A Day with Dante
On March 25, the Department of Italian at Georgetown University and the Italian Cultural Institute of Washington DC will celebrate Dantedì, a day commemorating the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s journey through the afterlife.
They will present a webinar, Dantedì: A Day with Dante featuring two lectures. Professor Dennis Looney of the Modern Language Association will discuss “Radical Dante” on the poet’s questioning the idea of an orderly world. Professor Deborah Parker of the University of Virginia will discuss global adaptations of Dante’s work in “Dante in the World.” The webinar takes place on Zoom at 4:30 ET and registration is available at the Institute’s site.
Dantedì is part of a celebration of the 160th anniversary of Italian-US relations. You can find more events celebrating this important anniversary on its website.
Life Among the Trees
The Italian Research Institute at Georgetown also celebrates Italian innovation by spotlighting the visionary work of architect Stefano Boeri and his astonishing Forest City project. These apartment towers incorporate trees and plants on the exterior as a way to improve a city’s air quality by absorbing pollution and converting CO2 into oxygen. The first of these Vertical Forests, built in Milan, incorporates more than 700 trees and 20,000 plants. He and his firm, Stefano Boeri Architetti, are now working on Vertical Forest and Forest Cities projects around the globe.
The Institute’s presentation is available on their site and includes videos of his work along with an interview with the star architect.
This feature is presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute of Washington DC.
