Past EVENTS
AUTHOR TESSA FLOREANO
October 19th, 6:30-8:00pm - Tualatin Library
Join Italian Portland 🇮🇹 to meet local author and community historian Tessa Floreano. Pre-order your book, Italians in the Pacific Northwest, and bring it with you to have it signed by the author!
Tessa draws primarily on unpublished images, stories, and memorabilia from the Italian American community in three Pacific Northwest states. Tessa is a dual Italian-Canadian married to an American, who is interested in exploring history, and chose this book as a way to honor fellow Italians in her adopted homeland.
SYNOPSIS
From hardscrabble days as homesteaders and farmers in the 1880s to becoming successful entrepreneurs of the postwar boom generation, Italian immigrants settled and later thrived in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Italians labored in several industries including railway tie hacking, coal mining, logging, canning salmon, terra-cotta and brick manufacturing, truck farms, and grocery stores. They also contributed to inventions from the collapsible crab pot to the atomic bomb, the vaudeville circuit, the Pellegrini bean, and one-of-a-kind accordions. It is the author's hope that this book highlights the contributions of many Pacific Northwest Italians, known and unknown.
GIRO DI SICILIA - A Sicilian Cycling Experience
Tuesday, June 13th 7:00pm
COFFEE & CONVERSATION
Farmhouse Holiday Stay in Giove, Umbria ~ The Green Heart 💚 of Italy
december - "Flights" to Italy wine tasting
Dec 13th 6-8pm
Italian Portland is thrilled to present, "Flights" to Italy, a Wine Tasting Event at Vino Wine Shop, 137 SE 28th Ave.
You will receive a flight of 5 Italian wines! 🍷
November - Italian Movie Night
We viewed the movie, Marilyn's Eyes at CAFFÈ UMBRIA (303 NW 12th Avenue Portland, Oregon 97209) on November 6th from 3-5pm.
And also enjoyed our favorite coffees and desserts!
October - Farm Tour & Lunch
Saturday, October 15, 2022 at 1pm
in Sherwood for a festive fall farm tour & lunch!
September - Our Italian Dream & Pizza Social & Happy hour
August - italian Movie Night
March - italian citizenship by Descent
February - Renovating a Home in Italy
January - Orienta... She is the Dance
A Chef's love Affair with Italy - A conversation with Cathy Whims
November 2021 Olive Oil Tasting
Oregon Olive Oil Tasting
We enjoyed a fun evening of learning about and tasting olive oils grown and produced right here in the Willamette Valley at Durant Vineyards & Olive Mill. The presentation was live via Zoom with Erin Rapp, an olive oil expert from Durant. Grazie Erin, for a wonderful and interactive tasting experience!
June 2021 Bestselling Italian Renaissance Novelist, Stephanie Storey
Stephaie Storey
Stephanie is the author of the stunning debut, Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo and of Raphael, Painter in Rome, which came out in April 2020 in conjunction with the 500th anniversary of Raphael's death. Her books have been translated into six foreign languages and are in development as feature films by Pioneer Pictures. Storey is also a TV producer of The Alec Baldwin Show on ABC, The Arsenio Hall Show on CBS, and the Emmy-nominated The Writers’ Room for Sundance.
May 2021 Learn Italian Through Song
Pina Di Rosa
Pina took us on a on a dynamic and engaging journey through three beautiful Italian songs; Volare, Con te partirò, and Il mare calmo della sera. We learned the translations as well as the history, origination, and the stories behind each song! Pina has two beautiful CDs of her Italian music; Io sono qui, and Napoli in Love.
April 2021 Foods of Naples
Anita Sanseverino
Outdoor Market in Naples
We truly enjoyed Anita's presentation and stunning photographs on the Foods of Naples. Anita is an award-winning photographer dedicated to the subject of Italy as well as a lecturer and scholar of Italian history and culture. More than 25 years ago, Sanseverino began by photographing New York City – from the charming streets of Greenwich Village, to the soaring Twin Towers and iconic Brooklyn Bridge. Every Sanseverino photograph is suffused with her love of the subject and sense of mission to reveal something previously unseen. More about Anita here: https://www.anitaitaliamoremio.com/bio/
March 2021 Puglia Museum Tours
Antimo Cimino, a native from Puglia, introduced us to the ancient civilization of the Messapians. A tribe that inhabited the Southern Ionian coastal towns of Puglia at the beginning of the third century BC. The region is known today as the Salento. To accompany the presentation, Angela Greco and Monica Marasco, curators of the museum joined us live from Italy to share with us stories, history, artifacts, and customs unique to this enchanting region and civilization. We were also joined by the town's Vice Mayor! We truly started a wonderful friendship and collaboration with this region!
