Prix Italia 2010

* Website

Rigoletto in Mantua Worldwide Broadcasting

Rigoletto will be broadcast live by RAI Uno on Sept. 4 at 8:30PM and Sept. 5 at 2:00PM and 11:15PM. Placido Domingo will be Rigoletto; Vittorio Grigolo will be the Duke; Olga Peretyatko will be Gilda; Zubin Mehta will conduct Orchestra Sinfonica della Rai; Vittorio Storaro will be the cinematographer; filmmaker Marco Bellocchio will direct.

* video [Corriere TV, Jul. 16]

Previous opera productions filmed using real locations were Traviata in Paris and Tosca in Rome. A Cenerentola in Turin is scheduled for 2011.

We are all strangers

Tomorrow, June 14, 2010, all the programs of the Rai channel "Radio 3" will be conducted by 'strangers' living in Italy - the writer of Egyptian origin Ingy Mubiayi will conduct “Qui comincia” (6:00 AM), the Palestinian journalist Samir Al Qaryouti “Radio3 Mondo” (6:50 AM), the Parisian journalist Eric Jozsef “Prima Pagina” (7:15 AM); the writer of Somali origin Igiaba Scego “Pagina 3” (9:00 AM), the Uruguayan singer Ana Karina Rossi “Primo Movimento” (9:30 AM), and the Greek journalist Dimitri Deliolanes “Tutta la citta’ ne parla” (10:00 AM). Scientists Antonio Augusto Alves J. [National Institute of Nuclear Physics], Adela Gutierrez [NIHMP National Institute for Health Migration and Poverty San Gallicano Hospital], and Zeneib Aturki [Institute of Chemical Methodologies of the National Research Council] will conduct “Radio3 Scienza”; the Iranian journalist Bijan Zarmandili “Radio3 Mondo” (11:30 AM), and Sekou Diabatè “Alza il volume” (2:30 PM). “Fahrenheit” (3:00 PM-6:00 PM) guests' will be the Iranian activist Kurosh Danesh [CGIL], the Albanian writer Anilda Ibrahimi, the Senegalese writer Pap Khouma, the Somali writer Cristina Ali Farah, the Romanian writer Mircea Butcovan, and the Argentinian writer Adrian Bravi. “Hollywood Party” (7:00 PM) will be conducted by the Slovenian actress Anita Kravos, “Radio3 Suite” the by Iranian pianist Ramin Bahrami, “Il Teatro di Radio3” by the Iranian author and actor Aram Kiam, "Battiti" by the English musician Mike Cooper.

"Nei suoi programmi Radio3 ospita spesso voci come queste. Da anni dedica ai vari aspetti dell’immigrazione molti suoi spazi di informazione, di riflessione, di conoscenza. Libri e musiche “straniere” ricevono da tempo una attenzione particolare e probabilmente senza eguali in altri mezzi di comunicazione.
Ma il 14 giugno sara’ qualcosa di diverso: sara’ mostrata, tutta insieme, la ricchezza che questi “stranieri” rappresentano, l’importanza del loro sguardo sulle cose italiane e del mondo in tutti i programmi di Radio3: dalla lettura dei giornali agli spazi musicali, dalle trasmissioni culturali all’approfondimento dedicato ai libri, la scienza, il cinema, il teatro, la poesia, l’arte.
La presenza di stranieri nel nostro paese è spesso demonizzata o schiavizzata –e non in senso metaforico: provoca paure, genera barbarie, produce forme di subordinazione vicine alla schiavitù. Il 14 giugno Radio3 lascera’ il microfono a questi mondi e a queste storie: le loro parole ci racconteranno che siamo tutti stranieri."

Raivaticano online

Starting April 2, a new web space is available online on Rai.tv - it is www.raivaticano.rai.it.

The site will start with La Bibbia Giorno e Notte, the 137 hours reading of the Old and the New Testament carried out on October 2008 in the Roman basilica Santa Croce di Gerusalemme and broadcasted by Rai Educational.

World Poetry Day 2010

Radio3, the most important Italian cultural channel, celebrates the World Poetry Day with a daily program conducted by contemporary Italian poets.

Impossible Exhibitions

Some videos explain the project "Mostre impossibili" which, using 1:1 scale back-lit illuminated panels producing an x-ray effect, opens a new perspective on the valorization of Italian artistic heritage:

* video 1
* video 2

Last exhibition about Leonardo (April-June 2009)

A previous exhibition, Caravaggio: una mostra impossibile, was organized by LUMA, Chicago in 2005.

"Il corpo delle donne" by Lorella Zanardo

Lorella Zanardo, a member of W.I.N. Women's International Networking, wrote the text of a highly recommended documentary, made in collaboration with Marco Malfi Chindemi and Cesare Cantu'. Its title is Il corpo delle donne (Women bodies) and it is a collection of TV fragments with a commentary made by the author. In addition to the questions that the author asks to the audience, the documentary could help to realize what Italians watch every day in Italian commercial and public channels.

