www.dante.org.nz P.O. Box 91637, Victoria Street West, Akl 1142 Waiatarau Freemans Bay Community Centre 52 Hepburn Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland

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Massimo Ciccioni Alessandra Zecchini Flavia Berucci Marina Lanza [email protected] Valeria Santillo-Harris [email protected] Tel. 09 376 3853 Societa Dante Alighieri Auckland http://dantealighieriauckland.blogspo t.co.nz

NEWSLETTER MARZO MARCH 2014 The Dante Society is in a process of evolution this month! The Society’s AGM was held last month and some new ideas were adopted together with a new committee. Sandra Fresia and Bernadette Luciano leave the presidency to Masimo Ciccioni and Alessandra Zecchini. We would like to thank Sandra and Bernadette for the effort put during their presidency and Helen Place that leaves the committee. Page 6 has a full list of the new committee members and the President Report. The other change you will notice from this month is our “Colazione”. The meeting will still be on a monthly basis on a Saturday, but every month it will be coupled with new social activities. See page 4 for more info. Don’t miss Michelangelo’s Birthday Party if you wants to see a Roman Celebration, see Page 5 for details. CineClub Dante will be showing one of the greatest Italian Films in recent history: La Vita é Bella. Lastly, a reminder that membership fees for 2014 are now due. Grazie. Marina Lanza

Dates for your diary sabato 8 marzo alle 11 The Newmarket international food and goods market. Monthly Colazione Meeting at the Market. Station Square, Newmarket. sabato 8 marzo dalle 16 alle 20 Michelangelo's Birthday Party. Kinder House, corner Ayr St. & Parnell Road. mercoledi 26 marzo alle 13.30 CineClub Dante film-focused Italian language lesson – La vita é bella. Dante Rooms, 52 Hepburn Street.

NEWSLETTER MARZO MARCH 2014

Members Discounts Dream of Italy

La Bottega Bakery Members discount at La Bottega Bakery continues.

All Members enjoy an automatic 10% discount off the entire Dream of Italy range at: www.dreamofitaly.co.nz Dream of Italy specialises in authentic Italian products, hand crafted in various parts of Italy including Venice, Florence Deruta (Umbria) and Tuscania. Beautiful Venetian Masks, Murano Glass jewellery and ornaments, hand painted Ceramics, Florentine Stationery, leather and much more.

Take your Dante card when shopping at the new Italian bakery and receive a 20% discount on your purchase! Davide and Andrea from La Bottega make excellent cappuccino and freshly baked Italian pastries, and they look forward to meeting you. La Bottega Bakery 503 New North Road Kingsland Auckland 098153834

Contact them for your discount coupon and shop on line!

Ginnastica in italiano! Learn Italiano while you exercise! Exercise sessions in Italian with Fiorella Tomasi Kirwan on Fridays from 12.30pm to 1.30pm. $10 per session. Please send an email to [email protected] if you are interested.

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Only up-to-date Dante cards are accepted, so remember to renew your membership.

NEWSLETTER MARZO MARCH 2014 Children Summer School Holiday Evviva la Pastasciutta! Un altro school holiday passato insieme giocando sui prati! Le sfida tra delfini, gattini e farfalle ha visto i bimbi impegnati in tanti gare, giochi d’acqua e tante risate! Bravi tutti! Another school holiday spent together, playing on grass and challenging ourselves! Our dolphins, cats and butterflies races have kept the children busy, buzzy and smiley! Bravi tutti!

CineClub Dante Wednesday 26 March, 1.30pm At the Dante Rooms, Freeman’s Bay Community Centre, 52 Hepburn Street, Freemans Bay La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful) To celebrate the film “La grande bellezza” Oscar nomination as best foreign language (2nd March – fingers crossed!) we would like to watch together another Italian film that won three Oscars in 1999: La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful). Directed by Roberto Benigni. A great Italian Film. The film tells the story of Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni), a Jewish Italian bookshop owner that soon after moving from the countryside to aTuscan town meets his soul mate Dora (Nicoletta Braschi- Benigni’s real life wife). The pair marry and have a child, Giosue. While the happy family life begins so does the horror of the WWII. The persecution against Jews arrives to Italy and the family is soon imprisoned in a concentration camp. Giosue is separated from his mother but has his father by his side. Guido must employ his fertile imagination to create a sort of game to shield his son from the horrors of internment in the Nazi Concentration Camp. As in a classic fairytale the story central theme is that of an ogre (this one being real, evil and vicious), but at the end a ray of hope lights up the meaning of life. The film had an incredible success not only in Italy; it is the second highest income generating foreign film in the United States.

