Celebrating the Dialects and Languages of Italy

Explore the richness of Italian regional languages with a presentation and enjoy a "degustazione" (taste) of readings of literary pieces in various dialects by the actors of  All'italiana - Boston Italian Theater Company. Finally the audience is invited to share their experiences with the Italian language and dialects. 

Presented by Alex Sucheck

The event is organized in collaboration with DAS - Michigan and is under the auspices of the Consulate General of Italy in Boston and the Consulate General of Italy in Detroit.

The event will be also live on YouTube: Celebrating the Dialects and Languages of Italy - YouTube

Program of the event:

~ Welcome Remaks

~ PowerPoint presentation by Alex Sucheck

~ "Degustazione di dialetti":

'U Bammineddu - Calabrian - read by Emanuele Capoano

L'Uguaglianza - Roman - read by Mario Datodi

L'Acquaiola - Neapolitan - read by Carla D'Avanzo

Gallina Vecchia - Tuscan - read by Eleonora Cordovani, Cosimo Martelli and Chiara Durazzini

Nun Mi Lassari Sulu - Sicilian- read by Giuliana Ascone

San Zen Che Ride - Venetian - read by Chiara Maffei

L' Cattiv Esempio / 'Na Dimostrazione - Umbrian - read by Mauro Tedeschi

Lu Surci e La Tartuca - Sicilian - read by Alex Sucheck

Nun l'Avia a Fa' - Lucanian - read by Carmen Marsico

Riflessione Personale - by Sarah Netsky

Dicitenciello Vuje - reflection and song interpretation by Yefim Somin

~ Final discussion with the audience

Directions to the audience:

The Event asks you to please MUTE yourselves with VIDEOS OFF throughout the entire performance, until the comments and questions forum is open. We will inform you when the forum is open. Thank you for your cooperation.

We highly suggest putting the video on SPEAKER VIEW (in the video), so that you can enjoy the readings in a more personal way.

Alex Sucheck is a native speaker of Sicilian, English, and Italian. After studying religion and philosophy as an undergraduate at Bowdoin College, Alex has dedicated his career to teaching and learning languages. Having worked as a professional translator and language teacher in Madrid, Naples, and Shanghai, he received his Master's Degree in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2016, with a focus on Language and Literacy. He currently teaches Spanish language at the high school level and has been involved with the Italian Theater Group of Boston, All'Italiana, since 2020. Alex is particularly interested in elevating public awareness of endemic multilingualism in Italy, and removing the historical and pervasive negative stigma attributed to minority languages through the appreciation of their vast literary and musical heritage. He has studied Spanish, French, Ancient and Modern Greek, Sinhala, Polish, and Mandarin with various degrees of proficiency and fluency.  With this event--and possibly similar ones in the future--Alex hopes to empower speakers of minority languages to celebrate, maintain, and share their linguistic heritage. Alex believes that every speaker is a treasure-box of their own languages and is, to a degree, an expert in them. This knowledge should be shared and cultivated as invaluable world heritage.