The Sau-Wing Lam collection of violin-family instruments is one of the most important collections of bowed Italian stringed instruments ever assembled by a private individual. An amateur violinist and violist, Lam bought his first important violin in the 1960s and assembled his impressive collection of violins and bows over the next twenty-five years. His holdings eventually included such significant instruments as the "Baltic" violin by Giuseppe Guarneri "del Gesù," the "Bavarian" and "Scotland University" violins by Antonio Stradivari, the "ex Collin" violin by Nicolò Amati, an extremely early viola by Andrea Amati, and Lam's favorite violin, an instrument by Giuseppe Guarneri, one of his earliest acquisitions

Revered in his own time as a "monarch" of painting, Piero della Francesca (1411-1492) is acknowledged today as a founding figure of the Italian Renaissance. In early 2013, The Frick Collection will present the first monographic exhibition in the United States dedicated to the artist. It brings together seven works by Piero della Francesca, including six panels from the Sant'Agostino altarpiece � the largest number from this masterwork ever reassembled. They will be joined by the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Attendant Angels, his only intact altarpiece in this country. Piero della Francesca in America is organized by guest curator and former Andrew W. Mellon Fellow Nathaniel Silver. The related catalogue will include essays by James Banker, Professor Emeritus, North Carolina State University; Machtelt Israëls, Guest Researcher, University of Amsterdam; Elena Squillantini, masters candidate, Università degli Studi di Firenze; and Giacomo Guazzini, doctoral candidate, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa.

Exclusive to the Frick, where it will be shown in the Oval Room, this important exhibition will also be accompanied by a rich and varied schedule of lectures, gallery talks, and seminars. The exhibition is made possible in part by the generous support of Mrs. Henry Clay Frick II, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Hester Diamond, and The Robert H. Smith Family Foundation.

Revered in his own time as a "monarch" of painting, Piero della Francesca (1411/13�1492) is acknowledged today as a founding figure of the Italian Renaissance. In early 2013, The Frick Collection will present the first monographic exhibition in the United States dedicated to the artist. It brings together seven works by Piero della Francesca, including six panels from the Sant'Agostino altarpiece � the largest number from this masterwork ever reassembled. They will be joined by the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Attendant Angels, his only intact altarpiece in this country. Piero della Francesca in America is organized by guest curator and former Andrew W. Mellon Fellow Nathaniel Silver. The related catalogue will include essays by James Banker, Professor Emeritus, North Carolina State University; Machtelt Israëls, Guest Researcher, University of Amsterdam; Elena Squillantini, masters candidate, Università degli Studi di Firenze; and Giacomo Guazzini, doctoral candidate, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa.

Exclusive to the Frick, where it will be shown in the Oval Room, this important exhibition will also be accompanied by a rich and varied schedule of lectures, gallery talks, and seminars. The exhibition is made possible in part by the generous support of Mrs. Henry Clay Frick II, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Hester Diamond, and The Robert H. Smith Family Foundation.

The �Assonance/Dissonance�" exhibition showcases masterpieces of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, such as Giordano, Bassano, Cardi, Redi alongside works by twentieth century Italian artists, including Pistoletto, Mondino, Paladino, Chia and Clemente, courtesy of the Sperone Westwater collection. This juxtaposition of antique and contemporary art brings to the fore the ways in which the skills and techniques of the old masters have been adopted by some of the most influential and avant-garde Italian artists of the twentieth century. The timelessness of tradition and technique is definitely the theme of the exhibition, and the dominant undercurrent of all Italian art history.

The original work of two gifted Italian photographers Lella Beretta and Rossella Tomaselli will be on display at Agora Gallery, NYC.

Calling her collection �Filosofia per Immagini,�" or �'Philosophy through Images,�' Lella Beretta searches for a deeper and more profound sense of beauty through her camera lens. Beretta arranges her works around a romantic vision, posing her subjects with a dreamlike intimacy as she develops a personal story of the emotions of the soul, capturing an exquisite and magical vision of the human experience. Along with her more imaginative arrangements, Beretta explores issues of race with an appealing tenderness and discovers a rich dialog of spirit in realism. For dramatic effect, these striking photos are printed in a large scale on canvas, occasionally as a limited edition.

Crisp composition, infused with a sparkling vivacity for life, characterizes Italian photographer Rossella Tomaselli�'s works. Saturated with rich, natural jewel-like colors, Tomaselli�'s photographs are visible ruminations on the poignant eclecticism that comprises the days of a human life. Soft edges morph into crystalline sharpness, evocative of the undulating nature of life. The artist�'s Italian roots instilled in her a profound appreciation for history and the human stories that make it, and encouraged her desire to explore and freeze the dynamics of a particular, moment, place or feeling. �I would like my art to reach out and strike a long, resting chord in the heart of the people who view my work and stir their emotions to a brink which they have never experienced,�" she says.

