August 2022 Notiziario

MISSION STATEMENT

The Dante Alighieri Society of Denver exists to share and celebrate the richness of the Italian culture and language with the entire community.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE:

Remember three years ago when the world seemed normal, or at least as normal as things can be in this world? It was October 2019, and the Dante Alighieri Society of Denver had introduced an unprecedented offering of events in Denver during our very first Italian Heritage Month. The purpose of the month-long celebration was to recognize the history, culture and the many contributions of Italians and Italian Americans to the local community and to the world. Well, in spite of a worldwide pandemic that literally closed down everything save the most critical of services, the Dante Alighieri Society persevered and managed to bring the celebration to the community. Moving forward to 2022, Italian Heritage Month is back again with many activities from past years and several new programs and events. The complete list will be finalized soon, and the schedule will be available via our website, the Andiamo, the Notiziario and at a number of locations around town. So, start planning now to be a part of this unique celebration. Grazie! John Giardino

COOKING CLASS:

The next scheduled cooking class is set for Saturday, August 27, 9 a.m., at Mount Carmel Parish Hall, 3549 Navajo St., Denver To sign up kindly contact Rhonda Hopkins at 720-596-4169 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The cost is $50.

CENA DI PICCOLO POLLO (Little Chicken Dinner)
Antipasto: Eggplant and Roasted Tomato Caponata served on Rosemary Focaccia.
Secondo: Skillet Seared Cornish Game Hen served with Smashed Fall Vegetables and a Pickled Zucchini Salad.
Dolce: Butternut Squash Pie with Amaretto Glaze topped with Whipped Cream.

AUTOMEZZI XXXII ITALIAN EXOTIC & MOTORCYCLE SHOW Took place on Sunday, July 17 at Anderson ParkWheat Ridge. The Dante Alighieri Society of Denver was there as a Non-Profit / Cultural Partner with a booth to promote our mission and activities. It was indeed a beautiful but very hot day. Several people stopped by and showed interest in our Society.

DANTE ALIGHIERI SOCIETY PICNIC
The annual get-together of Sunday, July 24 was successful and well attended in spite of the weather and persisting rain. Thanks again for Rhonda Hopkins and her team for being persistent and and never gave up with plans to go ahead and socialize.

BENVENUTI
The Dante Alighieri Society of Denver gives a warm welcome to the following new members: Giuseppe Floro, Yasmin Lozada-Hissom, Cheryl Rugg and Jackson Vaughn.

CELEBRATION OF LIFE OF MARIE AND RICHARD MAURO long time and active members of the Society, will be held on Saturday August 20 at 10:30 a.m. at Mount Carmel Italian Catholic Church, 3549 Navajo Street, Denver. Reception following the service. Please RSVP by Aug 12. Questions: Contact Cathy Jo Banas, 210.393.8825 or Mary Kay Mauro, 303.618.1619.

AUGURI DI BUON COMPLEANNO We wish our members a Buon Compleanno during their birthday month.

We want to include more members in this column, so please send a quick email, with your birthday month and day.
Dante Society board member, Suzanne Fasing - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Grazie!

INDOVINELLO Quali sono le chiavi che non aprono nessuna serratura? ( Riddle ) Which keys never open any locks?

ROCKIES BASEBALL GAME - Wednesday, August 10 – The Dante Alighieri Society is participating in Italian-American Baseball Foundation Heritage Night at Coors Field. There are special ticket prices so please see details below.

Important Notice about the Italian American Night at the Rockies

The Dante Alighieri Society of Denver is co-sponsoring an Italian American Night at the Rockies with five other organizations. It is a group effort and a fundraiser for our respective organizations. Tickets can only be purchased through the Rockies; however, the DAS needs to track the number of tickets it sells. We want to be sure to have an accurate count of number tickets sold when the game is over. When you buy your tickets, please phone, text or email Susan Gurule with your name and the number of tickets you purchased. Susan's phone number is: 720-484-1014 and her email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

COMING THIS FALL:

SEPTEMBER CULTURAL MEETING: On Friday, September 9, Francesca Howell will present “Hidden Festivals of Italy”. The program will begin at 7:30 PM at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish Hall, 3549 Navajo St., Denver
OCTOBER CELEBRATION: Our Society will be celebrating Italian Heritage Month with a calendar full of activities and cultural events, so please plan to enjoy as many of them as you can throughout October. We will be sending out details as soon as they are finalized, but look forward to events such as a wine tasting, musical concerts, cooking classes, films, and more.

