The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University

Wed, Jun 24, 6PM - 8PM:
Open Studio event at EFA Studios (323 W 39th St. 3Fl, NYC) featuring Premio New York prize winners Binta Diaw & Sara Ravelli.
RSVP is suggested: write to [email protected].

Columbia University, Istituto Italiano di Cultura New York, EFA Studios

Today, Barbara Faedda, the Academy’s Interim Director, was at the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History to talk with its Director, Tanja Michalsky—a former Academy Fellow—about new collaborations; part of the long and successful partnership between the two institutions.
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https://italianacademy.columbia.edu/content/international-observatory-cultural-heritage

Farewell to Carlo Ginzburg, a dear friend of the Academy and a Senior Fellow since its founding. He delivered several lectures here over the years, including a memorable talk just two years ago. That evening remains vividly etched in the collective memory of our community. https://tinyurl.com/yry4tebn

Productive working session today at the Institute for the History of the Italian Risorgimento. Academy Interim Director Barbara Faedda met with Institute Director Professor Alessandro Campi and Deputy Director Dr. Marco Pizzo to advance the implementation of joint programs that will be launched in fall 2026 under the Academy’s International Observatory for Cultural Heritage. Looking ahead to a new phase of international collaboration in cultural heritage.
Istituto Risorgimento Vittoriano ,
https://italianacademy.columbia.edu/content/international-observatory-cultural-heritage

Academy Interim Director Barbara Faedda met with Enrico Vicenti, Secretary General of the Italian National Commission for UNESCO, at the Commission's headquarters in Rome to explore opportunities for enhanced collaboration through the Academy's International Observatory for Cultural Heritage and to advance shared efforts in the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage.
https://italianacademy.columbia.edu/content/international-observatory-cultural-Heritage

1946–2026: 80 years of the Italian Republic—thanks in part to women (who got the right to vote in 1946).
Columbia's Provost A. Olinto and the Academy's Interim Director B. Faedda celebrated Italian National Day with Ambassador M. Peronaci in the Italian Embassy in Washington DC on June 2.

A screening event yesterday; a project deeply rooted in the history of America. Weinberg Fellow Ludovico Centis with "The Banality of Naming: 50 Years of U.S. Atomic Testing" https://tinyurl.com/3csavd7j

Today, May 21! Walk in 11AM–4PM for a video on nuclear tests.
"The Banality of Naming: 50 Years of U.S. Atomic Testing"
The U.S.A. did 1,054 nuclear tests from 1945 to 1992. The test names were drawn from the "Able Baker alphabet" (the phonetic system used in Army and Navy radio communications). After 1952, the Able Baker alphabet was dropped—to avoid repeating test names. This led to a seemingly random sequence of names.
This 15-minute video has an abstract soundtrack produced by Michele Marchetti/STRA. It was developed as part of the classwork for “Monument, Testimony, Protest” (Prof. Krzysztof Wodiczko, Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation).
Ludovico Centis spent the Spring term at the Italian Academy as a Weinberg Fellow in Architectural History and Preservation. He is an architect, founder of the firm The Empire, and co-founder and editor of the architecture magazine San Rocco. He received a PhD in Urbanism from Università IUAV di Venezia. During his stay at the Italian Academy, Centis engaged with the material and immaterial legacy of the Manhattan Project, and in particular with the joint development by Columbia University and the University of Chicago of the first atomic pile—the Chicago Pile 1 (CP-1). Under the guidance of Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, CP-1 went critical on December 2, 1942: the birth date (some say) of the Atomic Age.
Co-Sponsor:
The Sidney J. Weinberg Jr. Foundation
https://tinyurl.com/3csavd7j

News from a past Fellow: From: Lorenzo Sabetta's papers linked to his Fellowship time at the Academy: https://tinyurl.com/5n7jtwmb and https://tinyurl.com/mvhdzs82
Sapienza Università di Roma