Entrance is free and all art lovers are encouraged to attend, enjoy and meet some of the artists whose works make up this delightful show.

The landscapes in Piero Della Francesca's paintings, particularly his Baptism of Christ (National Gallery, London), are often thought to recall the area around his hometown of Borgo San Sepolcro. In truth, they evoke the upper Tiber Valley without describing it precisely. But what did it mean to locate sacred scenes in a recognizable and local setting? Did that landscape carry any connotations for the fifteenth-century residents of Borgo San Sepolcro that might be lost to us today? Let's find out.

Emanuele Torquati, piano, will play music of Beethoven, Busoni, Fedele, Filidei, Maestri and Scarlatti.Emanuele Torquati is rapidly gaining international recognition for his poetic and passionate music making, communicative performances and engaging programming. A notable performer of new music and an avid chamber musician, he enjoys a diverse and varied career as a pianist.

An exhibition of works by Italian artist Gianni Dessì. Curated by Isabella Del Frate Rayburn Sponsored by Maurice Kanbar On view through May 31, 2013. Mon-Fri 10-5

Gianni Dessi� was born in Rome in 1955. He went to art school in Rome and then to the Academy of Fine Arts where in 1976 he graduated under Toti Scialoja. From 1975 to 1977 he collaborated with Giorgio Barberio Corsetti, whom he had met at the academy, and with "La Gaia Scienza" theatre group which Corsetti had founded in the same period with Marco Solari and Alessandra Vanzi. Dessi� realized a series of interventions for several shows: La Gaia Scienza in 1975, La rivolta degli oggetti da V. Maiakovskij in 1976, and Cronache marziane in 1977. In 1977 for the first time he publicly showed a work of his as part of the theatrical season Le iniziative di ii, organized by the "Beat 72" cultural association. For this exhibition he created an itinerary along the tunnel of the San Pietro station in Rome where the visitor was invited to make out various brief texts following a route marked out by rays of blue light. Since his earliest collaborations with important the- atrical groups, Dessi� has kept up his contacts with the world of theatre.

In 2002 he was asked to design the scenery for Richard Wagner's Parsifal, directed by Peter Stein and conducted by Claudio Abbado at the Salzburg Festival. In 2004, he designed the scenes for "Il Cordovano, Opera in un atto" with music by Goffredo Petrassi, conducted by Marcello Panni and directed by Stefano Vizioli at the Rome opera house. In 2006, together with Stefano Scodanibbio and Giorgio Agamben, he undertook the dramaturgy of Scodanibbio�'s opera "Il cielo sulla terra" which was staged in Stockholm. For this production he realized the scenery, lighting, and costumes. Lastly, in 2008, he designed the sets for Bela Bartók's opera "The Castle of Duke Bluebeard," performed at the Scala, Milan, directed by Peter Stein and conducted by Daniel Harding. The spectacle was re-staged in March 2010 at the Het Muziektheater of Amsterdam conducted by Adam Fischer.

An exhibition of works by Italian artist Gianni Dessì. Dessì, born in Rome in 1955, is part of the so-called 'New Roman School' which is an expression of Transavanguardia. His painting investigates the relationships between light, form and matter. Curated by Isabella Del Frate Rayburn.

The IBLA Foundation in New York City organizes an annual music competition for pianists, singers, instrumentalists and composers which takes place in Ragusa Ibla, Italy. Winners have been presented in such venues as Lincoln Center Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York, the Tokyo Opera City Hall, the Tchaikovsky Bolshoi Hall in Moscow as well as other prestigious venues in Canada, Europe and the USA. IBLA Grand Prize Winners perform their music at Casa Italiana for a special evening.

Veronica Santi, curator for Spazio 522 Gallery, is proud to present Snowing Styrofoam, an exhibition featuring Italian artists Nick Petruccelli and Verdiana Patacchini, both in their debut in the New York art scene. Reading the landscape of cities and embroidering new textures of world, Nick Petruccelli makes its paintings glueing industrial scraps and leather mixed with gloss colors, as if the surface of canvas was a vault of the heaven where other patchwork realities are possible. Verdiana Patacchini, indeed, read impossible textures from the styrofoam, clearing abstract forms from the material. Her sculptures seem fallen from the sky as lightweight, sophisticate meteorites. Snowing Styrofoam is the first exhibition of the cycle �Italian Wave�" showing the best of Italian artists New York-based. Celebrating 2013 � Year of Italian culture in United States, from May to December �Italian Wave�" will take place at Spazio 552 Gallery of Antonio Soddu.

