OK so this isn't exactly about Italian culture but...

Contemporary pop artist Takashi Murakami will reprise his recent L. A. success, opening a Louis Vuitton store at the Brooklyn Museum as part of his upcoming major retrospective exhibition. What does this have to do with Italian culture you say? Well, Italians are known for some of the best fashion design in the world, as well as for leather... I know, I know, but this will be fun (and it will mean that the Brooklyn Museum will be a real zoo this spring:

Lots of celebrity news to accompany this story: The Brooklyn Museum will also host a gala opening for the show, featuring Kanye West and Jay-Z sign up for gala. Following the debut of the wildly popular exhibition, ©Murakami, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles last fall, the exhibition moves to the Brooklyn Museum of Art on April 5. It will contian some ninety 90 works and will be on view through July 13.

On April 3, a gala event will be held at the Brooklyn Museum. Kanye West will perform in a mini-concert, while Jay-Z will act as a co-chair.

The vaunted French Louis Vuitton brand will install a shop at the Brooklyn Museum of Art for the run of the exhibition, featuring limited-edition (read very expensive) handbags and other leather products with Murakami designs.

Speak Italian!

Interested in learning Italian? There's not much available in Brooklyn unless you are enrolled in a high school or college offering Italian courses. However, we suggest the Scuola Italiana in Greenwich Village. Classes are offered at various levels including:

Elementary (3 levels Days and Weeknights; 4 levels Saturdays)
Italian language classes are offered through a comprehensive approach, the goal enabling one to read, write and speak with equal proficiency while gaining knowledge of Italy, its culture and history. The classes are conducted in Italian with some English used in the beginning as a support. Students are trained to conceptualize in Italian rather than translate or substitute words:

Intermediate levels (3 levels Days and Weeknights; 4 levels Saturdays)
More time is dedicated to conversing, with a continued focus on pronunciation and inflection. Each new session includes a review of earlier materials. A comprehensive application of all studied grammatical and syntactical functions is employed in written work and conversation, which also emphasizes idiomatic expressions. Students are now able to compose fictional and non-fictional essays which help aid in developing vocabulary and use of structures.

Advanced levels (more than six, varied according to ability and emphasis)
The Advanced levels are not only progressively defined but also each has a specific emphasis: some focus on review of grammar and translation skills other than conversation. Others are based on conversation and reading to develop vocabulary and cultural knowledge. Placement into our advanced levels is based on the mastery and application of all previous studies. In all groups vocabulary is expanded along with more attention devoted to writing, reading essays, plays and literature. Students are encouraged to contribute material, making these classes into an ongoing seminar which can be taken over a period of time as a means of maintaining a high level of fluency in Italian. Emphasis is given to cultural studies, usage, idiomatic expressions, and studies of contemporary Italy.

The Scuola Italian also acts as a cultural center, offering events throughout the year. Upcoming events include:

March 1 BALLETTO -- IL REGALO DELL'ITALIA AL MONDO: Marco Pelle
After all, the French appropriated something born and developed in Italy and is as popular as pizza
April 12: ITALIAN GESTUALITY: Beatrice Muzi
A peep at Italian gestures from daily life to Art History, crossing the Commedia dell'Arte, exploring the illustrious Italian way of non-verbal communication, part theatrical gesture, part an encoded language in need of a key.
June 7 : ITALIAN CAFÉ: Lamberti, Mariano, Messina, Muzi, Pelle, Zannoni
A wide-ranging moderated discussion of culture, nature, history, art, cuisine, architecture, and more, like happening upon several heated and engaging discussions at an outdoor Italian café rolled into one. No smoking!

Tuition fees vary by class. For more information:
SCUOLA ITALIANA del Greenwich Village
New York's Italian language school, established 1987
240 Bleecker Street * New York, NY 10014
(212) 229-1361
bm@scuolaitaliana.org

Brooklyn's oldest restaurants ... are Italian!

Brooklyn has received lots of attention in the last few years for all its new, hip restaurants. We thought that from time to time we'd take a look at some of the real old timers, since so many are, unsurpringly, Italian.

One of Brooklyn's oldest restaurants is Bamonte's at 32 Withers St. in Williamsburg. It was opened in 1900 as the Liberty Hall by the Bamonte family, originally from Salerno. Current owner is 3rd-generation Anthony Bamonte, who maintains a long tradition. Back in the day, the restaurant featured a large catering hall and bocce courts. These days, the restaurant is as much known for its ravioli with cheese and linguini with crab sauce as for the fact that it has been the setting for scenes in such classic tv series as the Sopranos and Kojak. If you go, expect classic red-sauce Italian, stick with the basics, and soak in all that atmosphere.

Just the facts:

Bamonte's

32 Withers Street (between Lorimer St. and Union Ave.)

Brooklyn NY 11211

718.384.8831

Open Mon and Wed-Thu, noon-10:30pm; Fri-Sat, noon-11pm; Sun, noon-10pm; Tue, closed

Cards: MasterCard, Visa

Cost: entrees, $13-$20

Menu: Click Here

Subway: G, L at Metropolitan Ave.-Lorimer St.

Map: Click Here

Website: http://www.bamontesrestaurant.com/

(currently out of service)

Interpreti Veneziari Italian Chamber Ensemble to Perform in Brooklyn

The Brooklyn Center of Brooklyn College will present the New York City Premiere of the Interpreti Veneziari Italian Chamber Ensemble

Experience the romance and elegance of Venice through the music of Interpreti Veneziani. This acclaimed Italian chamber ensemble has captivated audiences across the globe with their interpretations of some of the greatest works of the Baroque period. Having performed in Sweden, Australia, Japan and the Bahamas, they now make their New York City debut at Brooklyn Center, invoking the spirit of the magical city that was the birthplace of the great master Antonio Vivaldi.

