Italian Language Week

Istituto hosts events that focus on Pinocchio, poetry and dialects

Italian Language in the World Week, an initiative of the Italian government, returns for its fourth year beginning October 18. The week consists of a series of events organized primarily by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, which has offices in over fifty countries worldwide. Each location of the Istituto participates in its own way. This year, the Toronto office has chosen to base its events on the novel Pinocchio.
"Pinocchio, first of all, is one of the best known and well loved characters of Italian literature," says Carlo Coen, head of the Toronto chapter of the Istituto, explaining the choice of theme.
The story of the world's most famous puppet - who walks without strings and whose nose grows every time he tells a lie - was first published in serial form in 1881, in the children's journal, Il giornalino dei bambini. Its author was a Tuscan named Carlo Lorenzini, who wrote under the pen name of C. Collodi. The work has been translated into more than 200 languages and dialects and was adapted by Walt Disney for his second feature film (after Snow White). In 2002 it was adapted once more by Italian actor/director Roberto Benigni, and to this day it remains one of the most popular children's stories in the world.
Coen says that various members of the Italo-Canadian cultural community have expressed interest in producing an event based on Pinocchio in the past.
"We had a proposal regarding Pinocchio that came to us a while ago from some Italian scholars," he says. Coen wanted to marry the idea of a scholarly event with a visual arts counterpart.
"I thought of having an exhibition. In Italy you have some seldom seen and little known things like the comic school - which was very interesting to me."
The comic school in question is the Scuola romana dei fumetti (The Italian School of Comics). The Scuola is a bottega style school, which means that it is more a workshop or studio than a conventional school. It's a collective of established and up-and-coming artists, and the series of Pinocchio-inspired works it will bring to Toronto next week was compiled specifically for the event.
"Maybe they displayed a few of the items here and there in the past, but never all together in such an organic manner," says Coen.
The series of events, which take place in Toronto from October 20-22, starts off with a video-conference at the University of Toronto. The conference takes place on Wednesday, October 20 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the university (the exact room is yet to be determined).
"The video conference with Italy is an open discussion between scholars and the public about the teaching of Italian in Canada - particularly at the university level," says Coen, who will participate in the discussion. Joining him will be many of the leaders of the Italo-Canadian academic scene, including Gianrenzo Clivio, Marcello Danesi, Antonio Franceschetti, Domenico Pietropaolo and Amilcare Iannucci (all of U of T). Jana Vizmuller-Zocco (York University), Leonardo Sbrocchi (University of Ottawa) and Anthony Mollica (Brock University) will also be on hand, along with author/editor Antonio D'Alfonso and Bill Harnum of U of T Press. Joining these speakers via video-conferencing will be Francesco Sabatini (Università la Sapienza, Rome, and president of the Academia della Crusca).
"There will also be a discussion on the importance of dialects," says Coen. "Recently there has been a law in Italy protecting the dialects, trying to have the teaching and study of dialects again in schools. And here in Canada of course for Canadians of Italian origin, who speak dialectic, to me this kind of aspect is important for a different approach and methodology of teaching Italian. Professor Clivio in particular has done a lot of research and study and writing about this issue.
"Secondly, there will be a short discussion of the situation in the publishing world - both in Italian and in English translation. So we will have some publishers participating, including the University of Toronto Press and other publishers in Toronto.
Later the same day (Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.), the Istituto will host an event entitled "Pizza é Poesia" at Bar Mercurio (270 Bloor St. W.). The theme of poetry was chosen in part to mark the 700th anniversary of Petrarch's birth. However, most of the poetry to be read will be from the 20th century.
Coen says there will be a thematic link with the morning's discussion of teaching Italian. "Since we have this session on dialects in the morning, we'd like to read also some poetry in dialect, which has an interesting angle and very strong tradition in Italy."
Two poets who will receive special attention are Carlo Porta and Giuseppe Gioachino Belli. "Porta was from Milan and he was extremely popular, in the sense that he described popular settings and ambiences in his poems. And at the beginning of his career Belli borrowed some poems from Porta, literally translating them from the Milanese dialect to the Roman dialect, and we would like to read them together to see the differences. Then we will have some Futurist poems - Marinetti in particular, perhaps some Gozano," says Coen. He adds that there's a curious connection between Belli and 20th century English readers - the fact that many of Belli's poems were translated into English by Anthony Burgess, who lived in Rome for a long time.
The events of the final two days (Thursday-Friday) take place at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura (496 Huron St.). The first of these takes place Thursday at 6 p.m., when the Istituto presents the inauguration of the Scuola romana di fumetti exhibit, which Coen predicts will be very well attended. The exhibit is simply called Pinocchio, and all the works are either based on or inspired by the novel. The show will also provide some insight into the pedagogy and artistic practices of the Scuola.
There are two events scheduled for the final day of the week. On Friday morning, actor/director Massimo Arrigoni presents History of a Puppet (10 a.m.-noon). This consists of a monologue on the phonetic interpretation of the characters of the novel. A little later (3-5 p.m.), there will be a closing conference entitled Pinocchio: Extraordinary Puppet. This final session has been organized in collaboration with the Humanities Centre at the University of Toronto. The discussion will focus on the form and development of the novel, as well as the narrator's communication method, which is fundamental to the emotional and pedagogical value of the work. Mario Domenichelli (University of Florence) and Donato Santeramo (Queen's University) are confirmed participants in the discussion. Organizers are hopeful that Mario Campa (University of Pisa) will also be able to participate. u
All events during Italian Language in the World Week are open to the public and admission is free. For further information call the Istituto Italiano di Cultura at 416.921.-3802 or visit www.iicto-ca.org.

Publication Date: 2004-10-17
Story Location: http://www.tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=4510