Brooklyn Bridge turns 125 - Buy some gum!

This Memorial Day Weekend, New York is celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge. Congratulations, Bridge!

Our contribution to the big celebration is to let everyone know that the iconic Brooklyn Chewing Gum (ubiquitous in the tabacchi of Italy) can be purchased in Brooklyn, and at a great shop - Stinky Bklyn. This wonderful cheese store on Smith Street not only carries the gum for $1.50 a pack, but an impressive variety of Italian cheeses (brescianelle stagionata anyone?). You'll find both the common and rare at Stinky Bklyn, as well as a lot of advice on cheeses and wines to drink them with.

Check out Stinky Bklyn:
261 Smith Street @ DeGraw
www.stinkybklyn.com

Play Bocce in Brooklyn!

Interested in learning how to play bocce ball? Try Floyd New York, a new-ish bar on Atlantic Avenue. This neighborhood spot on the edge Brooklyn Heights is decorated with old portraits, has worn furniture, and a decent jukebox (plenty of indie rock). Not much of a menu, but there's cheap beer and bourbon. Also, you can bring your own food in case you want to spend an afternoon celebrating a birthday have a get together work friends.

So OK, not very Italian, but there aren't many other places in town where you can play bocce on an indoor clay court. Bocce is one of the oldest games on earth. Similar to lawn bowling or shuffleboard, it is played on a long court and can be played with 2 or 3 teams. Floyd, NY has a 40-ft. indoor court made of packed red clay and they host the city's only year-round bocce tournament along with Union Hall. Go to http://floydny.com/index.htm for their tournament schedule and more information.

Directions: Floyd, NY is 131 Atlantic Avenue between Henry and Clinton Streets, on the border of Brooklyn Heights and Carroll Garden. F, G Trains: Get off at Bergen Street and walk to Atlantic Avenue. Make a left and walk several blocks. 2, 3, 4, 5 Trains: Get off at Borough Hall. Walk down Court Street, make a right on Atlantic Avenue and walk 2 blocks. R Train: Get off at Court Street. Walk down Court Street, make a right on Atlantic Avenue and walk 2 blocks.

Pope took reminder of Brooklyn back to Rome

When Pope Benedict XVI left JFK Airport on April 20 on “Shepherd One,” he took with him a replica of the stained glass window of the Immaculate Conception that adorns St. James Cathedral Basilica in Brooklyn. Created by the Franz Meyer Company of Munich, the window was placed in the downtown Brooklyn church in 1904 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation by Pope Pius IX of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Pope Benedict accepted the glass replica, as well as a bouquet of white and yellow flowers, from four elementary school-age children who presented the gifts at the conclusion of the departure ceremony that took in an airport hangar. Vice President Cheney joined the Pope at the closing ceremony, along with 4,000 others. The Pope delivered brief remarks after the Fort Hamilton Army Band played the Vatican and National Anthems. A program of sacred music and recitation of the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary in various languages also took place. Charles Mallia, director of music for the Diocese, led a series of performances by the Diocesan Vicariate Choir, the Diocesan High School Choir and the Diocesan Youth Choir. The St. Francis Prep String Ensemble and the St. James Cathedral Brass also performed. Thanks for visiting, Pope Benedict!

Best of Youth: New Italian Cinema at the BAM Rose Theater

A survey of great recent Italian cinema will be presented at the Bam Rose Theater from April 16—20. Italian cinema has experienced an explosion of young talent over the last ten years and these films, all by up-and-coming Italian filmmakers, affirm this creative resurgence. Curated by Fabio Ferzetti in collaboration with Filmitalia and the Italian Cultural Institute New York. All films in Italian with English subtitles.

Here's the line up:

Salty Air (L’Aria salata) (2006) 87min Wed, Apr 16 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm. Buy TicketsDirected by Alessandro Angelini. With Giorgio Pasotti, Giorgio Colangelia. Swift-paced, intensely shot, and superbly acted, this visceral film follows a prison counselor and his new case—counseling his estranged father, who is imprisoned for murder. “Proving again that emotionally riveting movies are made of imagination and not a bulging pocketbook, Alessandro Angelini’s small powerhouse Salty Air may qualify as the Italian debut of the year.”—Variety

Private (2004) 90min Thu, Apr 17 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm› Buy TicketsDirected by Saverio Costanzo. With Mohammed Bakri, Lior Miller. This gripping film, winner of the David di Donatello Award for best new director, observes a group of Israeli soldiers and a Palestinian family dealing with Israeli-Palestinian tensions. Raw camerawork and knockout performances give this “superior, suspenseful drama” (Time Out) a jarring immediacy."…distills the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a nightmarish microcosm.”—The New York Times