By appointment: 212 929 1981 or veronica_santi@hotmail.com

Join us for an evening of staged reading excerpts from two plays written and performed by two talented Italian-American women; Chiara Montalto and Lauren LoGiudice. A BROOKLYN LOVE STORY, by Chiara Montalto, is a tale set in Brooklyn about the profound effect a grandfather and his granddaughter have on each other as one�'s life is ending while the other�'s is just beginning. Equally hilarious and touching, A BROOKLYN LOVE STORY is based on the playwright�'s own experience, having spent the greater part of her twenties living with her grandfather. The play GARBO DREAMS is a portrayal of the powerful scenario in which Greta Garbo faces the last hours of her life and is forced to make choices that will affect her legacy. Everyone�'s heard that she wanted �to be left alone,�" but what happened from there? No one�'s ever truly been sure. According to actor, model and stage impresario Lauren LoGiudice, GARBO DREAMS serves as a loving homage to a woman who taught her how to belong to herself. $20 Donation per person to attend. Light Fare & Refreshments will be served. Space is Limited. Advance Reservations requested and appreciated. To reserve your place please call: (718) 273-7660 or E-mail: info@casa-belvedere.org

The Salomé Chamber Orchestra, New York City�'s electrifying conductor-less string ensemble, and Guest Artists Play the Rare Violins and Violas of the Acclaimed Sau-Wing Lam Collection. (see Ongoing Events for more information on the The Sau-Wing Lam Collection of Rare Italian Stringed Instruments exhibition on view through June 30, 2013).

Gianmaria Testa (Joe's Pub, May 04th, 2013) sings in Italian and lives in Italy. The cases of the life have wanted that its first three albums have been produced in France (Montgolfières, Extra-Muros and Lampo), but in five years he imposed himself as artist of talent: the press (both French and Italian) has been unanimous in individualizing him such as one of the most important actual Italian singer songwriters.

Gianmaria is a deeply popular and at the same time refined singer songwriter; a songwriter of the hoarse and velvety voice that makes his true strength in the �naked song�". Texts could be considered as small poetries that speak of fogs and meetings, of loneliness and of hills and music that evoke the tango, the jazz, the bossanova, the habanera, the waltz and they create warm suggestions, intense, that can wrap. His singing images and feelings is simple, of popular matrix, traditional, and therefore winning, it goes beyond banal comparisons and easy approaches and it is deposited directly in the intimate of whom listens.

Tickets are $20.

A fun �Italian style�" bike tour allowing riders to challenge themselves with a timing chip, not for competition, but simply for the fun of timing your climb up the Verrazano Narrows Bridge before reaching the Tour Finish Festival. Participants will receive a special certificate with their time. Gran Fondo Giro d�'Italia Five Boro riders will celebrate their accomplishments with a taste of �La Dolce Vita!�" This includes a priority start at the front of the Tour, an exclusive, limited edition �Made in Italy�" bike jersey, breakfast, and a gourmet Italian Pasta Party at the finish line!

The Force of Things follows two families across the twentieth century�one starting in czarist Russia, the other starting in the American Midwest�and takes them across revolution, war, fascism, and racial persecution, until they collide at mid-century. Their immediate attraction and tumultuous marriage is part of a much larger story: the mass migration of Jews from fascist-dominated Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. Alexander Stille�'s The Force of Things is a powerful, beautifully written work with the intimacy of a memoir, the pace and readability of a novel, and the historical sweep and documentary precision of nonfiction writing at its best.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Mussolini's regime used propaganda to promote fascist Italian ideologies in Argentina. Although politically a failure, the attempt provoked a debate about national identity outside of the nation-state and the potential roles citizens living abroad could play in their country of origin. Historian David Aliano demonstrates how national projects take on different meanings once they enter a contested public space. Lecture by David Aliano.

On the occasion of Casa Italiana's opera company in residence Underworld Productions Opera Company's production of Alessandro Scarlatti's only known comic opera, Il trionfo dell'onore, which will be performed in its U.S. premiere at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò on May 17, 2013. A panel discussion with: Corbett Bazler (Eastman School of Music) Valeria De Lucca (Metropolitan Museum; Southampton University) Gina Crusco (Director, Underworld Productions Opera Company) Dorian Bandy (Music Director) with members of the production's cast This event will be in ENGLISH.

Claudio Magris, celebrated writer and expert of Middle-European literatures, was born in 1939 in Trieste, a town at the crossing of Italian, German and Slavic cultures. Always interested in the social and ethical function of literary writing, Magris is among the most eloquent advocate of the responsibility of literature. A literary work is something individual that shows itself to the whole world, and therefore, because it has a ethical content, enters the life, ideas and the feelings of the polis, the community. Literature is by definition a slow activity. In times when everything is accelerating towards ends increasingly hard to grasp, literature can be seen as a sort of civic resistance and a defense of those spaces of thought that make life meaningful.

