Special Event – Discovering Bologna
Friday August 23 2013, 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Admission is free.
Join us to explore the possibilities of a sojourn in Bologna, to uncover the layers of the lively modern city’s ancient past. Your visit to Bologna might include soaking in her seductive colors, culture, and history, or exploring her famous food traditions. Mary Tolaro Noyes, author of Bologna Reflections: An Uncommon Guide, will present the city’s opportunities, combining her experience of the last 20 years with an audio-visual presentation. The evening will also be a chance to learn more about one of Bologna’s best language schools: ARCA. A light aperitivo will be served. Special thanks to the City of Bologna, Tourism Division for their kind support.
Presented in English. RSVP to italianschool@sfiis.org.
Workshop di Cinema – Antonioni+Vitti X4
Saturday September 7 2013, 2:00pm to 5:00pm
Cost: $45
Starting in 1960, Michelangelo Antonioni created four films in four years that redefined the language of cinema. L’Avventura, La Notte, L’Eclisse and Deserto Rosso, all featuring his lover and muse Monica Vitti, made Antonioni one of the world’s most prominent and discussed directors. We will screen key scenes of these films to uncover the art of Antonioni and Vitti and how their intimacy on set and in real life shaped their gaze on the alienating modern society.
Workshop is in Italian. Pre-registration required.
Italian for Travelers
Saturday July 27 2013, 1:30pm to 4:30pm
Cost: $45
Planning a trip to Italy? This highly entertaining workshop will help you prepare. You will be exposed to situations that you are likely to encounter when traveling–meeting people, ordering in a restaurant, making a reservation, shopping–learning essential Italian words and key phrases so you can get more from your vacation. The class is intended for students with little or no previous exposure to Italian.
Workshop is in Italian and English. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Arte – Viaggio in Sicilia
Saturday May 18 2013, 2:00pm to 5:00pm
Cost: $45
Over 2,500 years at a strategic crossroads of the western world have left Sicily with an unparalleled historical legacy and rich architectural diversity. Whether you are more attracted by Greek temples, Roman villas, Norman cathedrals or Baroque churches, Sicily offers a range of historical sites that is not easily matched. Let us guide you through “the land where the lemon trees bloom.”
Workshop is in Italian. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Traduzione
Saturday March 9 2013, 2pm to 4pm
Saturday March 30 2013, 2pm to 5pm
Cost: $75
“Translating is the best way of reading a text,” Italo Calvino once wrote. It’s also the best way to refine your knowledge of a language. Italian literary translator Silvia Pareschi – who translates American authors including Jonathan Franzen, Don DeLillo, Alice Munro, E.L. Doctorow, and many others – will show you how to make literary fiction composed in English appear to have been written directly in Italian.The class will be divided into two Saturday sessions. In the first session, Pareschi will explain her translating techniques,and students will bring their own translations to discuss in the second session.
Workshop is in Italian. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Cinema – Commedia all’Italiana
Saturday March 2 2013, 2:00pm to 5:00pm
Cost: $45
The economic boom that, beginning in the mid-fifties, transformed Italy, brought with it tremendous social and cultural upheaval. Italian-style comedies of the period highlighted these changes to a public that wanted to smile again after the tragedies of WWII and the Resistance. Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman, and Alberto Sordi are the great stars of these films that mirror the virtues, and, especially, the vices of this “New Italy.”
Workshop is in Italian and English. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Cucina – Gli Gnocchi
Saturday February 2 2013, 2pm to 6pm
Saturday February 9 2013, 2pm to 6pm
Cost: $75
Now that we have learned to make pasta, it’s time for another staple of traditional Italian cooking: Gnocchi. This is a dish found all over Italy, in a variety of styles. Our hands-on workshop will show you how to impress your dinner guests with authentic and delicious home-made gnocchi. The class will take place in San Francisco; location details provided upon registration.
