Our cultural activities include attending museum exhibitions, concerts, opera, as well as conversing in Italian at dinner or over coffee each month.

FIERI's Detroit Chapter looks to partner with other local Italian organizations and plan events which highlight Italian culture.

Interested in searching for your Italian Roots? Here are some resources:

• Searching for your Italian roots (MSN Ancestry article)
• Ellis Island Records
• Geneaology.com

Coming Soon...

Neorealism: a movement especially in Italian filmmaking characterized by the simple, direct depiction of lower-class life. (from Webster's Dictionary)

"Do you know how was born the neo-realist style? After the war we have no studio, no negative, nothing. And a newspaperman ask me: 'What picture do you want to make?' And I say: 'I don't know. Maybe the boys.' Because I watch the boys on the street, the shoeshine boys. And they steal some money for a horse. And I look in Rome and find someone to give me money to make this picture. "And I look at a man, a colleague of mine, Roberto Rossellini. And I sit on the steps and I ask Roberto: 'What you do there?' And he says: 'A lady will maybe give me some money to make a picture about a priest in Rome during the liberation. And you, Vittorio?' And I say: 'I don't know, maybe about shoeshine.' He says: 'Ah, good luck.'" - Vittorio De Sica in a 1972 interview with Jerry Tallmer quoted in New York Post. October 3, 1991.

Click for a biography of the following directors, who were pioneers of the neorealist style.

• Roberto Rosselini (1906-1977)
• Vittorio De Sica (1902-1974)
• Luchino Visconti (1906-1976)
• Michelangelo Antonioni (1912-)
• Federico Fellini (1920-1993)

Coming Soon...

Bocce

Bocce is Bowling Italian Style! Two opposing teams take turns rolling 4 balls each towards a smaller "marker" ball, or pallino. One point is awarded for each ball that is closer to the pallino than the nearest ball of the opposing team. Play continues in several rounds until a pre-determined score (usually 11, 15, or 21) is reached.

Official tournament Bocce is played on a special court approx 60' long made of packed gravel dust. There are courts like these in the North End and at many Sons of Italy or other Italian lodges. However, if you don't have access to such a court, you can play in your backyard, or on hard packed sand. (Sand you say? Don't laugh, I've actually seen people playing Bocce at Wells Beach up in Maine!)

Some excellent Bocce websites are:

• iBocce.com
• Bocce.com (US Bocce Federation)
• Bocce.org (Collegium Cosmicum ad Buxeas)

You can find more information about the history of Bocce as well as the official tournament rules.

Cards

La Scopa is one of the easiest Italian card games to play. It is usually played with a Napoletane 40-card deck. The values of the cards are:

• Il Asso (The Ace) — 1 point each
• Number cards (2-7) — face value
• La Donna (the Woman) — 8 points each
• Il Cavallo (the Horseman) — 9 points each
• Il Re (The King) — 10 points each

Tombola

Tombola is the Italian version of Bingo. However, unlike the American version, where you can make Bingo horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, In Tombola, only horizontally counts.

In Italy, you are likely to hear several different "dialects" depending on which region you are traveling through. These are not just variations of a common language (cf. American vs. British English), but are instead independent languages which have evolved individually from Latin over the past 2000 years. (Even so, the term "dialect" is still used to describe these regional languages.) Each Italian dialect possesses its own unique grammar and vocabulary, and these can vary tremendously.

The "standard" or "grammatical" Italian that you may have learned in school is actually based on the Florentine dialect. Florentine has been accepted as the standard Italian since the Renaissance, mainly owing to Florence's tremendous stature as a center of learning and trade at that time.

Italian dialects include Sardo (Sardinia), Sicilian, Napoletane, Calabrese, Abruzzese, Piemontese, and Ladino (spoken in and around Trieste), and several others. Many poems, books, and songs have been written in these dialects.

In this section, we will highlight some well-known proverbs, idioms, sayings, and prayers, in "standard" Italian as well as in other Italian dialects. If your dialect is not represented here, please send some proverbs, idioms, poems, etc. to webmaster@fieri.org and we will include them in this section. Your feedback is also warmly appreciated!

Want to Learn Italian?

FIERI Detroit is affiliated with many Italian Language specialist and would be more than happy to provide you their contact information

Internet Radio Links:

• Find an Internet Radio Station from Italy (radio-locator.com)
• SorrentoRadio.com - Neapolitan Music
• Radio Italia Belgio

Other Music Sites:

• Hit Parade Italia
• MidiOke - Italian songs & lyrics in MIDI format
• Canzone Italiane - lyrics and instrumental MIDI format
• Italian Music Groups Official Site