This concert ends The Spring 2013 concert series at Columbia University�'s Italian Academy for Advanced Studies. The program includes works by Oscar Bianchi, Salvatore Sciarrino, Marco Stroppa, a world premiere by Jason Eckardt, and Giuseppe Tartini�'s �Devil�'s Trill�" sonata. Miranda Cuckson, violin, with Blair McMillen, piano.

JamesSuckling.com and Zachys invite you to one of the greatest Italian wine events ever, featuring a selection of wines from 100 of Italy's best wineries. Internationally acclaimed wine critic James Suckling personally selected all the wineries, and every wine being poured -- close to 400 different labels -- received no less than 90 points (outstanding quality) on JamesSuckling.com. The impressive walk-around tasting on May 8 with up to three different wines per winery includes a fabulous cheese bar. The collector's magnum dinner on May 9 is a relaxed, high-end family style dinner with three courses featuring specially selected magnums from the cellars of each winery. The dinner also includes a charity auction for Robin Hood -- one of the top in the city working to stamp out poverty. British recording artist Isabel Suckling (the 15-year-old daughter of James) will perform. The dinner will additionally spotlight the Lalique & James Suckling 100 Points universal tasting glass.

May 8: Grand Tasting Celebrate the excellence of Italian winemaking at the Grand Tasting, where you will have the opportunity to discover some of the greatest wines of Italy - selected by renown wine critic James Suckling. R egular Tickets: $195.00, 5:00 to 8:30 pm VIP Tickets: $225.00, 4:00 pm to 8:30 pm

 Are you a fan of good, simple food with perfect texture and mouth-feel? Then come and master the method to a perfect risotto! Risotto is all about proper technique: if made correctly, even the most basic pantry staples and modest crumbs from your fridge will become a feat of culinary perfection. Join us and discover how versatile and satisfying this Italian classic can be. Beginners welcome!

On the Menu: Lemon Risotto with Aromatic Herbs; Asparagus Risotto with Robiola Cheese; Shrimp and Ginger Risotto; Risotto Piccante.

Instructor: Chef Olivia Bonomi Todorov, Acquolina Catering Events Hands-On & Demonstration, $45 http://acquolinacatering.com

Virgin and Child Enthroned with Four Angels is unquestionably the least well known and least studied of Piero della Francesca's works. This panel is also one of the most fascinating, having been painted for a leading family of Piero's native Sansepolcro, the Gherardi, who were related to him through his niece. It seems to be a late work, perhaps from the 1470s or 1480s. Like Alberti, Piero enjoyed the company and patronage of Federigo da Montefeltro, whose library had copies of Piero's treatises on perspective and the five regular bodies of geometry. Speaker Rika Burnham, Head of Education, The Frick Collection.

Benjamin Kreith presents a recital of contemporary violin music featuring 'My New Address' by Italian composer Stefano Scodanibbio. The program includes solo works by Javier Arias Bal, Luciano Chessa, Laurie San Martin, David del Puerto, and Anton Vishio. Daniel Cullen will join Kreith to perform his piece 'Stream' for violin and electronics. 

A lecture by 2011 Bogliasco Fellows: Catherine Puglisi, Rutgers University William Barcham, Fashion Institute of Technology

Professors Catherine Puglisi and William Barcham will discuss the haunting figure of the "Man of Sorrows" in the Venetian artistic tradition and the universal appeal of the image that persists in contemporary art, music and film today.

Presented in partnership with the Bogliasco Foundation

In a series celebrating the relationship between art, architecture, literature, and film, acclaimed artist Marina Abramović and award-winning architect Daniel Libeskind will talk about some of the films that have influenced their lives and work. Moderated by Antonio Monda, Artistic Director of the Le Conversazioni literary festival.

Caring for Your Loved One: Planning Strategies for Elder Care.Options for the Italian-American Family.

In light of population aging and high disability rates among the elderly, many Italian American families face difficult decisions concerning hospitalization and care arrangements for elderly, disabled relatives. Often times, adult children become deeply involved in the daily lives of their chronically ill or medically fragile parents. How do Italian American families meet the needs of their elderly? Are there particular cultural expectations concerning custodial care functions? In the face of changes in homecare legislation, Medicaid funding, and the continuing pressure to do more with less, creative thinking is critical for family caregivers.

Members of the panel discussion will include: Alec Pruchnicki, M.D., St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital; Anne B. Pagano, M.S., Fordham University; and Salvatore M. Di Costanzo, Esq., McMillan, Constabile, Maker and Perrone, LLP. Carmine Pizzirusso, Research and Technical Coordinator, Calandra Institute. Each participant has extensive experience providing medical, clinical, technical and/or legal services to Italian-American patients/clients and their extended family members.

Discussants will explore the challenges faced by Italian-American caregivers regarding hospitalization and home care options; strategies to support primary family caregivers as well as formal (hired) caregivers and the increased importance of financial planning, i.e., Medicaid and Community Needs Trusts.