Three Step Dancing (Ballo a tre passi) (2003) 107min Fri, Apr 18 at 2, 6:50pm. Buy Tickets Directed by Salvatore Mereu. With Yaël Abecassis, Domenica Arba. Four vignettes in contemporary Sardinia: a group of pre-teens voyage to the sea for the first time; a reckless pilot engages a naive shepherd in a lustful afternoon; a nun leaves her convent to attend her sister’s wedding; and a feeble old man prepares dinner for a prostitute. This film has “the pace and patient, nonjudgmental gaze of a Taviani Brothers epic...” (The New York Times)

The Spectator (La Spettatrice) (2004) 100min Fri, Apr 18 at 4:30, 9:15pm. Buy Tickets Directed by Paolo Franchi. With Barbora Bobulova, Andrea Renzi. First-time director Franchi’s tale of urban alienation is worthy of Antonioni. A translator spends nights at the window watching the opposite apartment. Her obsession with this neighbor intensifies until they meet and he becomes obsessed in turn.

Sailing Home (Tornando a casa) (2001) 88min Sat, Apr 19 at 2, 6:50pm› Buy TicketsDirected by Vincenzo Marra. With Aniello Scotto D’Anutono, Salvatore Iaccarino, Giovanni Iaccarino. This “brooding, naturalistic tale” (Time Out) follows fishermen who illegally fish the waters of North Africa, risking their lives and their reputations. This throwback to neorealism boasts beautiful cinematography and well-orchestrated tension.“[T]here’s real tension on and off board and a correctively sympathetic perspective on immigration.”—Time Out London

Maximum Velocity (Velocità massima) (2002) 111min Sat, Apr 19 at 4:30, 9:15pm. Buy TicketsDirected by Daniele Vicari. With Valerio Mastandrea, Cristiano MorroniVicari, winner of the 2003 David di Donatello award for best new director, frames a coming-of-age story within the world of illegal drag racing. Claudio, a boy with a knack for cars, becomes apprentice to local mechanic Stefano who gives him shelter and friendship, but soon betrays his trust.

La Capagira (2000) 71min Sun, Apr 20 at 2, 6:50pm. Buy TicketsDirected by Alessandro PivaWith Dino Abbrescia, Gianna Giannotti, Mino Barbarese. Two small-time crooks zoom through Bari on a vespa in search of a misplaced drug shipment in this madcap comedy. Sharp direction and a side-splitting script earned Alessandro Piva the 2000 David di Donatello Award for best new director.“ A portrait of the various classes of criminal of the Italian heel town of Bari, this bears traces of sub-Jarmusch comedy, as two petty drug mules hang out waiting, not for Godot, but a crack delivery from the Balkans.”—Time Out London

One Man Up (L’uomo in più) (2001) 100min Sun, Apr 20 at 4:30, 9:15pm› Buy TicketsDirected by Paolo Sorrentino. With Toni Servillo, Andrea Renzi. Two men—a honey-voiced crooner whose relationship with a minor ruins his career and a successful footballer whose life deteriorates when he suffers an unexpected injury—lead parallel lives in this compelling drama.

Info:

Telephone: 718.636.4100

Tickets: Click the "Buy Tickets" link on individual films to purchase online.
General Admission: $11.Buy online, by phone at 718.777.FILM (theater ID #545), or at BAM Rose box office.
BAM Cinema Club Members: $7
Seniors, Students & Children: $7.50**Discounts available at BAM Rose box office only. Students: 25 & under w/ valid ID, Mon—Thu, except holidays.

A purveyor of Tuscan Ricotta in Williamsburg

The folks behind Lunetta, a Tuscan restaurant in Boerum Hill, have launched Salvatore Bklyn Ricotta. Betsy Devine, a sous chef at the the restaurant, along with Rachel Mark, studied ricotta making in Tuscany from a cheese maker in the tower-filled town of San Gimignano.

Devine and Mark make their ricotta using local cow's milk mixed with whey (the Tuscan version uses only whey). The milk is heated, curdled, mixed with lemon juice, then drained. The result is a light and creamy cheese, different (and certainly more delectable!) than what you'll find at your local grocers. Try it with some good quality honey and you'll imagine you are in Tuscany. Also try a dollop over some pasta pomodoro or on bruschetta.

You'll find Salvatore Bklyn Ricotta for sale at Blue Apron in Park Slope, Stinky Bklyn on Smith St. in Carroll Gardens, and Marlow & Sons in Williamsburg. Starting in April, it will be sold at Brooklyn Flea, the large outdoor market in Fort Greene (Sundays through early fall starting April 6, at Lafayette and Vanderbilt Avenue. It's also on the menu at Lunetta, 116 Smith Street, between Smith and Dean in Boerum Hill.

Now mangia!

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