The 2012 annual Gala Dinner benefiting La Scuola d’Italia Guglielmo Marconi [2] was held last Friday, March 16, in the exclusive ambiance of Cipriani Restaurant [3].

The event is a must for all the notables of the Italian and Italian-American communities in New York, and it was held under the auspices of the Ambassador of Italy to the United States Claudio Bisogniero, the Consul General of Italy in New York Natalia Quintavalle, the Board of Trustees and the Headmistress of La Scuola d’Italia, Anna Fiore.

La Scuola d’Italia Guglielmo Marconi is the only bilingual Italian and English educational institution in North America, offering its students the unique opportunity to benefit from the best of American and Italian educational systems from Preschool to High School (Liceo), providing them with a completely bilingual, multicultural and classical curriculum, rooted in the European tradition as well as in American culture.

Founded in 1977 by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, La Scuola is recognized by the Italian Ministry of Education and accredited by the New York State Association of Independent Schools. The school is also chartered by the Regents of the University of the State of New York.
This year’s Gala Dinner was the occasion to celebrate 35 years of activity of the school. An institution whose importance is fundamental in the defense and fostering of Italian language and culture among the younger generations, the Scuola represents for its student the right place to fully understand the importance of their Italian heritage.

“La Scuola is our second home, as the words of the school’s anthem say,” an8th-grade student said, very excited to attend the Gala and to perform the anthems at the beginning of the ceremony: “It’s very exciting, we look forward to this event all year. Everybody dresses fine, we celebrate the school, we sing on stage…it’s a wonderful experience,” she added.

CNBC Anchor Maria Bartiromo [4] was this year’s Master of Ceremonies. Greeting the guests, Bartiromo defined herself as a proud Italian-American, and she remembered the times in her life when her mother would talk fluently on the phone to her mother in Italian, then hang up and speak to her in English.

“So many years later I really regret that. I did not have a proper teaching of the Italian language and I really do wish I had studied much more and spoke to my mother so much more in Italian,” Bartiromo said, highlighting the valuable opportunity to study both in Italian and English that the Scuola d’Italia offers its students.

John Turturro [5], world famous director and actor, was Guest of Honor of this year’s Gala, and the Honorees of the night were Anthony Bourdain [6], host and author for Travel Channel’s popular show “No reservations [7],” and Michael White [8], chef and owner at Altamarea Group [9]. Both Bourdain and White are proud parents of La Scuola students, and expressed their gratitude and support to the school in their thank-you speeches.

I-Italy had the chance to interview Anthony Bourdain, who said to be glad that the school provides his daughter with an education that helps her deepening her knowledge of Italian culture, which is also imparted to her by her mother, who comes from Italy: “I’m very grateful to the school and I’m grateful that the school even exists.” When we asked Bourdain to draw from his travel show host experience to define the specificity of Italian culture he said to us that: “When you drive across Italy it feels like driving through different countries, it’s something I respect and love.”

The newly appointed Ambassador of Italy to the United States Claudio Bisogniero [10] is himself a parent who decided to entrust La Scuola d’Italia with the education of his son and daughter, Giampaolo and Serena, whom attended the school when Bisogniero was working in New York at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations: “For four years, this school has been for them one of their main bonds with Italy,” he said.

Bisogniero expressed his satisfaction with the reinstatement of Italian at the AP level in American schools, and mentioned the crucial role the Scuola d’Italia will play in the Italian government’s newly established project for making 2013 the year of Italian culture in the US: “The promotion of this extraordinary world asset we call Italian culture is in the true DNA of the Scuola,” an institution truly “Rooted into Tradition and Open to Innovation,” as its motto claims.

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La Scuola d’Italia Guglielmo Marconi [2] is the only school in North America that provides a classical, bilingual education rooted in the Italian and European traditions. It was founded in 1977 by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to meet the academic needs of Italians living in the New York City area. Thanks to an ever increasing interest from American families, La Scuola has grown into a unique bilingual educational institution, from the Preschool level through Liceo (grades 9-12), reflecting the best features of the Italian and American educational systems.