Suggestions. The Divine Comedy Illustrated

Fabio Finotti (Director, ICI New York) and Anthony J. Tamburri (Dean, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute) present the exhibition Suggestions. The Divine Comedy Illustrated. The exhibition brings together 40 works inspired by Dante and created by 21 illustrators and cartoonists: Alessandra De Berardis, Andrea Scoppetta, Anna Cercignano, Antonio Montano, Claudio Stassi, Davide Toffolo, Dea Politano, Diala Brisly, Josephine “Fumetti brutti” Signorelli, Beppe Stasi, Irene Carbone, Margerita “La Tram” Tramutoli, Lelio Bonaccorso, Luca Ferrara, Luca Ralli, Mattia Ammirati, Mauro Biani, Michela Di Cecio, Monica Catalano, Riccardo Mannelli, Vincenzo Filosa.

Dante in Verona

Presentation of the ‘scattered’ museum project Dante a Verona, a research initiative aimed at investigating Dante’s activities related to the city of Verona. The presence of Dante in the city, although not confirmed by the writer himself, seems to emerge from a series of witnesses that create a body of sources allowing us to discover descriptions of Verona that are consistent with what Dante says about the city in his works, first of all in the Divine Comedy. You will also discover more about the research project undertaken by the University of Verona, which is mainly aimed at digitalizing some manuscript works in order to allow a much more accurate investigation.

Hermann Haller, Dante’s Footprints in 21st Century Italian

A lecture exclusively for the ICI in New York by Hermann Haller, Accademia della Crusca, on the presence of Dante’s language in 21st century Italian literature. The lecture is aimed at answering, from a linguistics and historical sociolinguistics perspective, some basic questions: what features of Dante’s language can allow us to establish that the Supreme Poet was the “father of the Italian language”, as it is traditionally claimed? What are the specific linguistic characteristics of the Divine Comedy? What consequences has Dante’s work had on the contemporary Italian language? What are the stages of the linguistic transformation from Dante to the present day?

Mary Jo Bang, Translating Dante into English

Luigi Ballerini (Italian and American language and literature scholar, former Professor at UCLA, then at City College, then at New York University) presents the figure and the work of poet Mary Jo Bang, author of a vast and acclaimed production in verse (Critics Circle Award, Alice Fay di Castagnola Award, Katherine Bakeless Nason Prize) and also of a translation of Inferno by Dante, an author who has become part of her sources of inspiration as a both linguistic and ethical suggestion. The author is then interviewed and, in addition to reciting some verses, she discusses with Ballerini the genesis of her translation of Dante and the aesthetic and methodological principles that guided it.

Ernesto Livorni, Dante’s reception in Twentieth-Century Italian Poetry

Ernesto Livorni (University of Wisconsin Madison) delivers a lecture on the reception of Dante in twentieth-century Italian poetry. He outlines the main stages of this phenomenon, then takes into analysis some specific cases, such as the influence exerted by Dante on hermetic and neo-avant-garde poetry. The twentieth-century reception of texts by Dante other than the Comedy (such as Vita nuova) is also described, and the field of critical studies on Dante in the twentieth century is explored, with further references to more recent poetic production (such as that of Andrea Zanzotto).

XXI Week of the Italian Language in the World

On the occasion of the XXI Week of the Italian Language in the World (October 18-24), dedicated in 2021 to “Dante, the Italian”, “Stanze Italiane” – the virtual home of the Italian Cultural Institute in New York directed by Italianist from Padua Fabio Finotti – hosts new content with daily releases and news.

The Sound of Dante

A project of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia of Venice entitled Il suono di Dante (The Sound of Dante) by Mariateresa Sartori, which focuses on the intrinsic musicality of the Comedy. Dante’s lines will be recited using a consonant dislocation technique that, by depriving lines of their semantic connotation, enriches their rhythmic and sound component. Composer Paolo Marzocchi presents a piece based on this new prosody.

Paolo Gervasi, The Performative Dimension of the Comedy from the Second Half of the Twentieth Century to the Present Day

Paolo Gervasi (University of L’Aquila) talks about the performative dimension of Dante’s Comedy from the second half of the twentieth century to the present day, with particular reference to the work of Vittorio Gassman, Carmelo Bene, Vittorio Sermonti, Roberto Benigni, Romeo Castellucci and the Teatro delle Albe company, also focusing on some examples of television transpositions, video art and videogames.

Alberto Casadei, Twentieth-Century Reinterpretations of the Divine Comedy

Alberto Casadei (University of Pisa) describes the Divine Comedy as a work that is central to international culture and that has provided a basis for many reinterpretations and re-writings. On this occasion, he discusses the approach of the twentieth-century avant-gardes and the potential of the Divine Comedy, which seems to lie in the documentary and dynamic capacity of the whole humankind described by Dante. Dante’s characters are eternal and can, therefore, be reinterpreted.

George Cochrane, Dante in a Graphic Novel

Luigi Ballerini in conversation with George Cochrane, an American artist and illustrator who has created a version of the Divine Comedy inspired by the iconography of Graphic Novels. The discussion is enriched by the presentation of preparatory materials, drafts of the book and illustrations that allow us to better understand the cultural references of this work.

The Alighieris after Dante

Video interview with Pieralvise Serego Alighieri. Dante Alighieri spent part of his life in the Veneto region and his son Pietro in 1353 bought a piece of land in Valpolicella that is still owned by his descendants, who have borne the double surname Serego Alighieri since the sixteenth century. Details of this story and other tales between wine and literature in the conversation between Pieralvise Serego Alighieri, who now lives in the estate, and ICI director Fabio Finotti.

The Violins by Leonardo Frigo

Dante Alighieri Inferno is a project conceived by Italian Leonardo Frigo, completed in December 2020, after 5 years of work. The artist managed to merge music, poetry, design and craftsmanship. It comprises 34 musical instruments, 33 violins and a cello, on which Leonardo worked taking inspiration from the first Cantica of the Divine Comedy. Each musical instrument is dedicated to a canto of Inferno. On the surface, the instruments display symbols, scenes and key characters that evoke Dante’s poem.

Giorgio Bacci, Hyper-modern Dante

Video interview conversation between Fabio Finotti and Giorgio Bacci, curator of the exhibition Hyper-modern Dante. Illustrations of Dante throughout the world 1983-2021. In this this talk Bacci addresses his field of research, which includes the relationship between art and literature, and presents the exhibition, by giving a definition of what is meant by hypermodernity and by commenting on various attempts to exploit Dante’s work as an example of hypermodernity.

Paladino’s Brooch for Dante

As part of the 2021 celebrations of Dante’s anniversary, the brooch by artist Mimmo Paladino and designer Cleto Munari is presented. The presentation includes: an exclusive conversation between Paladino, Munari and Fabio Finotti, led by Alba Cappellieri, director of the Jewellery Museum of Vicenza; notes on the artist and the designer; a commentary by Fabio Finotti; exclusive images of the jewel and its genesis.