Workshop is in Italian and English. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Cucina – Holidays Treats Italian Style
Saturday December 8 2012, 2:00pm to 6:00pm
Cost: $75
Holiday season is the time of the year to bake and share treats with your family and friends. Add new Italian recipes to your traditional collection during this hands-on workshop. After cooking, students will enjoy together the food they prepared in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. The class will take place in San Francisco; location details provided upon registration.
Workshop is in Italian and English. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Conversazione Elementare
Saturday December 1 2012, 2:00pm to 4:30pm
Cost: $45
Finally! After sweating over your grammar books, go “in piazza”, meet new friends, and test your Italian. You will put into practice what you have learned in our elementary classes, focusing on role-playing, and socializing in real-life situations. The class is intended for students who have completed at least the Elementary 1 and 2 classes, or equivalent.
Workshop is in Italian. Pre-registration required.
Un pomeriggio al Bar
Saturday November 3 2012, 2:00pm to 4:30pm
Cost: $30
Scopa is a traditional Italian card game. Nearly everyone in Italy has played it at least once in their life, and it is still common to see people gathered around a table bantering over a heated game of Scopa. Learn how to play it, and experience the authentic Italian bar atmosphere. Don’t miss this special afternoon at IIS!
Workshop is in Italian and English. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Cinema – Italian Neorealism
Saturday September 8 2012, 2pm to 6pm
Cost: $45
After WWII, a group of Italian filmmakers with limited resources and a new perspective on cinema set out to capture the stories unfolding around them. In a few short years, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti, and Giuseppe De Santis shot films that became the guiding light for the art of modern cinema. Through the analysis of some pivotal scenes, we will trace the origins and developments of Neorealism and investigate the reasons that made this movement a turning point in the history of world cinema.
Workshop is in Italian. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Cucina – La Pasta Fatta in Casa
Saturday August 25 2012, 2pm to 6pm
Saturday September 15 2012, 2pm to 6pm
Cost: $75
Learn to make homemade pasta in our next hands-on cooking class. Together we will make three different kinds of pasta: pappardelle with a sausage ragout, ravioli with spinach and ricotta, and a special type of filled pasta: a wheel of pasta filled with a mushroom cream. And after the cooking is done we’ll savor our dinner together.
Workshop is in English and Italian. Pre-registration required.
Italian for Travelers
Saturday August 4 2012, 1pm to 4pm
Cost: $45
Planning a trip to Italy? This highly entertaining workshop will help you prepare. You will be exposed to situations that you are likely to encounter when traveling–meeting people, ordering in a restaurant, making a reservation, shopping–learning essential Italian words and key phrases so you can get more from your vacation. The class is intended for students with little or no previous exposure to Italian.
Workshop is in English and Italian. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Arte
Saturday May 12 2012, 2pm to 5pm
Cost: $45
The Real Origins of a Modern Myth: The Italian Renaissance and the Birth of the Tarot. At the time when people believed in the legend of the female Pope, when the stars were thought to control kings’ fortunes, and Greek gods could live side by side with Christian angels, Italian Lords commissioned and played mysterious games of trumps. Join us for a historical look at the theories and myths surrounding the iconography of the first tarot decks in Italian Renaissance courts.
Led by Cinzia Meneghello, an Italian artist with a passion for the history of the arts and the esoteric.
She holds a degree in Art History and worked in LA, Maui and Santa Fe.
Workshop is in English and Italian. Pre-registration required.
Italian for Travelers
Saturday May 12 2012, 1pm to 4pm
Cost: $45
Planning a trip to Italy? This highly entertaining workshop will help you prepare. You will be exposed to situations that you are likely to encounter when traveling–meeting people, ordering in a restaurant, making a reservation, shopping–learning essential Italian words and key phrases so you can get more from your vacation.
Workshop is in English and Italian. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Cinema – Italian Film
Saturday March 3 2012, 2pm to 5pm
Cost: $45
Using scenes from selected films and commentary, this three-hour cinema workshop will give students an overview of Italian cinema from post-war neorealism to the present day.
