A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear members and friends

: Happy summer! The warm weather and little-by-little return to normal life are a welcome respite as we move into summertime. Our former, longtime routines somehow now feel strange, but I think that we’ll all make the adjustment. It’s great to embrace family and friends again and to be able to plan a summer get-away without taking undue risks or being irresponsible. During the spring, the AMHS went about its business as usual. In early May, the AMHS Scholarship Committee announced the winners of its 2021-2022 academic year scholarships. Recall that every year the AMHS awards a $4000 scholarship to two outstanding students who have demonstrated both academic excellence and an interest in Italian language and culture. This year’s winners are Naomi Lebowitz and Cora Williams. The students, who both recently graduated from Annapolis High School, had sterling academic credentials and an abiding interest in all things Italian.

Ms. Lebowitz graduated second in her class and will study neuropsychology and art history at Columbia University’s Barnard College. She started her study of Italian in middle school and continued throughout her high school career, excelling each step along the way. Ms. Williams graduated in the top 5 percent of her class and plans to study social work at Belmont University. She also began studying Italian in middle school and continued refining her considerable skills all through her high school years. Both young women are very deserving and it will be exciting to have the chance to meet them in person in 2022. As most of you know, Italy celebrates the founding of its republic on June 2. This year again I had the privilege of representing our Society at the reception held at the residence of Italian Ambassador to the U.S. Armando Varricchio and his wife on the evening of the 2nd.

The Society’s Representative to the Greater Washington D.C. Observatory of the Italian language, Maria LaVerghetta, also attended as my guest. The celebration marked the end of the Ambassador’s five-year tenure as Italy’s chief diplomat to the U.S., as both he and his wife flew back to Italy on the day following the reception. The Ambassador spoke eloquently of his time in Washington, the accomplishments of the Embassy during that period, and the deep feelings that Americans have for Italy and that Italians reciprocate for the U.S. By the time you read this message, you will have had the chance to take part in the latest virtual cultural event sponsored by our Society. I refer to the June 12th discussion of the film documentary “Funke”, which recounts the career and success of professional chef and pasta maker Evan Funke. If you’re counting, this was the seventh film event that we have sponsored over the past year, sandwiched around conversations with world-famous photographer Tony Vaccaro and Abruzzese writer Michele Antonelli.

The June 12th event featured AMHS’s own Kirsten Keppel, who used her background in film, writing and teaching to interview the evening’s special guest: the producer and director of the Funke documentary Gab Taraboulsy. Both Kirsten and Gab were excellent and I thank them for sharing their knowledge and giving their time. If you like good films and/or good pasta, I know that you enjoyed the presentation and that you learned quite a few things from it as well. Many thanks also go to Lourdes Tinajero, our Program committee member who was the inspiration behind the event, and to Peter Bell, who organized and hosted the online session. Stay tuned for forthcoming details regarding our upcoming Ferragosto picnic. It will be our first in-person event in over a year, and will take place on August 15th from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Park Pavilion (Ben Brenman) of the City of Alexandria. Our past celebrations of the Italian holiday have been a lot of fun, so please mark your calendars and keep an eye out for additional information. Have a great summer

! Regards,

Ray LaVerghetta