JamesSuckling.com and Zachys invite you to one of the greatest Italian wine events ever, featuring a selection of wines from 100 of Italy's best wineries. Internationally acclaimed wine critic James Suckling personally selected all the wineries, and every wine being poured -- close to 400 different labels -- received no less than 90 points (outstanding quality) on JamesSuckling.com.

The impressive walk-around tasting on May 8 with up to three different wines per winery includes a fabulous cheese bar. The collector's magnum dinner on May 9 is a relaxed, high-end family style dinner with three courses featuring specially selected magnums from the cellars of each winery. The dinner also includes a charity auction for Robin Hood -- one of the top in the city working to stamp out poverty. British recording artist Isabel Suckling (the 15-year-old daughter of James) will perform. The dinner will additionally spotlight the Lalique & James Suckling 100 Points universal tasting glass.

May 9: Wine Collector's Dinner

A unique opportunity to meet and dine with the owners and top winemakers of Italy, where they will pour their most prestigious wines. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own Italian magnum from their cellar to share.

Tickets: $275.00, 6:30 pm to 11:00 pm

 The Other Side of the Tiber Reflections on Time in Italy (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013) by Wallis Wilde-Menozzi

A fresh, nuanced perspective on a profoundly perplexing country: this is what Wallis Wilde-Menozzi�'s unique, captivating narrative promises�and delivers. The Other Side of the Tiber brings Italy to life in an entirely new way, treating the peninsula as a series of distinct places, subjects, histories, and geographies bound together by a shared sense of life. A multifaceted image of Italy emerges�in beautiful black-and-white photographs, many taken by Wilde-Menozzi herself�as does a portrait of the author. Wilde-Menozzi, who has written about Italy for nearly forty years, offers unexpected conclusions about one of the most complex and best-loved countries in the world. Beginning her story with a hitchhiking trip to Rome when she was a student in England, she illuminates a passionate, creative, and vocal people who are often confined to stereotypes. Earthquakes and volcanoes; a hundred-year-old man; Siena as a walled city; Keats in Rome; the refugee camp of Manduria; the Slow Food movement; realism in Caravaggio; the concept of good and evil; Mary the Madonna as a subject�from these varied angles, Wilde-Menozzi traces a society skeptical about competition and tolerant of contradiction. Bringing them together in the present, she suggests the compensations of the Italians�' long view of time. Like the country, this book will inspire discussion and revisiting.

This event will be in ENGLISH.

ITV Cinema (Italy On Demand) presents: "Ilaria Alpi, Il più crudele dei giorni" (2003, 100 min.)

Directed by Ferdinando Vicentini Orgnani Starring Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Ilaria Alpi

In ITALIAN with ENGLISH subtitles.

On March 20, 1994, RAI news reporter Ilaria Alpi and her cameraman Miran Hrovatin were killed in an ambush in Mogadishu. The film traces what happened to the two through a maze of plot twists that contain all the rhythm and gripping tension of the best spy stories. But there is one thing the viewer should keep in mind: no part of this story was made up.

A conversation between Maurizio Molinari (American Correspondent, La Stampa) and Sergio Fabbrini (Director, School of Government of LUISS, Rome).Following its general election, Italy still finds itself at an impasse; the formation of any stable governing majority appears nearly impossible. At the same time, the country is in the midst of one of its most serious economic crises since WWII. Add to this list of problems the difficulty of making the necessary, long-planned institutional and structural reforms a reality. Sergio Fabbrini Sergio Fabbrini is Director of the School of Government and Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the LUISS Guido Carli University of Rome, where he holds a Jean Monnet Chair. He was the Editor of the Italian Journal of Political Science from 2003 to 2009 and the Director of the Trento School of International Studies from 2006 to 2009. He published fourteen books, two co-authored books and other fifteen edited books or special issues, plus more than two hundred articles in scientific journals, in seven languages. Among his recent publications, Compound Democracies: Why the United States and Europe Are Becoming Similar, Oxford, Oxford University Press 2010 (second updated edition) and Addomesticare il Principe. Perché i leader contano e come controllarli, Venice, Marsilio, 2011, winner of the "Capalbio Prize for Europe 2011" . Maurizio Molinari Maurizio Molinari is a journalist in the employ of the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa, for which he serves as United States correspondent and for which he previously worked as European Union correspondent in Brussels and as diplomatic correspondent in Rome. Before arriving at La Stampa in 1997, Molinari, who began his journalism career in 1984, covered foreign affairs- and defense-related stories for several Italian newspapers and news magazines, including La Voce Repubblicana, Il Tempo, L'Indipendente, L'Opinione, Il Foglio, and Panorama. Whilst working in Italy, Molinari completed two bachelor's degrees at the University of Rome La Sapienza, in political science in 1989 and history in 1993. Over his La Stampa career, Molinari has reported on the diplomatic and military involvement of the United States and Italy in the Balkans, Iraq, Iran, North Africa, Turkey, Haiti and the Horn of Africa. Molinari is best known for his having been granted interviews with many world leaders, including United States President Barack H. Obama; Molinari is a regular guest commentator on Italian foreign policy and United States politics on news programs aired on the Italians television networks La7 and Tg5, he has occasionally been a panelist on the Cnn and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, aired on the Public Broadcasting Service.

