Are you aware that there are students in Hamilton Township who are having an international virtual experience via weekly Zoom encounters, pen pals, and educational videos? Their horizons are broadened by corresponding directly with their counterparts in English and Italian, in the Valnerina region of Umbria, in central Italy.
The program is titled “Amicizia” (Friendship). and was an initiative I began as chairperson of the New Jersey Italian Heritage Commission’s Curriculum Development Committee, together with the now mayor of Monteleone di Spoleto, Marisa Angelini. It is an elective component of the NJIHC curriculum: The Universality of Italian Heritage.
The curriculum takes us on a journey seldom travelled in the realm of education, providing an innovative approach to teaching and learning that ensures academic excellence through equity, diversity, and inclusion. This enriching educational tool was developed by the NJIHC Curriculum Development Committee, the first in the nation, in consultation with the Department of Education, which consists of a K-12 curriculum infusion model. The purpose is two-fold: to provide an international, bilingual experience for students and faculty, and to “pilot” any new lessons developed.
In 2007, The initial Amicizia program was formally implemented as part of a “gemellaggio” (twining) relationship. Former Pastor of Our Lady of the Angels Parish in Trenton, Rev. Jeffrey E. Lee, collaborated with me, as the honorary vice consul for Italy, in Trenton, to establish Amicizia between Trenton/Hamilton, and the Valnerina area of Umbria. A delegation from the city of Norcia came to refortify ties between the two countries.
That year, the delegation of Umbrian Friends in the U.S.A. visited Trenton and Hamilton Township. They visited the Italian classes of Joanne Ryan at Steinert High School, where display cases in the school hallways were filled with pen pal letters and other artifacts received from the pupils from Professora Lucia M. Narducci’s classes in the Liceo Scientifico, in Cascia.
In 2008, an Italian Center was organized as part of Amicizia at Mercer County Community College. Exhibits on immigration were prepared focusing on immigration to Mercer County from the regions of the Valnerina, in Umbria, San Fele in Basilicata, and Pettoranello/Princeton, in the region of Molise.
A statewide convocation was conducted at MCCC through Amicizia in which Rosemary Alito, sister of associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Samuel A. Alito, Jr., was a speaker, with former New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Marie L. Garibaldi. These cultural exchanges increased the awareness of students and community about the rich heritage and traditions of Italy.
A surprising outcome for all was learning that a masterpiece of antiquity, the famous bronze Monteleone chariot, has a strong connection to Hamilton Township. For example, Hamilton resident Bill Giovanetti’s great, great grandmother was Maria Vannozzi. His great, great grandfather, Isidoro Vannozzi, was a farmer in the mountain village of Monteleone. His home and barn were located over an Etruscan burial plot on which, in 1902, two human corpses and a magnificent bronze chariot dating back to 530 B.C.E., were discovered.
When Giovanetti’s father and uncle were children in Monteleone, they used to pretend they were Roman soldiers and played on it, not realizing it was a world treasure.
In 1902, Frenchmen got ownership of the chariot via barter from Isidoro in exchange for roof tiles. J.P. Morgan subsequently purchased it from the French and, in 1903, had the treasure shipped from Naples to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where it remains a major attraction.
Of the 300 extant chariots in the world, only six are reasonably complete. A five-year restoration process began, and the MOA curator said …”it was the grandest piece of sixth-century Etruscan bronze anywhere in the world, and is the best example of its kind from ancient Italy before the Roman Period.”
The former Mayor of Hamilton Township, Glen Gilmore, and I visited Monteleone di Spoleto. In addition, Through Amicizia, students in former Italian classes of Prof. Frank Campione and I visited their counterparts in Sicily, at the Instituto Galileo Galilei, in Canicatì, in the province of Agrigento. They were greeted and later feted at a reception in an authentic castle in the medieval town of Naro, Sicily. Linguistic difference was no barrier for the young people who, once together, could not stop talking.
Amicizia was later implemented in other Italian schools in Bari (Puglia), Margherita di Savoia (Puglia), Canicattì (Sicilia) Piansano (Lazio), and Castiglione del Lago (Umbria). This school year, Amicizia is implemented in two Hamilton Township schools: Our Lady of Sorrows Elementary School, and Nottingham High School.
An introductory program was first held at OLS, during which the principal Maureen Tuohy said, “The seventh-grade youngsters at Our Lady of Sorrows Elementary School are enthusiastic to interact with their Italian peers via zoom.”
Monsignor Thomas A. Gervasio welcomed the Italian youngsters in their native language. They were honored to have Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora present, to greet them virtually, with local dignitaries, Umbrian school officials, and the chairperson of the NJIHC, Robert DiBiase, and me.
Tuohy added that Amicizia was a new experience for the students, in which they were happy to see that pupils in Italy also wore school uniforms. They were interested in the topic of immigration and hearing about those who left Monteleone three generations ago and settled here in Hamilton Township. Like most children, they were soon communicating, some in both English and Italian.
The Amicizia program at Nottingham High School is concentrating on piloting the NJIHC four-part video series on immigration, titled: An Italian’s Dream: Leads to the Origin of the Hispanic Peoples and Beyond. The dynamic teacher of Italian, Signora Giulia Vallucci, comments that “Students from both schools in Italy and Hamilton Township have welcomed the weekly, virtual international interaction and have enjoyed it thoroughly. Students are learning about those who emigrated from Italy and immigrated to Hamilton Township. They are part of a pilot program of the video, and their comments will be shared with the NJDOE. Most of all, they can’t wait to meet in person.”
A virtual meeting also took place at NHS. The mayor of Hamilton Township, Jeff Martin took part, greeting the mayors of Monteleone di Spoleto, Hon. Marisa Angelini, and Cascia Mayor Mario De Caroles. The principal of the Liceo Scientifico, Roberta Aniello, and teachers Maria Lucia Narducci, Francesco Tassone, and Professor Francesco Nardone, were included in the conversation with Superintendent of Schools Scott Rocco, Nottingham principal Frank Ragazzo, and World Language supervisor Alejandro Battle.
The students loved asking questions about how Italian youths spend their time and how American TV culture influences them. “They are super curious about the lifestyle of one another,” Vallucci said.
“Another student, Joshua P .(Giosuè, in the Italian class) is always welcoming and greatly thankful their new Italian friends.”
An Italian delegation and students from the Valnerina region of Umbria are planning a visit to the schools in Hamilton Township in October 2022. A follow-up trip to Umbria for students in Nottingham High School, is also in the planning stage for April 2023.
The NJIHC is producing another video on “Righteousness” titled: The Italians and the Holocaust. For comments or questions regarding the free of charge curriculum The Universality of Italian Heritage, or the An Italian’s Dream video, please contact the NJIHC Chairperson, Robert DiBiase: rdibiase@njitalianheritage.org, or the NJIHC Curriculum Development Chairperson, Cav. Dr. Gilda Rorro, at: honvconsul4italy1@verizon.net. Phone: (609) 587-7000.
Cav. Dr. Gilda Rorro is a Hamilton Township resident and former educator who taught in the Hamilton Township School District and was a director of the Office of Equal Educational Opportunity with the Department of Education. She is chair of the curriculum development committee of the New Jersey Italian Heritage Commission, where she has developed the Univerality of Italian Heritage curriculum. She was knighted by the president of Italy in 2008.
Nottingham High School Italian language students meet via videoconference with. counterparts from a school in Umbria, Italy. (Photo courtesy of Laura Geltch.),
