NEXT SOCIETY EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
JULY 27 PROGRAM FEATURES LOCAL ITALIAN ARTISTS
Three talented, well-known local Italian artists will have center stage. After one program on literature and another on science, it seems a good idea to have a program on the arts. For this presentation, we have sought out expert practitioners of the arts of mosaics, ceramics and painting. Antonio Bianchini traces his interest in mosaics back to the years he spent in Rome.
He later studied under two teachers from Ravenna, which is recognized as the center of Byzantine mosaics. Antonio’s elaborate mosaics are found in Poland, Albania, Italy, and the United States. Antonio will show us one of his more recent mosaics, of the trulli in Alberobello, which took him 45 hours to make. Roberto Paolinelli, who was born in Pescara, is a master of the Castelli school of Italian ceramics, named after the town of Castelli in Abruzzo, famous for its hand-painted historic and religious scenes dating back to the Renaissance.
Roberto teaches ceramics classes at Casa Italiana, where his students’ work was on display on June 8. Raffaele De Gregorio is a painter and muralist whose sketch of Holy Rosary Church and Casa Italiana appears on the front page of the Church’s Sunday bulletin. Raffaele grew up on the island of Capri where he developed an interest in painting while working with an English film art director. Raffaele started his own company here and has created murals for many corporate offices and restaurants.
He will show us the poster he designed for the White House in 1992 for the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of America. We hope you will join us for what promises to be a very enjoyable program. Lunch will be provided by Fontina Grille, Bethesda, MD. Please make your reservations early. For additional details about the meeting, and to make reservations by July 23, 2014, see the flyer on page 11 of the Notiziario.
AUGUST 17, 2014 FERRAGOSTO PICNIC
AMHS will once again host the Ferragosto picnic on the grounds of the Villa Rosa Nursing Home in Mitchellville, MD. This is a great opportunity to bring AMHS members, friends, and the larger Italian American community together to enjoy a day of food, fun, music, cards, tombola and – of course – bocce! As in years past, AMHS will provide paper products, beverages, ice and charcoal for grills. We only ask that members, friends and guests bring their own food. We certainly hope to see many of you at the picnic. See the flyer on page 14 of the Notiziario for additional information and to RSVP. 3
RECENT SOCIETY EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
JUNE 1 SILENT AUCTION BRINGS IN SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS
The culmination of months of work came Sunday, June 1, 2014, when the AMHS held its first-ever Silent Auction to benefit our Scholarship Endowment Fund. Good food, good music and a chance to raise money for a good cause brought AMHS members and friends to Casa Italiana to view and bid on a wide range of items. There were so many donated items (64 in all) of such a wide variety, it is hard to know where to start to describe them.
There were the beautiful mosaics by mosaicist Antonio Bianchini; the black and white historical photographs of 1930s Italy from Lucio and Edvige D’Andrea; the painting by Angela Puglisi of the interior of Holy Rosary Church before it was restored; a hockey stick signed by Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin, obtained by Sergio Fresco; a chitarra (traditional Abruzzesi pasta maker) donated by Lucio and Edvige D’Andrea; a beautiful framed poster of Emilia Romagna donated by Deno Reed (carried back from Italy by his daughter Andrea); a crystal rosary hand-made by Mary Petrino; a small bottle of Holy Water from the Jordan River from Omero and Belinda Sabatini from their trip to the Holy Land; and a wonderful wine and food gift basket from John Fusciello. Also up for bids were many dining gift certificates from area restaurants, for performances at Wolf Trap and the Kennedy Center, a number of food and wine items – many obtained from donors by Ennio DiTulio -- and a number of paintings, household decorative items, books, and items of clothing and jewelry donated by AMHS members.
The Silent Auction took place on the same day as the Festa della Repubblica celebration, which began with a Mass celebrated in the Holy Rosary Church by Father Ezio Marchetto and then was followed by a reception in Casa Italiana. Our Silent Auction began immediately afterwards. Among the lucky (and generous) winning bidders were Dick DiBuono, who bid $2,160 for the beautiful framed mosaic “Aquilegia” by Antonio Bianchini - a masterpiece which contains some 24- carat gold pieces (tesserae); Rocco Del Monaco and Eileen Parise, who had the winning bid on Angela Puglisi’s painting of the interior of Holy Rosary Church, as it looked when they were married there; Tricia Maltagliati, who had the winning bid on the Washington Capital’s hockey stick; and Sarah Scott, who had the winning bid on a weekend stay at Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland and the poster of Emilia Romagna.
While the attendees walked around examining the items spread out on nine long tables, they enjoyed some delicious antipasti and other treats from Carmine’s Restaurant in Penn Quarter and the always-popular gelati from Dolci Gelati, generously donated by owner Gianluigi Dellaccio (the pistachio was a big hit). The attendees also could enjoy listening to music by Joan Tacchetti Grauman, an accordionist whose father’s family is from Abruzzo. Joan’s father played the accordion as a young man, and she grew up playing the piano and dancing but eventually she took up her father’s instrument.
Nowadays, Joan directs a group of nine accordionists and teaches the accordion. Among the songs she played were “O Mio Babbino Caro”, “Marechiare” and “Torna a Surriento”. Since the audience enjoyed Joan’s playing so much, we have invited her back, and she has agreed to play for us again at an AMHS program in the fall.
All totaled, the auction raised $4,760 for our Scholarship Endowment Fund. The event took months of hard work and planning by many, but special thanks must be given to Lucio D’Andrea and Dick DiBuono (cochairmen of the event) and AMHS President Maria D’Andrea, who all worked so hard. Lynn Sorbara and her hospitality team (Peter Bell, Margaret Uglow and Albert Paolantonio) ensured that the food (AMHS President Maria D’Andrea with AMHS member Angelo Puglisi who had two winning bids!) was set out in stages throughout the nearly three-hour event.
Thanks must also be given to others who helped obtain the donations, especially Ennio DiTullio, and to the many volunteers who helped set up and man the reception desk and the bid tables, including Luciana Caleb, David Ciummo, Ted Cocca, Edvige D’Andrea, Nancy DeSanti, Cecilia Fiermonte, Kirsten Keppel, Ray LaVerghetta, Lena Lupica, Deno Reed, Sarah Scott, and Eileen and John Verna. We also wish to warmly thank Father Ezio Marchetto for his logistical assistance and kind support of our event. And a big “thank you” to all who donated items for the auction and to those of you who came out to support this worthy cause. Grazie mille. We appreciate you!!