engaged civic writer and a non-denominational activist, she got inspired by the religious figure of Clare of Assisi, a 13th-century Italian woman who followed the example of Saint Francis and was then proclaimed saint by the Catholic Church. She will explain why Claire’s choice for disobedience was revolutionary for her times, and she will compare her destiny to other influential female figures who pioneered the claim for women’s rights. Among them, she will focus in particular on Hypatia, the late antique philosopher who was murdered under the Roman Empire for her free thinking. The event will include live readings in English from Dacia Maraini’s books. 

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Eastern State Penitentiary Visit

Join us for a guided tour in English to reflect on the history of incarceration and criminal justice reform today. 

Saturday, October 7, 2023
2 pm-3 pm

The Blue Bus will leave BMC (Pembroke Arch) at 11:30 am and will make an intermediate stop at Haverford College. It will return to HC/BMC at around 5 pm.

If you plan to attend, please RSVP by clicking here.

Co-Sponsored by the President's Office, Praxis, and the Tri-Co Philly Program.

 

 

 

 

 

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Spring 2023

Visible Labyrinths: A Student Symposium on 100 Years of Italo Calvino

May 4, 1.30-4pm, Ely Room, Wyndham

Please join us for a symposium on Italo Calvino, in celebration of the 100 years from his birth. Students from Luca Zipoli's course "Italo Calvino" (ITALB302) will present the creative projects that they designed to manifest the relevance of his literary output nowadays. In English. Refreshments in Wyndham and a visit to the college's labyrinth will follow.

Info: lzipoli@brynmawr.edu

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Identità Plurali: Students in Conversation With the Poet Giovanna Cristina Vivinetto

May 3, 11am-1pm
London Room, Old Library

Join us for a conversation with Giovanna Cristina Vivinetto, the first author who addressed transgender identity in Italian poetry. Students from Luca Zipoli's course "Modern Italian Poetry" (ITALB324) will discuss with her "Dolore Minimo" (2018), Vivinetto's poetic retelling of her gender transition. In Italian with English Translations.

Info: lzipoli@brynmawr.edu

 

 

 

 

 

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Film Screening of 'Autumn Beat'

followed by a conversation with the director, Antonio Dikele Distefano

Thursday, February 23, 2023, @ 6:00 pm
African American Museum of Philadelphia

Cosponsored by the Africana Studies Program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fall 2022

Epic Afterlives: a Student Symposium and Exhibition

December 13, 2022
3:00 pm
Canaday Library 205

Please join the Department of Transnational Italian Studies for “Epic Afterlives”, a student symposium and exhibition on the college’s special collections. Students from Prof. Luca Zipoli’s course entitled “Love, Magic, and Women Warriors: Renaissance Italian Epic” (ITALB_209) will present the collaborative research activities that they have conducted upon some rare illustrated printed editions of Italian epic and chivalric poems which are preserved within TriCo Special Collections. Refreshments with Italian cookies and Xmas treats will follow. For more information on the symposium please contact Luca Zipoli (lzipoli@brynmawr.edu).

 

 

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The Academy of Vocal Arts presents Verdi's La traviata

Nov. 29, 2022 at 7:30 pm
The Haverford School's Centennial Hall

The Department of Transnational Italian Studies is pleased to offer students tickets to attend the performance by Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts, which will take place on Tuesday, November 29, 2022, at 7:30 pm at The Haverford School’s Centennial Hall (450 Lancaster Avenue). If you are interested in attending, please add your name here or contact lzipoli@brynmawr.edu by Sunday, November 20. 

"La Traviata" is a famous, fascinating, and thought-provoking Italian opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi in 1853: it revolves around Violetta, an independent, free-thinking woman who struggles to live her love story against the prejudices of upper-class society. 

More information: https://avaopera.org/event/la-traviata-4/

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AGAINST DOGMAS: Feminist Artists and Religion between Italy and East Europe
A talk by Benedetta Carpi De Resmini

Benedetta Carpi De Resmini is interested in the contamination between artists and in the role of the creative action as a social process. She is involved in gender studies and curatorial practices, and in this regard she conceived Magic Carpets, a trans-national project co-financed by Creative Europe Large Scale, which was designed to boost visibility  for neglected and emerging feminist artists throughout Europe. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Primo Levi, the Writer

• International symposium on April 22, 2022 on writer Primo Levi, one of the most widely-read post-World War II Italian writers, thinkers, and cultural influencers.  The event was held in memory of Professor Emeritus Nicholas Patruno (1941-2020), a distinguished scholar of Primo Levi's work, with presentations from distinguished scholars about Primo Levi’s literary works — Roberta Ricci and Alessandro Giammei, whose presentation is titled "Come lavorava Nicholas Patruno: Methods, Practices and Perspectives," Millicent Marcus of Yale University, Julian Bourg, of Boston College, and Gaetana Marrone, from Princeton University. Students of the course ITAL 313: Primo Levi, The Writer, taught by Ricci, presented their posters as the culminating project of the seminar.