Buongiorno From

Newtown High School!

By Larissa Lytwyn

A $2000 National Italian American Foundation grant to Newtown High School last summer added Italian to the school’s World Language Department, which also offers Spanish, French, and Latin.

Laura Battisiti, a Milan native who taught French at Newtown High School last year and is now one of two teachers instructing four Italian classes, said she was thrilled by the “enormous response” students have had to the program.

To culminate Italian Heritage Week, which began with Columbus Day, October 13, students celebrated with culinary and cultural presentations. Projects included an introduction to designers Versace and Gucci and musical tributes to legendary composer Puccini.

Jennifer Godfrey, of Italian heritage, made biscotti, substituting walnuts with chocolate chips.

“Many recipes have been modified over the years,” noted Ms Battisiti. “Often, recipes are made unique to each family.”

Jennifer said she had gotten the recipe from the Internet, supplementing her presentation with a colorful poster on Italian geography and cultural emblems.

Jeremy Currier said his Italian family makes homemade pizza every time they have guests. The Curriers use a traditional recipe with mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, tomato sauce, and dough made from scratch. Pizza was believed to have come from Napoli, he said, instituting the concept of using dough as a plate. Baker Raffaele Esposito first presented it in its “modern” form, he continued, to Italian royalty during the early 1500s.

Mr Esposito infused his dish with patriotism, adding freshly ground oregano to the dish’s rich tomatoes and soft white cheeses. It was especially popular with Queen Margarita, so much so that the treat was dubbed “Pizza de Margarita,” said Jeremy.

John Butler and Shanna Kormanik discussed the evolution of elite designers Gucci and Versace. Guccio Gucci, a craftsman who specialized in leather goods, founded Gucci in 1881. After Mr Gucci’s death in 1953, his family expanded the company into a veritable empire, opening boutiques across Europe and the United States. During the 1960s, celebrities of lore including Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, and former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy made the Gucci name synonymous with high-style glamour. During the 1990s, American designer Tom Ford continued Gucci’s chic reputation while introducing new products, including sunglasses, perfumes, and other accessories.

Gianni Versace, born in Reggio Calabria, Italy, in 1946, grew up apprenticing in his mother’s dressmaking shop. By age 25 he had opened his own boutique and in 1978 launched the Gianni Versace Company with his brother, Santo. Mr Versace quickly skyrocketed to the top of the designer ladder with distinctive cuts and daring mixes of color and pattern. After his tragic 1997 murder at his Miami Beach home, his sister Donatella joined Santo in running the company.

“Wonderful job!” declared Ms Battisiti after the presentations. “Brava!”

Roy De Barbieri, an attorney with De Barbieri & Associates based in New Haven, is the Connecticut Coordinator of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). NIAF is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated, according to its mission statement, “to preserve and protect Italian American heritage culture.” Italians are the nation’s fifth largest ethnic group.

Mr De Barbieri shared his own heritage to the class, which can be traced to 1357 in Genoa. One of his ancestors, he said, was knighted after demonstrating extraordinary leadership under Frederick III, then the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, during the crusades. “That’s where the ‘de’ in my name comes from,” Mr De Barbieri said. “It was added to Barbieri in honor of [my ancestor’s] achievements.”

Mr De Barbieri said that NIAF is an advocate of all people discovering and celebrating their own “unique cultural heritage.” His own genealogic exploration, he said, began 25 years ago, shortly after his graduation from law school.

Without the NIAF grant, said Paula Greenfield, chair of the World Languages Department, the Italian program would never have come to fruition. “It’s wonderful to see this happen,” she said.