Today: Mar 29, 2024

Italianissimi striving to bring more of Italy to Southern

Haljit BasuljevicReporter

Italianissimi, the Italian Club at Southern, is a place for students who want to lavish in their love for Italian culture and meet fun new people along the way.

Those who walked into the club meetings on Wednesday in ASC 303, were welcomed with enthusiastic smiles and open arms.

“We definitely are all loud. And we talk with our hands and have fun and love food and love life,” said Nicholas Talarico, club president.

He said any chance he gets, he loves to speak the language and desires for more people to get involved.

“If I could get more people to talk about the culture and the more people to learn about the language, that would be the best, “said Talarico.

Talarico openly embraces newcomers, Italian or not. He said that the goal for the club is mostly fun-oriented, but as it builds up off the ground, he hopes to generate more morale for Italian culture

. He said that what distinguished this semester from previous ones is that now the club has really been taking off.

“Me, I come from an Italian culture. My family was born there, and they came here when they were 13, 14, so we kind of kept that culture altogether,” said Genaro Gagliari, a history major and senior, “so we’re just trying to get it out there.”

Like most events or clubs on campus, Talarico said that the difficulty in attracting more people to the club rests on getting the word out there.

“That’s the biggest issue. We have an Italianissimi Instagram account.” said Talarico. “Getting people to look at those accounts. That’s the biggest thing.”

“We’re going to try to be a little more active in hosting events and getting the word out there. Flyers need to be created,” said Gagliari, who also felt that last semester there was a lack of preparation in organizing what the club was planning to do.

Bocce is a recurring event that will be situated once again on the quad. Gagliari said that last semesters Bocce was a strong attraction, and he hopes that this will continue this semester as well.

“We’re planning a movie night, we’re planning a trip into the city, we’ll be going to an Italian museum.” said Talarico.

Many of the titles they thought about showing would be supported by English dubs and would include nuanced yet entertaining introductions to Italian culture.

The members ended the meeting with suggestions for the upcoming bake sale. The bake sale will be on St. Josephs Day Wednesday, Mar 20. It is the equivalent of St. Patrick Day for Italians. Other events include Italy Day, honoring the liberation of Italy on April 25.

Talarico and Gagliari have said that family is a central importance in their lives and the culture. They said the club brings the resemblance of connecting with their roots and other students that made them enjoy the club.

“It basically revolves around the family sitting around the table and everyone being together,” said Gagliari.

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