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New ICBIE Cineforum
After the successful film cycle that was presented last July and August, Pietro has assembled a new series. This time the subject is The Masters of Italian Cinema, and it is intended primarily for our many Italian students, as the films will be shown in the original language, without subtitles in Portuguese. The cycle will…
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A Facelift and Some Growing Pains
At the ICBIE, the throngs of students are matched by a large number of workmen and laborers, who are working on two big projects. One crew is busy mounting scaffolding, scraping and repainting the front facade. Although completely restored only two years ago, the pristine paint job had been gravely compromised by the corrosive salt…
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A Pianoforte for the Favela
Visitors to the ICBIE are immediately impressed when they see the beautiful old baby grand piano stationed under the stairway of the entrance hall. Unfortunately, the instrument is beautiful only in its appearance: it is in terrible mechanical shape and it would be prohibitively expensive to restore it, even if a capable technician could be…
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MusiBrasil Article on Julio & Bigode
The Italian website MusiBrasil has the ICBIE on its radar. Last February it hosted the wonderful article by Andrea Zeccato (see sidebar), and a week ago a splendid article about Julio and Bigode, written by Gabriella Melli, appeared. For our Italian-savvy readers, go straight to their website by clicking here. For those who can’t deal…
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Bridge to Bahia 2007-08
At the American Overseas School of Rome, the Bridge to Bahia project, though only a year old, is now a familiar and on-going activity in our community, but this year kicked off with a real bang. Daniele Dattilo and I were fresh back from prolonged summer sojourns at the ICBIE, and before our stories had…
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ICBIE Commemorates Amerigo Vespucci
Last week, on November 8th from 2 to 6 PM, after months of planning, the ICBIE presented a high-profile cultural event at the historic São Marcelo fort, perched above the port of Salvador. Celebrating the five-hundredth anniversary of the first use of the word “America” (not the “Indies”) to describe the New World, the Exhibition-Conference…
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Mary Overby’s English Class
Things are going well here at ICBIE in Salvador. My students are a wonderful group, lively, cooperative and always ready to help me improve my Portuguese. They are definitely the best part of teaching. Teaching in classes like these is challenging because there is no fixed curriculum and students are at various levels in their…
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Arrivederci ragazzi!
Look at the Brazilians all bundled up against the cold of early November in Rome, on their last night before returning home. Last Friday night, nearly twenty people showed up at a genuine Roman pizzeria, da Giovanni, right across the highway from the Socrates high school in Garbatella where Pietro taught for so many years.…
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News from Reggio Emilia – Bahia Festival
Ciao a tutti, sono una delle tappe dei nostri amici bahiani. Si, un pezzo di Salvador de Bahia è arrivato anche nella industriosa e rossa Reggio Emilia. Tra la via Emilia e il west ci siamo ritrovati a far scorrazzare per la pianura padana i due che con la loro libertà e audacia scompigliano i…