A message from Gina Spang, Italian Community Center President Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and the whole holiday season. As we move into 2013 we have a lot of fun and exciting events planned for our members and guests. Starting off the new year is Carnevale, one of the Center’s signature events. This year the theme is “Memories.” Carnevale is always packed with interesting costumes, regalia and royalty, good food, good friends, dancing and of course the fireworks. Our “Taste of Italy” follows in April. This event brings people from all over the city down to our Center to sample Italian food, wine and wonderful desserts! A new event that is under consideration for this year is a golf outing. We are hoping to have this event in May or June – more details to follow. Then there is Festa! This year’s Festa will be July 19th, 20th and 21st. We are working on reconfiguring the north end of the grounds to include a larger family and/or children’s area with rides and games. The north end will also be the home to all of our cultural exhibits …… Yes, this includes Mario Carini’s spectacular Pompeii Sacred Art exhibit. We are still working through some of the details, but we are excited about this new idea and confident that this layout will add some new energy to the grounds.
Another new event that we are working on for this fall is an Italian trade show. We would like to showcase our Italian heritage by exhibiting “All Things Italian”. We are planning a fashion show, exhibits by Italian retailers, wine, cheese and music! This event will be in September or October – again, more details will follow. As I think about this upcoming year, I am very excited and very optimistic. We have a strong Board of Directors, a committed group of past presidents, a core group of volunteers that we are building upon and, most importantly, a strong membership. I think these components have positioned us for an exciting 2013. So join us at the Italian Community Center and have fun in 2013. – Gina M. Spang, ICC President
Avanti Committee’s free ‘Great Artists of the Italian Renaissance’ series returns on Wednesday, Feb. 13 By Liz Ceraso Avanti Committee Chair Join the Avanti Committee for a free lecture series on the Great Artists of the Italian Renaissance. The lectures will be shown at the Italian Community Center on the following Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m.: Feb. 13, 20, 27 and Mar. 6, 13 and 20. This event is open to all ICC members and non-members. Call the Italian Community Center at 414-223-2180 or email me at liz.ceraso@gmail.com to let us know your name and how many people will attend. Walk-ins are certainly welcome, but we would like to get an estimated head count in order to prepare the room setup. The series will be shown on the Members’ Room TV, and you will be able to order dinner from Cafe La Scala if desired. Even though the lectures are not live, they are captivating. They feature Professor William Kloss, who will guide us through a visual feast in an artistcentered survey that explores hundreds of different paintings and sculptures by scores of different artists. An independent art historian, scholar, and curator, Kloss is a frequent lecturer for the Smithsonian Institution’s seminar and travel program. He has served on the Committee for the Preservation of the White House by presidential appointment since 1990, and he is the author of several books and exhibition catalogs.
Harder Funeral Home JAMES T. GUARDALABENE ASSOCIATE 18700 W. Capitol Drive “Three generations of my family serving yours.” www.Guardalabene.com Phone: (262) 781-8350 Cell: (414) 588-0836 “As dictated by the laws of the State of Wisconsin, all pre-paid funeral trusts are allowed to be transferred to another funeral home at any time. I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to discuss transferring your trust to me from Schmidt & Bartelt or any other funeral home. I would, of course, honor all the terms and wishes as originally agreed upon. It is a very simple process that only requires your signature on a transfer form which I would provide. In addition, there likely could be a savings to you because of Harder’s more reasonable charges.” PAGE 2 – FEBRUARY 2013
• NO LONGER ASSOCIATED WITH SCHMIDT & BARTELT/ GUARDALABENE & AMATO. • Personally providing the services you have come to expect at your church, chapel or at the Harder Funeral Home. • Funeral planning & pre-planning at your residence or at the funeral home. • Pre-planning and Title 19 expertise. • Longtime member of the Italian Community Center. • Proud sponsor of the Festa Italiana Mass since 2002.
No era of artistic achievement is as renowned as the Renaissance, and no country holds a higher place in that period than Italy. The supreme works created in Florence, Rome, Venice, and other Italian cities by such masters as Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian have never been equaled and have established a canon of beauty that pervades Western culture to this day. These lectures cover the art historical periods known as the Early Renaissance and the High Renaissance, which extended from about 1400 to about 1520. Italy is the first and principal location of the Renaissance, and it was in Florence that it took its deepest root. Renaissance means rebirth, and it is the name given to the transition from medieval to modern times in Europe, when the rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman culture sparked a creative revolution in the humanities, the sciences, and the arts. Many major masterpieces will be discussed in detail, from Giotto’s frescoes for the Arena Chapel and Ghiberti’s bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery to Leonardo’s The Last Supper and Michelangelo’s Last Judgment. Professor Kloss offers other insights as well. Did you know that it is incorrect to refer to Leonardo as “da Vinci,” which is not his last name but the indication of his town of birth? Or that the Renaissance was put on hold for half a century due to the Black Death? Or that Renaissance marble sculpture was sometimes painted? You also learn how to recognize saints from the symbols that accompany them: St. Paul by his Please turn to page 6
THE ITALIAN TIMES 631 E. Chicago St. Milwaukee, WI 53202-5916 (414) 223-2180 Published 11 times annually Publisher . . . Italian Community Center ICC President . . . . . . . . . . . Gina Spang Newspaper Committee Chairman . . . . . . . Rosemary DeRubertis Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thomas Hemman Italian Page Editor . . . . . . . Enrica Tarantino-Woytal Advertising Sales Manager . . . . . . . . . . . .Thomas Hemman Advertising Sales Representative . . . . . . Faye Ann Kessler Editorial Contributors and Staff Writers/Reporters . . . . .Ginny Balistreri, Bill Lavelette, Mario A. Carini Angelo Castronovo, Barbara Collignon and Susan Christiansen, Staff Photographers . . . . Tim Townsend, Joe Spasiano and Tom Hemman For advertising information, please call (414) 223-2180 or send an e-mail to: themman@italiancc.org. Copyright 2013 The Italian Community Center, Inc. All Rights Reserved All advertisements must be in accordance with the rules and requirements as determined by editorial policy. Paid advertisements are not to be interpreted as an endorsement by the Italian Community Center or its newspaper, The Italian Times. In addition, the Newspaper Committee reserves the right to reject ads based on editorial policy approved by the Board of Directors of the Italian Community Center. The Italian Community Center is a member of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, Visit Milwaukee and the Historic Third Ward Association.
THE ITALIAN TIMES