Italian writer Tiziana Lo Porto discusses her new graphic biography Superzelda: The Graphic Life of Zelda Fitzgerald with writer Rick Moody. This new, refreshing, inspired take on one of the greatest icons of the Jazz Age will charm you! Come see Zelda as you have never seen her before! Through extensive research, the journalist Tiziana Lo Porto has cleverly played with Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald�'s own words, extracted from novels, stories, letters, and interviews, as well as statements made by their famous friends, including Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, John Dos Passos, and Sara and Gerald Murphy, to create the dialogue for this comic book and to vividly reconstruct the volatile life of this singular woman. Referencing period photographs, the illustrator Daniele Marotta has not only successfully represented the characters but has also evoked the clothing, landscape, and energy of an era?especially that of the 1920s?in his detailed and playful two-color illustrations.

Lauded Italian jazz guitar virtuoso and music producer/songwriter Fabrizio Sotti will release his stunning new album Right Now on May 14, 2013, via Sotti Entertainment, Inc. Mixing his jazz and pop sensibilities for the first time as a recording artist, Fabrizio has assembled an exciting and unexpected list of guests on his latest effort, which features original songs and timeless covers of popular tunes.

The exhibition presents a collection of furniture and a series of letters, family photographs, and videos that exemplify the modernity of Gio Ponti, a key figure of 20th century design. Architect and designer, founder of �Domus�" and �Stile�" magazines and of the Compasso d�'Oro award, writer and lecturer at the Milan Politecnico, G. ponti was honored with the Médaille d�'Or by the French Academy of Architecture. The exhibition is enriched with a section devoted to Ponti�'s projects in the United States: Alitalia offices (New York, 1958), Time Life Building Auditorium (New York, 1959), Denver Art Museum, (Denver, 1971), MUSA, travelling exhibition of Italian furniture in the U.S.A. (1950-53), furniture for M. Singer&sons (1950s), furniture and walls organized for Altamira (1953). The opening of the exhibition will feature an encounter with the Director of ICI, Riccardo Viale, with the curators of the exhibition, Francesca Molteni and Franco Raggi, deputy-president of the Milan Ordine degli Architetti, with Massimo Vignelli, designer and founder of Vignelli Associates, and with Marianne Lamonaca, curator and deputy director of the Bard Graduate Center. On display a collection of furnishings designed by Gio Ponti between 1935 (chair for the first Montecatini Building) and the 1950s (bookcase, bureau, small table, picture frames and rug for Casa Ponti in via Dezza in Milan, 1956-57).

During 2013, the Year of Italian Culture in the USA, the Honors Center of Italian Universities (H2CU) presents a series of events - meetings and conferences - that will show the results of the ten years of the H2CU activity in the US while outlining the strategy for future collaborations. The leading �actors�" are Italian and American professors, students, researchers involved in the several multidisciplinary academic and scientific joint projects and programs. The H2CU programs have gathered an incredible amount of students and academic professors coming from very different disciplines related to engineering, medicine, archeology, science and law, to name a few.

During a career spanning nearly sixty years Piero della Francesca worked in almost every major center across the Italian peninsula, although nowhere did he accept more commissions than in Borgo San Sepolcro. Like his native city, Piero's paintings are possessed of a character that is neither Florentine nor Sienese but entirely unique. On the closing weekend of the special exhibition, the show's curator will discuss Piero's career in Borgo and explore how some of his masterpieces created for that city reached American shores.

Led by Nathaniel Silver, The Frick Collection. Free with museum admission; no reservations are necessary. Contact: education@frick.org

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Bruno Walter Auditorium.

The New York Opera Forum presents a concert version of Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi.

Discover how cultures around the world rely on plants for everything--from food and medicine to cosmetics--through a stunning re-creation of Europe's first botanical garden in Padua and surprising displays of healing plants featuring research by several NYBG experts. Explore a fascinating presentation of rare books and manuscripts known as herbals, as well as engaging science adventures for kids, and much more.

Healing Plants Around the World features the research of some of the Garden's leading experts in science, medicine, and ethnobotany. Explore plants such as the cinchona tree, the source of quinine, which treats malaria, and white willow, whose bark leads to the production of aspirin. More than 400 species or cultivars of medicinal plants are showcased, most of them grown in the Garden's glasshouses, making this one of the largest exhibitions of medicinal plants ever mounted.

