Circulating Ideas: “Scrittori d’Italia” at Gabinetto Vieusseux

Gabinetto Vieusseux – November,13th Prof Marino Biondi -University o Florence presented to American students the writer Italo Calvino

SUF students at the conference at Gabinetto Vieusseux “Scrittori d’Italia” on Italo Calvino

Loredana Tarini (left)- Coordinator of SUF Italian Department who promoted the project and Livia Frescobaldi – member of Gabinetto Vieusseux Committee

Last semester, on occasion of the” 2013 Year of Italian Culture in the United States”, Syracuse University in Florence adhered  to the proposal promoted by the Gabinetto Vieusseux, and also this semester is collaborating with the Center Palazzeschi /Aldo Palazzeschi to present a series of lectures about some of the great authors of Italian literature intended for all American students in U.S. Study Abroad programs in Florence. It is a library founded in  1819 by Giovan Pietro Viesseux. It began as a reading room that provided leading European periodicals for Florentines and visitors from abroad in a setting that encouraged conversation and the exchange of ideas. A circulating library with the

latest publications in Italian, French and English was installed next to the reading room.
Throughout the last century the prestigious  Gabinetto Vieusseux  www.vieusseux.it made great efforts to spread  American culture, make American books available in its library, and host famous writers such as Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry James during their stays in Italy.
By participating in this series of lessons, Syracuse University of Florence renforces the cultural exchange Italy/USA specifically the Italian Department, aims to highlight the extraordinary opportunities for learning and exploration that the Gabinetto Viesseux offers to American students.

The lessons are in Italian and take place in the prestigious Sala Ferri in Palazzo Strozzi; every session is interactive, using pictures and reading literary excerpts, thanks to the collaboration of university docents and scholars who have experience working with and educating American students.Also Italian students  participate in all of the lessons.

American and Italian students have the opportunity to continue informally the discussion about the lecture during the receptions after the lesson.

In 2013 were given the lessons about the following writers :

Boccaccio, Calvino, Machiavelli,  the next conference will be on

March 13th 2014, about Aldo Palazzeschi presented  by Prof Gino Tellini -University of Florence  and

April 1st   “Italian Women Writers of the 20th Century” presented by the writer Dacia Maraini

The lessons will take place in
Sala Ferri, 5:30 pm

2013 – The Year of Italian Culture in the United States
” Classical and Modern Writers of Italy”
Series of Lectures on the Occasion of the Year of Italian Culture in the United States
Academic Year 2013-2014