Workshop is in Italian. Pre-registration required.
Italian for Travelers
Saturday March 3 2012, 1pm to 4pm
Cost: $45
Planning a trip to Italy? This highly entertaining workshop will help you prepare. You will be exposed to situations that you are likely to encounter when traveling–meeting people, ordering in a restaurant, making a reservation, shopping–learning essential Italian words and key phrases so you can get more from your vacation.
Workshop is in English and Italian. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Cucina – Cooking for Carnevale
Saturday February 18 2012, 2pm to 6pm
Cost: $75
We wait all year for the special treats that are enjoyed only at Carnevale. Workshop participants will work together to create a colorful, fun menu. Buon appetito!
Workshop is in English and Italian. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Cucina – Funghi in cucina
Sunday November 6 2011, 2pm to 6pm
Cost: $75
Nothing equals the rich flavor that mushroom varieties bring to typical autumn dishes. Diana Marano demystifies mushrooms in this special cooking workshop. You will prepare dishes from the Italian tradition and then enjoy your meal in a friendly and fun atmosphere.
Workshop is in English and Italian. Pre-registration required.
Italian for Travelers
Saturday October 22 2011, 1pm to 4pm
Cost: $45
Planning a trip to Italy? This highly entertaining workshop will help you prepare. You will be exposed to situations that you are likely to encounter when traveling–meeting people, ordering in a restaurant, making a reservation, shopping–learning essential Italian words and key phrases so you can get more from your vacation.
Workshop is in English and Italian. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Cucina – Sapori d’estate
Sunday August 28 2011, 2pm to 6pm
Cost: $75
Tomato, eggplant, mozzarella: typical ingredients for an Italian summer meal. Our cooking instructor Diana Marano will guide you as you prepare a very special menu that will include Timballo di Pasta and Melanzane alla Parmigiana.
Workshop is in English and Italian. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Arte – Un pomeriggio agli Uffizi
Saturday August 6 2011, 2pm to 5pm
Cost: $30
So many of the world’s masterpieces are found in this museum in Florence. Let us take you on a special guided tour with Italian art expert and instructor Irene Ottonello.
Workshop is in Italian. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Cucina – Gli arancini di Montalbano
Sunday June 5 2011, 2pm to 5.30pm
Cost: $65
“Gli arancini” are so delicious that the most widely read author in Italy, Andrea Camilleri, wrote one of his novels around this dish: deep-fried stuffed rice balls that commissario Montalbano describes in loving detail. Let our instructor and cook, Diana Marano, teach you all the secrets to preparing them.
Workshop is in English and Italian. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Cucina – L’inverno in pentola
Saturday February 5 2011, 2pm to 6pm
Cost: $75
Location: San Francisco
Address provided upon registration
Warm up your winter with another tasty workshop hosted by our instructor and cook, Diana Marano. You will prepare winter dishes from the Italian tradition and then enjoy your meal in a friendly and fun atmosphere.
Workshop is in English and Italian. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Cucina – Biscotti in festa
Sunday December 5 2010, 2.30pm to 5.30pm
Cost: $50
Location: San Francisco
Address provided upon registration
There is nothing as festive as cookies during the holiday season. From the Italian tradition of baking, indulge yourself and surprise your family and friends with new cookies (biscotti in Italian) you can easily learn to make! IIS invites you for a sweet cooking class followed by an afternoon tea with our instructor and cook Diana Marano.
Workshop di Cucina – Halloween in italiano
Sunday October 17 2010, 2pm to 6pm
Cost: $75
Join us for an Italian take on Halloween! Our second Workshop di Cucina will focus on Italian dishes featuring autumn and Halloween favorites pumpkin and squash. This will be a hands-on cooking class where our instructor and cook Diana Marano will explain techniques and secrets on how to prepare risotto alla zucca. The menu will also include zucchine ripiene and a special type of biscotti aptly named “owl eyes”. As usual we will use all organic ingredients and prepare each dish from scratch. You will have a chance to help in the preparation and then enjoy the meal all together.