The Italian Renaissance Garden is inspired by Europe's first botanical garden, created in 1545 at the University of Padua, in the Venetian Republic. A lush landscape of Mediterranean flowers, including exotic varieties, endangered species, and medicinal plants, are classically composed to evoke the original design that remains at Padua to this day.

Adult All-Garden Pass tickets start at $20.

Discover how cultures around the world rely on plants for everything--from food and medicine to cosmetics--through a stunning re-creation of Europe's first botanical garden in Padua and surprising displays of healing plants featuring research by several NYBG experts. Explore a fascinating presentation of rare books and manuscripts known as herbals, as well as engaging science adventures for kids, and much more.

Healing Plants Around the World features the research of some of the Garden's leading experts in science, medicine, and ethnobotany. Explore plants such as the cinchona tree, the source of quinine, which treats malaria, and white willow, whose bark leads to the production of aspirin. More than 400 species or cultivars of medicinal plants are showcased, most of them grown in the Garden's glasshouses, making this one of the largest exhibitions of medicinal plants ever mounted.

The Italian Renaissance Garden is inspired by Europe's first botanical garden, created in 1545 at the University of Padua, in the Venetian Republic. A lush landscape of Mediterranean flowers, including exotic varieties, endangered species, and medicinal plants, are classically composed to evoke the original design that remains at Padua to this day. Adult All-Garden Pass tickets start at $20.

Don't miss this exciting opportunity to hear Andrew Weil, M.D., a world-renowned leader in the field of integrative medicine, share fascinating experiences and offer unique perspectives on the power of plants to maximize well-being and quality of life. The recipient of the Garden's first H.H. Rusby Award, Dr. Weil, a Harvard-trained physician, botanist, and Founder and Director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, is being recognized for his distinguished contributions to the fields of ethnobotany and integrative medicine, and for advancing our understanding of the importance of plants in clinical care. After his remarks, meet Dr. Weil, who will sign copies of his recent books, True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure and Spontaneous Happiness: A New Path to Emotional Well-Being. Non-Member $35/Member $10

The 2011 Bonnaroo performance by the polyglot Tuscan artist Jovanotti (nee Lorenzo Cherubini) won over American live music fans, critics and industry alike. Among those taken by Jovanotti's artistry and charisma was the leadership of ATO Records, which will introduce American audiences to him with Italia 1988-2012, a career retrospective including four new tracks, on August 7. This is the artist's first physical album of studio recordings to be released in the U.S., and the first time much of the material has been released here in any format.

Gran Fondo New York brings Italian cycling culture to the world's greatest city on May 19, 2013.

Join 7,000 cyclists on a challenging 110-mile Gran Fondo New York course from New York City to Bear Mountain and back, in an experience fit for a pro and open to anyone who loves to ride. Gran Fondo New York starts with a bang on the world�'s most traveled bridge, George Washington Bridge, exclusively closed for you. Enjoy magnificent views of Manhattan during this once in a lifetime car-free stint. Following Hudson upstream on rural roads and through scenic towns, riders will compete against each other and themselves on a timed climbs which will count towards the King and Queen of Mountain competition. The featured climb of the event and Cima Coppi (highest point of the ride) is the nearly four mile climb up to Bear Mountain in Harriman State Park. After descending, the course will wind its way back, hitting two more timed climbs before finishing in Weehawken with stunning NYC views.

The total ride distance is approximately 110miles/177k and the elevation gain is 8,500ft/2,800m. Consult http://granfondony.com for a list of prices.

In celebration of the recently published catalogue of Robert Lehman's collection of European sculpture and metalwork, this exhibition presents a selection of Italian bronze sculpture of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, displayed as a group for the first time. Featuring bronze casts after models created by masters such as Severo da Ravenna and Desiderio da Firenze, this selection includes independent figural statuettes as well as functional objects created in key centers of Italian bronze production, in particular Padua and Venice.

During the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, bronze statuettes were generally displayed in private studies, where they were accompanied by functional aids to scholarship such as inkwells, writing boxes, and candleholders. The scholars who inhabited these studies often had a profound interest in classical antiquity. Thus, it is unsurprising that classicizing motifs and figures from Greco-Roman mythology abound in these small works in bronze.

