News from Turin
Centro Internazionale
di Studi Primo Levi
On July 2nd, 3rd and 4th, 2010 the Teatro Stabile of Turin and the International Primo Levi
Studies Center will present a dramatic reading of Primo Levi's
scientific writings directed by Valter Malosti. Read
A new annotated bibliography on Primo Levi designed for translators is now available for download. Read
|
The Italian Jewish World
Explore Italian Jewish studies and culture in Italy, Israel, and the Americas. The weekly and monthly features of CPL include: Printed Matter by Alessandro Cassin, The Centaur by Franco Baldasso, Books, and Academia.
To know more about Primo Levi and his work visit Centro Internazionale di Studi Primo Levi in Turin.
Find out more on our homepage.
|
|
|
 |
|
Daniela Di Castro (1958-2010)
Members of
the political and cultural worlds gave their last farewell on Sunday to Daniela
Di Castro, renowned art historian and beloved director of the Jewish Museum of
Rome. Centro Primo Levi New York joins the Moscati-Di Castro families and the
Jewish Community of Rome in paying tribute to a friend and eminent scholar
whose work, imagination, and extraordinary ability to personify the thousand
facets of Roman Jewry, will always stand as inspiration to those who will pursue
her ideas and the projects she initiated.
A
professor of Decorative Arts at the University of Rome and of Jewish Art at the
Rome Rabbinical College, Daniela Di Castro was an internationally acclaimed
expert in the history of textiles and silver work. Her vision led the Jewish
Museum of Rome into the 21st century and made its unparalleled
collection known well beyond the borders of Italy. She loved and understood
each object as a catalyst of communal life and mirror of history. Under her
guidance the museum developed sophisticated interpretative tools, integrated
the collection with the ritual and daily life of the community, and made Rome
ever more aware of its oldest minority. In recognition of her achievements and
international work, in 2009 she was nominated Ambassador of Culture of the
City of Rome.
With ways
that were both unassuming and unforgettable and a sense of humor that kept
digging forever into one's soul, Daniela Di Castro built an invaluable
endowment for Italian and world Jewry: a place where twenty-two centuries are
not the past, where people recognize themselves and meet the other, and
contradictions are opportunities for dialogue.
Most of
all, Daniela treasured life in both its highest and most prosaic expressions. She
loved the ability of human beings to represent the world as a mosaic of
signs and images, within which she affectionately traced the lines and dots of
the Jewish tradition.
It will
take a long time to fully embrace her legacy and
understand all the magic that she instilled in the museum. In her last
interview with the Italian monthly Pagine Ebraiche, Daniela pointed out that "her" rimonim
are like butterflies that fly among the grass while in most museums they would be
pinned down on velvet.
And this
is how we all remember her: marveling at each object, playing with their
stories, and always ensuring that they belong to life. Friends and colleagues remember Daniela Di Castro on Moked.it
|
The Center for Contemporary Jewish Documentation in Milan Launches Online History Journal
Alessandro Cassin interviews Michele SarfattiThe recent launch of the online magazine Quest. Issues in Contemporary Jewish History is a quietly important event. It willprovide the
English language public with direct access to one of the many
activities of the Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea- CDEC.
The rich body of historical research carried out in Italy has often
lagged behind in finding international readership, Quest is a step
toward rectifying this. Founded
in Milan in 1955 on the ten-year anniversary of the liberation of Italy
from the Nazis and the fall of the Fascist Social Republic, CDEC has
become the foremost Jewish Contemporary Documentation Center in Italy.
By virtue of its special commitment to documenting, researching and
preserving the memory of the Shoah, the CDEC Foundation came to be
regarded as the "place of memory" for the thousands of Italian Jews who
were deported and murdered. Structured as a non profit organization
(ONLUS), it is an independent Institution for the study of Italian
Jewish History and Culture. Carried for many years by the sheer force
of dedication of its core group of researchers, CDEC was at last
legally recognized by Italian Presidential Decree in 1990. As of late,
the Italian Government is threatening to deal a heavy blow by cutting
the Center's funding in half. As stated on their web site www.quest-cdecjournal.it "Quest is a journal devoted to historical research and
historiographical debate on Jewish life and history in the period
between the mid-18th and the beginning of the 21st century. It's
intention is to be inclusive of all Jewish realities as they developed
in the modern period from the ancient Mediterranean communities
originating from the Spanish and Portuguese Diasporas up to the 'newer'
Eastern and Central European Jewish experiences and later American
Jewish and Israeli history". Read
|
New Partnership Facilitates Access to Italian Archives
The National Institute for the History of Italy's Liberation Movement and the Italian Science Scholars in North America Foundation partner to open up outstanding archives and libraries for
North American researchers and scholars interested in the study of
contemporary history in Italy. The institutes of Bologna, Firenze,
Milano, Modena, Napoli, Padova, Torino, Trieste e Venezia are part of
the INSMLI Network. Applications are open to scholars and students to work on collections throughout Italy. Read
|
|
|
