Originally Published: 2004-10-17

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"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.

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