* video: Lorella Zanardo talking about the documentary

"Videocracy" by Erik Gandini

A documentary by Erik Gandini could help to understand social changes occurred in Italy during the last 30 years and exemplify what is called "conflict of interests". Rai, in fact, has refused to broadcast the trailer of the documentary, significantly titled Videocracy.

According to an article published by newspaper "la Repubblica", Domenico Procacci (Fandango) said the documentary is not an accusation against Mr Berlusconi (even if the nowadays Italian Prime Minister had an important role in the change) but a story which recounts how Italy has changed during the last three decades and how the system of commercial televisions has produced this change. It is what filmmaker Nanni Moretti describes as "the creation of a system of untrue values".

* trailer
* audio-interview with E. Gandini
* audio-interview with Domenico Procacci

* an article by Eva af Geijerstam [Italian translation / original version]

New York Times Review (2/12/10)

"The Collegno Amnesiac" by Maurizio Zaccaro

Lo smemorato di Collegno is a fiction TV by Maurizio Zaccaro

* story [in English and Italian]
* excerpt
* polemical article by Ernesto Galli Della Loggia about Italian television series

The Bruneri/Canella case inspired a movie with Toto'
* clip

Rai-junior

Access to Italian public television online also extends to a younger demographic: Rai junior offers kids a chance to follow their favorite shows, as well as games and podcasts. They even distinguish between different age brackets, offering both Rai Kids and Rai Tween, for a slightly older crowd. LESSON IDEA: Younger learners of Italian could benefit from the chance to follow specific programs on a weekly basis, just as they do on American television. It would be an effective exercise in describing people and characters, as well as expose children to native speakers their own age. Choosing a show and dedicating 10 minutes of every lesson (or once a week depending on the regularity of class) to either watching it or doing some type of activity related to it could be a fun way to keep the students' attention. Those students who are particularly interested are also free to visit the website in their spare time.

'Amore e ginnastica' by Edmondo De Amicis

This month [Dec. 2008] Leopoldo Mastelloni reads Amore e ginnastica by Edmondo De Amicis. You can podcast the reading at Rai - Ad Alta Voce.

* full text

[A movie was shot by Luigi Filippo D'Amico in 1973]

Un Mondo a Colori

Un Mondo a Colori is a Rai Educational program dedicated to immigration and social integration in Italy.

'Il barone rampante' by Italo Calvino

This month [Nov. 2008], Manuela Mandracchia reads Il barone rampante by Italo Calvino. You can podcast every reading.
Rai - 'Ad Alta Voce'

History of Italian School

This week, the Italian school starts a new year. A dossier of 'La Storia siamo noi' (Rai) traces an history from the Italian Unification till today.

* site of 'Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione'

'Canne al vento' by Grazia Deledda

This month, September 2008, Valentina Carnelutti reads Canne al vento by Grazia Deledda.
Rai - 'Ad alta voce'
You can podcast every episode. I suggest to do it every day or on Saturday, at the end of every week. Rai changes the list every week.

Stella del Sud. Il piacere di viaggiare

Stella del Sud. Il piacere di viaggiare (Rai) offers interesting video clips about Italy.
Some titles: L'Aquila, Urbino, Assisi, Perugia (Palazzo dei Priori), Tivoli (Villa Este), Ariccia (Palazzo Chigi), Roma (Villa Farnesina, Galleria Borghese, Il Colle Capitolino), Firenze (Palazzo Medici Riccardi), Palermo, Milano (Palazzo Reale), and many others.

RAI Podcasts

RAI (Italy's public service broadcaster) operates three radio channels that are available on iTunes: Radio1, Radio2 and Radio3. Enter "Rai" into iTunes search box for a complete list of all RAI programs available for free download.

Radio1 is mainly programs dedicated to sports and news, including the popular Radio Anch'io, a daily talkshow of current events: Italy's "Talk of the Nation," if you will. For calcio news, Radio Anch'io Sport has live commentary on Italian team matches.

Radio2 is the "adult contemporary" channel specializing in talkshows and popular music. Popular programs include Il ruggito del coniglio, Alle otto della sera, and Condor.

Radio3 is the "classical" channel which focuses on the cultural sphere: classical and avantgarde music (including live concerts), drama, literature, history, philosophy, religion and mythology. Popular programs include Il terzo anello -- ad alta voce and La barcaccia.

La Storia siamo noi

La Storia siamo noi is an excellent website. Sections are - dossiers, archive, cronology, biographies.

Reading of the Holy Bible - 1

According to Italian newspapers, Rai has scheduled a reading of The Holy Bible on October. After the Pope Benedict XVI, there will be the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, an Orthodox priest, a Protestant pastor and so on. Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, current President of the Pontifical Council of Culture, is in charge of this unusual tv program.

Lingua Italiana Rai

Lingua Italiana Rai is a section of its own huge website, where Rai presents programs that could be interesting for foreign students. Many American Universities have worked with it.