With this film we continue our theme Hostaria Cinema: a tour of the Cinema Italiano and Italian Cuisine. After the film we will talk about one of the best-known dishes of Italian Jewish cuisine “il carciofo alla giudia”.

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This is a language class, a fascinating way to improve your Italian watching and talking about the most beautiful movies of “il cinema italiano”. There is no need to book for this class – just turn up to watch and discuss the film with Flavia Berucci. Cost: $5 for students.

NEWSLETTER MARZO MARCH 2014 Cartolina Radio Programmes • 12 March: we talk with Christine Evans Miller, who spent her extended holiday in Italy, based in Bologna. City life has more nouances than the postcards show. • 26 March: the cooking school in the donkey stables are the latest expansion of Gayle Hopkins’ offerings in the Abruzzi village of Vittorito (1000 inhabitants).It’s called La cucina sotto l’arco. Info on www.viasanrocco34.com  As usual, all these programmes are available live or on podcast from http://plainsfm.org.nz  Cartolina producers Wilma Laryn and Denis Walker thank all the Italian friends who have made suggestions for our summer compilation, especially Simone Dimartini and Francesca Ronci from Rimini. We wish you all: Buon Ascolto e Buon Anno!

Colazione at the Station Square Market Saturday 8th March Station Square, Newmarket We are pleased to communicate some changes to our famous Colazione. Our monthly catch up meeting will still be held on a Saturday but we will be meeting in different places at different times. In this way we hope to explore Auckland and new activities with our unique “Gusto Italiano”. For our first appointment we will be visiting the “International Food and Goods Market” in Newmarket, and do some shopping in the Italian way! Many of the stalls at the Station Square Market are selling Italian goods and food, so this is a great way to support them but also have some fun! Keep an eye on our newsletters for the next Colazione appointments.

Cari Amici, siamo felici di comunicarvi che la nostra famosa Colazione, dal 2014, vi porterà tante novità. Consisterà sempre in un incontro mensile di sabato, ma si svolgerà in luoghi e orari diversi, per avere la possibilità di esplorare Auckland e proporvi diverse attività, tutte con uno speciale “gusto” italiano. Per il primo mese, APPUNTAMENTO IN PIAZZA!!! Ci ritroveremo sabato 8 marzo alle 11.00am in Station Square – Newmarket per visitare il nuovo “International food and goods market” e fare la spesa in Italiano!

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The Station Square Market takes place every second Saturday of each month and will open from 11am until 3:30pm. Next dates are April 12th and May 10th. Station Square is next to the train station tucked behind the shops in Broadway, access by train or off Remuera Road or opposite Teed Street. If you are interested in having a stall at the markets, please call Tash on 021890147 or email [email protected].

NEWSLETTER MARZO MARCH 2014 Michelangelo Birthday Celebration Saturday 8 March, 4-8pm Kinder House, corner Ayr St. & Parnell Road The members of the Dante Society are invited to celebrate in a Roman Traditional Manner: Michelangelo’s birthday, with a fun celebration of the life of the “Divine” Michelangelo, born on March 6, 1475. The party is in support of the Italy Star Association 70th Ann. Battle of Cassino commemorations of the NZ soldiers who fought and died there. There will be a musical performance by a duet from Europe: Craig on his 60 year old Accordion and Jon on his unique gypsy guitar of traditional Mediterranean regional music.

Cost: $25 per person entry donation. Payment: Cheque by post : Italy Star Association, 2 Ayr Street, Parnell, Auckland 1052. Automatic Payment to:01 0354 0183852 00. Reference as: Michel and your name.

Dr. Michael Dunn art historian and artist will introduce a series of short readings of Michelangelo’s poetry and from Vasari’s Life of Michelangelo, followed by a commentary on a display of visual images of Michelangelo’s art pieces.

NUMBERS: Limited to 30, confirmed on payment.

There will be an opportunity to win prizes in a participative quiz on Michelangelo’s life and art. Italian style finger food and wine will be provided.

