It's Carnevale - Not Halloween

Ciao a tutti,

I remember growing up, my Grandmother especially, telling us kids about the tradition of Carnevale and Martedi Grasso (Fat Tuesday) in Italy. People in the town would get all dressed up in costume and parade about the town and party throughout the whole week before Ash Wednesday and Lent.

It was a tradition that I had only heard about and not experienced as a child until I grew up and got to see some of the festivities in a few of the various parishes of New Orleans years ago. I also came to learn that even that experience paled in comparison to those of the festivities that take place in Venice every year. I have yet to experience that but I did get to experience a carnevale close to home this past weekend.

Though no longer a child, I did experience carnevale through the eyes of children. So many happy children dressed up in their favorite costumes, singing, eating, dancing, eating, playing games, eating, and generally having a great time and eating.

I was invited to this carnevale festivities by Betti Engler of Fondazione Italia because she wanted to introduce me to some of her organization's activities, and I am glad I went. Above is a picture of us in our Carnevale hats. Betti is the one with the crown and the one with the cap is Maria Romano.

I applaud them all for bringing this festival and experience to the children of the Los Angeles community. Every child was welcome and every child got a taste of a bit of Italian tradition, food and culture, not to mention language which is the main thrust of this organization.

The Fondazione Italia is a Los Angeles-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1998 for the purpose of promoting the study of the Italian language and culture throughout Southern California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.

They offer classes all over teaching the Italian language to all that are interested. The beautiful thing is that they are governed by a volunteer Board whose members have backgrounds in education, community service, philanthropy, law and business.

I got to meet some of these wonderful people who volunteer their time to help keep this beautiful language of our heritage and the culture alive. Above I am pictured with one of them, the President of the organization Paolo Miliozzi, Ph.D. in the cape, and Teresa d'Agostaro, la Regina (Queen) with the beautiful Principessa (Princess). It was so great to see so many people speaking Italian, like the cave woman with whom I am pictured, Tatiana, and that goes double for the children. Hearing them run around and yelling out a few Italian words or phrases was music to my ears.

Fondazione Italia develops partnerships with local schools and cultural and community organizations interested in starting or expanding Italian language programs for children and adults. Fondazione Italia provides the collaborating organizations with instructional materials, administrative and financial support.

Both curricular and extra-curricular programs are offered. Extra-curricular classes and activities typically take place after school, in the evenings or weekends, like this festival at St. Eleanor's Hall in Burbank this past weekend.

Finally here is a picture of Paolo again with his beautiful wife and daughter, and two beautiful princesses, Alessia Rimicci in yellow and Vincenza Iannone in Blue.

I look forward to learning more about this organization and seeing them grow. I hope to bring you more news and encourage you who are in the Los Angeles area to check out their class schedule and see if there might be a class time and schedule right for you, cosi quando vi scrivo in Italiano ci capiamo!

Che bella lingua!

Filippo

P.S. I thought it only fitting to post a video that I got off of Youtube of some of the costumes from the Carnevale di Venezia this year. (None Spoken with Musical Background)