NHS Celebrates Italian Heritage

By Laurie Borst

On Friday, October 12, students in Laura Battista’s Italian classes at Newtown High School held an Italian Heritage Celebration. Students chose an area of interest to research — inventors, fashion, food, heritage, or music — and then presented what they learned in the form of both poster and oral presentation.

The students created a trivia game with questions to challenge their classmates. A food table with everything from pizza and flat bread to cannolis tempted palates.

Mario De Vivo, a junior in Italian I, chose the heritage category. He researched his father’s family traditions. Mario’s father was born in Lucera in the southern part of Italy near Naples.

His grandfather died when his dad was 15, Mario said, and Santo Padre Pio, a local priest, was important to the family, helping them through their grief. Padre Pio was later elevated to sainthood.

Mario is first generation American on both sides of his family. His mother is Scottish and she met Mario’s father here in the States.

Sophomore Chris Teri is proud he is 75 percent Italian. He chose to study food, particularly cannolis. He said there are a lot of different variations on the cream-filled pastry. In America, putting chocolate shavings on the ends is popular. Fruit or cinnamon can be also added.

During his research, he also learned about the different cuisines within Italy. In southern parts of the country, a lot of tomato sauce is used. In northern Italy, olive oil is used extensively.

Pan pizzas are popular in Sicily where they use tomatoes, not sauce, on pizza as well as lots of  fresh basil. Pizzas are baked in wood-fired brick ovens that give the pies better flavor, Chris added.

Ms Battista pointed out that Chris helped out with the entire setup of the celebration that took place in the lecture hall.

Alexander Norwich, another sophomore, also chose to study foods of Italy. He selected flat bread, which has been a staple since the time of the ancient Etruscans, dating back almost 3,000 years.

“Flat breads can be a snack or dessert,” Alexander said. “It can be a healthy snack. It depends on how much sugar is added.”

Cathy Urfer is a senior pursuing independent study in Italian IV. She is the only student studying Italian IV this year. Cathy said she started Italian as a freshman. She also studies Spanish, which she started in middle school.

Cathy said her mother is from Italy and she and Cathy’s grandparents speak Italian. Cathy has pursued a study of Italian because of her love of her heritage and she wants to learn to speak the language well.

Students studying Italian III could choose from Italian inventors for their research. Phylicia Confere, a senior, selected Evangelista Torricelli, who developed the barometer.

“When I started, I didn’t know what a barometer was,” she said. “Torricelli was a friend of Galileo. He attended Catholic school. He died at the age of 39 from typhoid fever.”