Parking: 470 Parnell Road at back of Bellingham & Wallace Building. Next Door to Kinder House.

As always keep an eye at the Dante Auckland Facebook Group and blog for photographs of events, articles about Italy and more. Click on the link below if you want to see a video of the Christmas Party:

RSVP: [email protected] - Ph. 379 4008 Dante's got Talent Show and Christmas Party 2013 Video

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NEWSLETTER MARZO MARCH 2014

President Report 2013-2014 Another very successful year! I would like to thank all the Committee members, members and friends of the Dante that have contributed, participated, offered and shared their time, knowledge and passion for the Italian culture and language. Along with the Italian school, with more than 20 classes for adults and 5 classes for children each term, we have had school holiday programmes, intensive summer course and Italian movies classes with Flavia Berucci. The classes for adults are continuing to be well attended. We are now thinking to advertise in the Herald to publicise all the activities of the Dante, in order to improve our visibility even more in the future. This is to ensure to have always new students enrolled. Unfortunately, the number of children enrolled for the Italian Classes has reduced significantly during 2013. At this stage the Friday class does not have the minimum number to justify continuing for 2014. To overcome this we want to offer more activities and classes during the school breaks throughout the year. The ‘Colazione’, one Saturday a month meeting, is changing its format. We have decided to hold this meeting outside the Dante’s rooms starting from March 2014. During the year we had all different events, talks and activities to cater for everyone.

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The festival was the biggest so far, with more stalls, music and entertainment which resulted in more visitors. This was made possible in large part to the generous Grant from the Waitemata Community Board and the organisational skills and dedication of Alessandra Zecchini, supported by the Dante Committee and many volunteers’ helpers for the day. The year ended with a great festa: Dante’s got talent. Most of the students enrolled performed with lots of preparation and fun. Sandra Fresia

Dante Committee 2014 President, Massimo Ciccioni Vice-President, Alessandra Zecchini Secretary, Flavia Berucci Treasurer, Rhonda Graham Cav. Sandra Fresia, School Director Bernadette Luciano

Martina Depentor Luca Manghi Dianne McGowan Simona Nardozza Jackie Shearman Fiorella Tomasi Kirwan Marina Lanza

NEWSLETTER MARZO MARCH 2014 Letter from New President Massimo Ciccioni Dear members, A warm welcome to all of you and thank you to all those people that have supported me into the new role as President of the Dante Alighieri Society. I was born (and bred) in Rimini, a vibrant, lively town by the Adriatic Sea, home to film director Federico Fellini and a popular summer break location. I emigrated to Nuova Zelanda in 2006 after gaining a Master Degree in Horticulture science and working at the University of Bologna for about a year. Here I work as a agribusiness consultant and live with my wife and my two years old daughter, in Auckland. My connection with the Dante started in 2011 after I had the luck to win a hamper loaded with delicious food at the Italian Festival raffle! Since then I thought it was the right place to be, so I decided to be part of the committee. Now with my new president "hat" I have the duty and the challenge to carry on with the fantastic work that has been done over the years by all committee members, volunteers and previous Presidents and that have led the Dante Society to what it is today- a social and friendly place where to learn all things Italian! I'm looking forward to a prosperous year with all of you and... don't miss the opportunity to win a hamper at the Italian Festival 2014! With thanks to our Sponsor:

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Hamilton Italian Festival Sunday 9th March Hamilton Gardens, Hamilton The second annual Hamilton Italian Festival is on at the Hamilton Gardens on Sunday the 9th of March. After the phenomenal success of our first festival last year plans are afoot to make the 2014 festival bigger and better. Last year’s festival attracted an estimated 2500 people and it is hoped this year that will be at least 3000. Included in this year’s festival is a dedicated cooking theatre an Italian car show and a line up of wonderful entertainment. www.facebook.com/HamiltonItallianFestival

Membership Renewals Membership renewals are now due. At the AGM last month it was decided not to increase the membership rates, so they remain at $30 for an individual, $40 per couple or family and $15 per person for students and seniors. There is a $5 supplement if you wish to receive a hard copy of the newsletter. Click here to renew. Please make cheques payable to Società Dante Alighieri and send to Società Dante Alighieri, PO Box 91637, Victoria Street West, Auckland or you can pay online to Società Dante Alighieri BNZ a/c 020192-0309263-00 with the reference "LASTNAME/MSHIP"