TY - BOOK AU - Faedda,Barbara AU - Blasio,Bill de AU - Coatsworth,John H. AU - Varricchio,Armando TI - From Da Ponte to the Casa Italiana: A Brief History of Italian Studies at Columbia University T2 - Columbiana SN - 9780231185936 AV - DG465.82.U6 F34 2017 U1 - 945.0071/17471 23 PY - 2017///] CY - New York, NY : PB - Columbia University Press, KW - College teachers KW - New York (State) KW - New York KW - Biography KW - Scholars KW - HISTORY / United States / 20th Century KW - bisacsh N1 - Frontmatter --; CONTENTS --; FOREWORD --; FOREWORD --; FOREWORD --; INTRODUCTION --; 1. The Dawn of Italian Studies at Columbia University: Lorenzo Da Ponte (1825-1838) --; 2. After Da Ponte: Eleuterio Felice Foresti and His Successors (1838-1911) --; 3. The Casa Italiana: The Realization of an Ambitious Dream (1920s) --; 4. Giuseppe Prezzolini, Controversial Casa Director, and World War II (1930s and 1940s) --; Appendix A: From Lorenzo Da Ponte to Charles V. Paterno: Libri Italiani at Columbia University by Meredith Levin --; Appendix B: Anatomy of the Casa Italiana's Façade by Francesco Benelli --; Appendix C: The Casa Italiana Educational Bureau: A Research "Fact-Finding Institution" Studying the Italian-American Community by Javier Grossutti --; Acknowledgments --; Notes; restricted access; Issued also in print N2 - The Casa Italiana-a neo-Renaissance palazzo located on Amsterdam Avenue near 117th Street-has been the most important expression of the Italian presence on Columbia University's campus since its construction in 1927. As a site of interdisciplinary scholarship and promotion of Italian culture, the Casa Italiana has made a substantial contribution to the academic study of Italy in America and the understanding of Italian cultural identity abroad. Celebrating the Casa's ninetieth anniversary, From Da Ponte to the Casa Italiana documents and recounts the history of the individuals, both Italian and American, who contributed to the formation of Columbia University's rich tradition of Italian studies.Barbara Faedda's succinct yet detailed historical survey begins at the dawn of Italian studies at Columbia with Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart's witty librettist who became the charismatic founder of the New York Metropolitan Opera and Columbia's first professor of Italian. Covering figures such as the former revolutionary Eleuterio Felice Foresti, Faedda elucidates the complex and often controversial dimensions of the Casa's history, highlighting protagonists such as the talented but equivocal Giuseppe Prezzolini and Columbia's president Nicholas M. Butler, as well as Italian-American students and community members. The Casa played a significant role in U.S.-Italian relations from its foundation, and at one point it came under fire, accused of ties to Mussolini and pro-Fascist leanings. Synthesizing archival documents with the work of historians, From Da Ponte to the Casa Italiana tells the compelling stories of the Casa and several of its leading figures, whose influence on the university can still be felt today UR - https://doi.org/10.7312/faed18593 UR - https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780231546409 UR - https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9780231546409/original ER -