February 2021 Cook with Grazia - Tiramisu!
This Event was Streamed Live From Italy! 🎥 🤩
Grazia’s tiramisu demo was amazing! We are so grateful to her for getting up early to teach us how to make authentic Tiramisu! Make sure you download her app 'Cook with Grazia' for this recipe and many more!
More about Grazia: Her career has focused on food. She started writing articles for the Italian magazine ‘Food’ while studying business and economics at the University of Parma in the Emilia-Romagna region. This area is a culinary heaven, named ‘The Food Valley’ because it’s home to delicacies such as Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. She stayed for 10 wonderful years. Later, she lived in Amsterdam and Milano, where she earned a master’s degree in journalism. Grazia has also worked for websites and has freelanced for food and travel publications, such as, ‘Slow Food.’Grazia moved to Oregon in 2001 and spent the better part of 17 years in Portland. In Portland, she was busy raising three kids, juggling family, work —and getting dinner on the table quickly. Grazia was the founder of, Scuola Italiana di Portland, where she served on the board of directors as president for 11 years.
Grazia feels blessed to have lived in Portland, a city enthusiastic about food. She now lives in Lerici, Italy, a coastal village close to the Cinque Terre. It’s a one-hour drive from Parma and Florence, where she is able to enjoy the authentic Italian flavors that she hopes to share through her app and food blog, ‘Cook with Grazia!’
January 2021
Part-Time Adventure or Full-Time Life in Italy
Susan Pohl
Susan's Live from Italy Presentation Focused On:
1. Why Italy?
2. Part-time adventure or a full-time life?
3. Italy is a big country, how to choose where to live?
4. The Joys and the Challenges
5. Things I wish I knew in the beginning
DECEMber 2020 Event
A Virtual Performance!
With Pina Di Rosa
&
Tim Uecker
Pina Di Rosa
Our Holiday Event this year was extra special! We got to enjoy beautiful Italian music sung by Pina Di Rosa via Zoom. This will definitely be a highlight of December with Pina singing traditional Neapolitan songs as well as other Italian Christmas favorites.
Here is a link to the recorded presentation: Pina Di Rosa & Tim Uecker in Concert
NOVEMBER 2020 EVENT
Italian Christmas: Stories and Traditions from North to South
with
Antimo Cimino
This exceptional presentation helped us get into the Italian Christmas mood and start putting the tragedies of 2020 behind.
Thanks to Antimo Cimino who moderated this event with four of his friends directly from Italy (all excited to get up at the crack of dawn to join us live!). Igor Scomparin from Venice, Bice Della Piana from Salerno, Daniela Leopizzi from Lecce, and Agata Di Fede from Catania. They shared regional Christmas stories and traditions unique to their areas and gave us a sense of similarities and differences in the Italian Culture.
Antimo Cimino is the founder of the Experiential Travel Company VoomaGo (www.voomago.com) as well as the CEO of Cultural Global Labs (culturalgloballabs.com). These two companies are the perfect reflection of Antimo's passion for Travel, Language, Culture, Food, Experiences, Diversity & Inclusion, Leadership and Wellness.
Here is a link to the recorded presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clnhb_4EWv8
OCTOBER 2020 EVENT
Italy's Many Voices: 50 Shades of Latin
by
Angela Zagerella
Angela presented a history of the Italian language and the complex linguistic landscape of regional languages, aka 'dialects'. Angela is a professor of Italian Studies at Portland State University.
September 2020 Event
Celebrating Naples - A Journey Through History
by
Anita Sanseverino
Anita Sanseverino from the East Coast focused on the illustrious history of this once royal kingdom going back to her origins as Parthenope, the Greek city which was the beginning of Naples. She took us through this history, with the various rulers who occupied Naples, and why the unification of Italy might not have been the best thing to happen to the city. And she discussed why Naples should be on everyone's list to visit!
Here is a link to her recorded presentation: Celebrating Naples
For Anita's bio, click here: Anita Sanseverino Bio. Check out her web page at https://www.anitaitaliamoremio.com/
For films, art, music, and famous people resources for Naples click here. NAPLES