Workshop is in English and Italian. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Musica
Saturday November 6 2010, 2pm to 4pm
Cost: $30
In this workshop you’ll meet the most Italian of musical instruments: the mandolin. This is an introductory presentation from the music to the instrument makers through the centuries; in fact the full story of this most important Italian instrument, presented and performed by Maestro Achille Bocus.
Achille Bocus is a Mandolin and orchestral Double Bass player from Milan who moved in the Bay Area in 2009. He teaches and performs Classical and Italian mandolin and conducts the San Francisco Mandolin Orchestra.
Workshop is in English and Italian. Pre-registration required.
Workshop di Cucina – La Sicilia in tavola
Sunday July 25 2010, 12pm to 4pm
Cost: $75
Location: San Rafael
Address provided upon registration
This workshop will introduce you to the delights of Sicilian cuisine. In a beautiful country setting, we will create authentic Sicilian dishes from scratch using organic ingredients while learning the vocabulary of the Italian kitchen. We will then enjoy our home-cooked meal on a beautiful patio.
Diana Marano, an IIS instructor and a passionate cook, will lead the workshop.
Workshop is in English and Italian. Pre-registration required.
Cinema Workshop - Laboratorio di Cinema
Saturday February 27, 2010
Cost: $50
The workshop will be dedicated to the analysis and discussion of the 1961 Academy Award-winning comedy Divorce, Italian Style/Divorzio all’italiana, directed by Pietro Germi and featuring Marcello Mastroianni, Daniela Rocca, and Stefania Sandrelli. An unparalleled mix of scathing social commentary and comedic genius, the film will offer the workshop participants the opportunity to further develop their linguistic and critical skills while deepening their knowledge of postwar Italian culture.
Led by Domietta Torlasco, Assistant Professor of Italian, Comparative Literature, and Screen Cultures at Northwestern University and author of The Time of the Crime (Stanford UP, 2008).
Workshop is in Italian. Pre-registration required.
Italian Etymology Workshop
Saturday August 8 2009, 10 am to 1pm
Cost: $40
This workshop is designed to provide students with the linguistic tools necessary for a critical understanding of the Italian lexicon. Working collectively, we will dig up the multiple layers of meaning present in our language, as they have stratified through the passing of the centuries, from Medieval to Modern times.
The class will focus on specific words, which we will investigate from different perspectives: we will unveil the etymology of words typical of the Italian culture, like “pizza”, showing how diverse Mediterranean cultures have contributed to the Italian lexical heritage; we will also discuss the history and devices through which semantic development takes place and demonstrate how sometimes the final meaning of words and idiomatic expressions can be tipped over through the passing of time.
The theoretical aspects of our work will be complemented by a constant interaction with the students, who will be asked to actively participate in the etymological exploration, adopting a dynamic and playful approach.
The workshop will be taught by Irene Pasqualini, Ph.D. in Northwest Semitic Philology, Universita’degli studi di Napoli-L’Orientale.
Workshop is in Italian. Pre-registration required.
Theatre Workshop – Laboratorio Teatrale
Saturday May 9 2009, 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm
Cost: $65
The workshop allows the students to experience the Italian language in a dynamic and instinctual way, through simple acting tools.
The first half of the workshop will be dedicated to warming up, with basic movement and theatre games. This will prepare the students for the scene work to follow and will also facilitate the absorption of the language in a way that is intuitive, engaging the body as much as the mind. The instructions from the teacher and the dynamic interactions among the students –which will all happen in Italian– will allow the students to experience a different kind of listening and speaking.
The second half will be dedicated to working in duets or groups on selected scenes from La Locandiera, by 18th century playwright, Carlo Goldoni. The play will briefly be introduced and contextualized.
The workshop will culminate in an informal presentation of the work on the scenes.
Beatrice Basso - dramaturg, translator and actor – will guide the workshop.
Workshop is in Italian. Pre-registration required.