Sunday, February 3, 2008 - 2pm Matinee Whitman Theatre

Tickets: $25 http://www.brooklyncenteronline.org/

The BROOKLYN CENTER Performing Arts Complex is located at Brooklyn College, 2900 Campus Road & Hillel Place, 1 Block West of "The Junction" (the intersection of Hillel Place, Nostrand, and Flatbush Avenues)

Travel Directions by Train Bus Car
Brooklyn Center Parking Information

EZ-Find us with Google interactive map

Mario Giacomelli exhibition in New York

The Instituto Italiano di Cultura of New York has just opened an exhibition of photographs by the renowned Mario Giacomelli. Organized by the IIC's sister institute in Los Angeles, the New York presentation will be its final showing in the United States.

Born in Senigallia (Ancona) in 1925, Giacomelli began working as a typesetter at age 13. There, he discovered the world of photography, and began photographing around his hometown. Essentially a self-taught photographer, he decided to fully commit himself to phtography after World War II. Inspired by the gritty Neo-Realist films of Vittoria de Sica and Roberto Rossellini, he was drawn to an art form that offered immediacy and realistic veracity.

Although Giacomelli is one of Italy's great modern photographers, it is not yet well known in the United States. Some of the images in this exhibition are being shown for the first time in the United States. His themes are broadly universal - loneliness, old age, and death are common subjects in his work. His photos, almost always black and white, were printed to emphasize the contrasts between figures and background, thus revealing their abstract forms. Giacomelli died in 2000.

The exhibition will be on view at the Instituto Italiano di Cultura of New York through Friday, February 15, 2008

Instituto Italiano di Cultura

686 Park Avenue @ 69th Street

New York, NY 10021

tel. 212.879.4242

Vespas in Brooklyn

Here's a business you may not know about: Scooter Bottega, owned by Alberto Bruchi, in Carroll Gardens. Bruchi ws born in Pontedera, Tuscany, hometown of the Vepsa factory. For Bruchi, Vespa's are a part of everyday life. His logo is Vespa = Freedom.

Here is one of his gorgeous bikes for sale, a vintage Sprint Veloce Silver 150cc.

In 2000 Bruchi restored and brought his first vintage Vespa to the U. S. - a 1970 Gran Turismo. Thanks to the great response and numerous questions he'd receive from passersby, he decided to open Scooter Bottega. Bruchi refurbishes old Vespas and Lambrettis, and is about as good as they come in bringing old vespas back to life. Moreover, Bruchi returns to Italy a few times each year to search out old Vespas from the 1950s to the 1980s. A visit to his shop offers a true taste of La Dolce Vita.

For even more enticement to visit Bruchi's shop, there are several Italian restaurants of note very nearby:

Ferdinando's Focucceria Rstrnt
151 Union St, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 855-1545

Two Fifteen Cucina Napoletan
215 Columbia St, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 858-2960

House of Calzones
132 Union St, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 624-9107

Lucali Brick Oven

Fabulous pizza.
575 Henry St, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 858-4086 -

Nino Pizzeria
531 Henry St, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 834-0863

Bocca Lupo
391 Henry St, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 243-2522

Frankies Spuntino Restaurant
457 Court St, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 403-0033

Scooter Bottega is located at 65 Union Street at the corner of Van Brunt.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=65+Union+St,+Brooklyn,+NY+11231,+USA&ie=UTF8&ll=40.685568,-74.004807&spn=0.008168,0.012832&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1

Call for an appointment at 718.858.4667 or email alberto@scooterbottega.com.

Click here to view video in Flash 8

Click here to view video in QuickTime 7

Click here to download video for your video iPod

Some great Italian restaurants in Brooklyn

We'll be offering restaurant reviews in the future. For now, here are six places worth visiting; even a list as brief as this one suggests the varied approaches to Italian cuisine to be found in the borough of Brooklyn.

Al di la. One of the most dependable, and truly exceptional, Italian restaurants in Brooklyn. Venetian style. Plan ahead - no reservations, so arrive at opening time or wait in their wine bar around the corner. Moderate/expensive. 248 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn 718.783.4565

Grimaldis - lots of disagreement these days whether Grimaldi's is still worth it, but is well known for its Patsy's style thin-crust pizzas. On good days, they're really good. Beware the long lines, regardless of the weather. Inexpensive. 19 Old Fulton Street, Brooklyn 718.858.4300

Here's a little-known old style place: Lodomini's. Try the pizza with mussels or of spaghetti with tripe and peas. 871 Third Avenue, Brooklyn 718.768.4373

If there's one reason for pizza-lovers to come to Brooklyn, it must be DiFara's. Domenico DeMarco is a true saint; there has never been a better pizza made in New York, period. Also long lines but it's worth it. Once you finally order, stay at the counter to assure that your pizza is being made, then witness a master at work. Inexpensive. 1424 Avenue J, Brooklyn 718.258.1367 (pictured above)

Locanda vini e Olii is a charming Clinton Hill restaurant/wine bar known for its homey, Tuscan-style food. Housed in an antique pharmacy. Inexpensive/medium 129 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn 718.622.9202

D.O.C. Wine Bar - how many Sardinian wine bars have you visited? This one has a very good selection. Inexpensive/moderate 83 North 7th Street, Brooklyn 718.963.1925

Defonte's Sandwich Shop in Red Hook has been around long before any of the neighborhood's artists were born - even before their grandparents were born. Try any hero with fried eggplant - simple but superb. Inexpensive. 379 Columbia Street, Brooklyn 718.855.6982