The Italian Cultural Institute presents a symposium for the opening of the exhibition "The Italian Renaissance Garden," on view from May 18 to September 8 at the New York Botanical Garden. Speakers: Todd Forrest, New York Botanical Garden, VP for Horticulture and Living Collections will discuss how the modern botanical garden, such as The New York Botanical Garden has its intellectual roots in the botanical gardens of the Italian Renaissance. Lucia Tomasi Tongiorgi, Padova University, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Pisa will give a speech on "The origins of botanical gardens, the fruit of science and art. The exemplary case of Orto Botanico of Padua" Antonella Miola, Vice Praefectus of the Padua University Botanical Garden will present "Over four hundred years oldŠ now confronting with an exciting new life!" The Botanical Garden of the University of Padova was founded in 1545 and since then it has remained and flourished in the same place where it was established, which makes it the oldest Botanical Garden among the existing ones. Interestingly also the circular part that is enclosed by a brick wall (i.e. the Hortus cinctus) can be traced back to the Garden's early times, as shown in a map of the Garden published in the year 1591. At the time of the Garden�'s foundation the University of Padova, already three centuries old, enjoyed an international reputation of excellence. A number of students from all over Europe chosen to come to Padova to study medicine, and thus had to attend lessons at the Botanical Garden in order to learn how to recognize the true medicinal plants which, in those times, were basically the only source of remedies available to physicians. Therefore, the Botanical Garden became a source of inspiration for those physicians who would afterwards bring back to their homeland the knowledge acquired in Padova. Thus, since its foundation the Garden was situated at the center of a network of relations with other scientific institutions throughout Europe and inspired the creation of other famous Botanical Garden as, in Leyda, Lisbona, Uppsala and Bratislava. In 1997 it has been inscripted on the UNESCO World Heritage List due to the fact that "for longer than five centuries, the Botanical Garden of Padova has represented an exceptional testimony of scientific and cultural significance."

The musical tradition of Sicily includes many songs that speak of the sea, sing its praises, or are sung by those whose work connects them to the water. Together, acclaimed musicians Michela Musolino and Vincenzo Castellana, pay tribute to Sicily's sea through their music. Musolino, a vocalist known for her performances of Sicilian Roots Music, and Castellana, a noted percussionist of the Sicilian drumming tradition, have created a work of song, percussion, and recitations which illustrates the intimate connection of Sicily, its history and its culture to the sea which surrounds it.

Italian pianist Giuseppe Mentuccia began his piano studies at five years of age. He first worked with Almerindo d'Amato and Elisabetta Pacelli at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome and with Sergio Perticaroli at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, graduating with highest honors. In the United States Giuseppe has been guest artist of the �Orlando Chamber Orchestra�" (Florida) where he has was featured soloist in concertos of Mozart and Beethoven under the direction of the conductor Pasquale Valerio. In September of 2011, Giuseppe Mentuccia entered the Master�'s program in Piano Performance at The Juilliard School under the guidance of Jerome Lowenthal.Fascinated by improvisation and contemporary music, he has been part of the Contemporary Ensemble of Rome, under the direction of Marco Angius. Continuing his interest in the works of living composers, he was recently selected as a member of The New Juilliard Ensemble under the direction of Joel Sachs.

 Just in time to help us plan our summer vacations, Francesca Cigola presents her brand-new guide to North America�'s most important outdoor sculpture parks. Join us to get a signed copy of this essential art lover�'s travel companion! (Princeton Architectural Press)

Whether located in the heart of a metropolis such as Chicago or on sprawling fields in the countryside, sculpture parks and gardens have become increasingly popular destinations for art and nature lovers alike. These art parks offer visitors a unique opportunity to interact with large-scale works designed for quiet contemplation in natural landscapes. Art Parks is the first comprehensive guide to America�'s most important outdoor sculpture parks. Parks are divided into chapters thematically and by region, with four maps that locate parks within each geographic area.

Each of the fifty-seven locations, from large-scale parks in the countryside to small urban gardens and corporate sculpture collections, is described in detail and beautifully photographed. This handy guide features works by Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Olafur Eliasson, Alberto Giacometti, Andy Goldsworthy, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Henry Moore, Isamu Noguchi, and Richard Serra, among others. An appendix provides capsule summaries of forty six additional parks. With its flexibind format, Art Parks is equally at home in the traveler�'s backpack or on the sculpture lover�'s side table.

Francesca Cigola is an Italian architect and writer based in New York City.

Works of art rarely seen by the public, including Madonna of the Impruneta Type by Andrea della Robbia and a fresco after Pietro Lorenzetti, are housed in the Reading Room of the Frick Art Reference Library. Join Andrew W. Mellon Chief Librarian Stephen Bury for a half-hour tour of the Reading Room and its treasures.

This talk meets in the Lobby of the Frick Art Reference Library at 10 East 71st Street; advance reservations are required. Contact: gallertalks@frick.org

Biagio Antonacci (born 9 November 1963) is an Italian singer-songwriter from Milan. In 1993 he participated in the Sanremo Music Festival with the song Non so più a chi credere; in the same year he toured around all of Italy and gained public acknowledgement. On 1 September 2005 in Hollywood, Biagio Antonacci received the award for "Best Male Selling Italian Artist" for over a million copies of the album Convivendo sold by early November.