FALL SESSION OF ITALIAN LANGUAGE CLASSES BEGINS SEPTEMBER 19, 2022
The Society’s ten-week summer session of Italian language classes is currently underway. The fall session of Italian language classes will begin the week of September 19, 2022. The schedule for fall classes will be posted on the Dante Alighieri website by August 15. The registration deadline for the fall session is September 12. Classes are taught by experienced and talented bi-lingual teachers, and include beginner, intermediate, advanced, and conversation classes. Each class meets for 90 minutes, once a week at 3549 Navajo Street, Denver, in the parish office of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church. Cost is $115 for members and $145 for non-members. New members are welcome to join the Dante Alighieri Society when they register for classes. Please register early because classes do fill up. For more information, please contact the Education Chair Suzanne Fasing at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . To register for classes, visit www.dantealighieriofdenver.com

Hospitality Chairperson seeking volunteers: Camilla Marcantonio has agreed to serve as Hospitality Chairperson for our Society and will be recruiting members to help with refreshments at our monthly cultural meetings. If you are willing to contribute to our social hour following a cultural program by bringing a dessert to share, please email Camilla at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

BRIEF NEWS FROM ITALY

• Hundreds of people have been evacuated as extreme temperatures fuel wildfires across Italy.
• Drink from fountains not plastic bottles, Venice tells visitors. Venice's local authority urged visitors to ditch plastic bottles under an initiative stressing that the floating city’s tap water is perfectly safe to drink.
• If you're used to hailing a ride quickly and cheaply through apps like Uber, you'll find things aren't quite that simple in Italy. In fact, you may wonder if the service exists here at all.
• Heatwaves and traffic jams are not a good mix - but both are inevitable during an Italian summer.
• An American tourist had to be rescued on Mount Vesuvius near Naples after he apparently slipped into the Italian volcano's crater while trying to recover his fallen cellphone, according to news reports and the association of Vesuvius park guides.
• Thunderstorms hampered the search for more than a dozen hikers who remained unaccounted for a day after a huge chunk of an Alpine glacier in Italy recently broke off, sending an avalanche of ice, snow and rocks down the slope. Officials put the known death toll at seven.
• Italy won the women’s volleyball Nations League crown by hammering Brazil for 3-0 win on July 17, 2022 in Ankara, Turkey.
• Italy’s longest river, the Po, was once called the “king of rivers”. It was considered mighty, less for its length – it’s only about 400 miles (652 kilometres) long – than for its expanding girth: the countryside next to the river, the Padanian plain, was so flat that the Po was often less of a river than a slow-moving marsh, always flooding land dozens of miles either side of its porous banks. Currently, it has, in some places, completely disappeared this summer.

TIPS ON ITALY By Tonya Clement

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign!

It just so happens that I am writing this newsletter from Italy as I am here now on vacation. While my initial focus was on the Italian language, I decided to do this piece on street signs. These are some of the important signs that you must pay very special attention to when driving around Italy. When driving in Italy, my mind is on overload….it feels a bit chaotic. I have motorcycles passing me, people stepping into the street, cyclists to avoid hitting and then it seems there are a million signs! I needed to figure the signs as soon as possible.

A round sign with a red border it is alerting you to something you cannot do.

What do you think the above two signs mean? I initially thought it meant “do not enter” but that is not the case. They both mean no parking, but the one on the left means no stopping at all while the one on the right means you can stop briefly to let someone out of the car or to unload something.  

There are actually two signs for “do not enter”. No vehicles are allowed to drive past these two signs.    

When I first saw this sign, I immediately thought this meant two-way traffic but that is not the case. It means no passing.  

This sign tells drivers not to exceed 120 Kilometers per hour.  

This one means you must yield to oncoming traffic. Typically, you will find this on narrow streets. The black arrow pointing downwards tells the driver to give the right of way to the oncoming car. The arrow representing you, is telling you to yield to the oncoming vehicle.  

In a future article I will review the warning signs which are in triangular shapes. Drive safely!

Answer to Indovinello” – Le chiavi musicali – Musical notes

Italian beauties at XXXII Automezzi exotic car show

Wet but enjoyable 2022 annual picnic
Great to see long-time and new members attending...