Great way to support  the Italian Cultural Garden and enjoy Italian Cultural at the same time.  Come to the Cleveland Italian Film Festival on September 15, 22 and 29th at the Cedar Lee Theater, and on October 6, the Capitol Theater.

All tickets are sold in advance and are on sale now by calling 216-456-8117.

Double your enjoyment by attending the pre-film party on September 15.

With repeated sell-outs of the festival, it is not too early to reserve your seats right now.

Click on flier below, for details and the second flier for synopses of all of the films.

2011 Italian Film Festival

Film Synopses for 2011 Cleveland Italian Film Festival

“Opera in the Italian Garden 2011″

A record crowd of 1, 158 adults and numerous children attended the “Opera in

the Italian Garden” July 31, 2011 with the Opera Per Tutti opera company lead

by Andrea Anelli.

Picnics dotted the garden around the upper level Renaissance fountain

whose spray glistened in the warm sun.

The concert drew many people who were happy to learn about Italian Garden

and the cultural gardens along East Blvd. which they visited after the concert. .

Many were surprised to learn not all the cultural gardens are on MLK Blvd.

A new expanded sound system was put in place due to the growing attendance

at this at this popular, annual concert for the public.

Excerpted from “Fresh Water Cleveland’s” article:

Joyce Mariani created “Opera in the Garden,” a free outdoor concert that takes place each summer in Rockefeller Park’s Italian Cultural Garden, to celebrate Italian immigrants’ contributions to the city of Cleveland and enliven the 80-year-old public space.

Although Mariani sets up 250 chairs in the idyllic garden, you might want to bring one from home; last year, over 800 people showed up.

“People find something universal in the Italian cultural experience,” says Mariani, Executive Director of the Italian Cultural Gardens Foundation. “And this is an outdoor museum to Italian culture in Cleveland.”

Mariani has launched an ambitious effort to expand the garden according to original, unfinished plans. Now that she has raised more than $465,000 towards the $750,000 fund-raising goal, work has begun on a large statue of Dante and a dedication is planned for the fall. Future plans call for filling an empty quadrant of the garden with a small pantheon, as well.

“It just goes to show that if you believe in something, people will tap into your dream,” Mariani says.

The Italian Cultural Garden was founded in 1930 by Italian-American businessman Philip Garbo. Its prominent features include a column from the Roman Forum and a bust of Virgil that was sent by the Italian government. Garbo’s company, the Italian Fresco and Decorating Company, designed and painted decorative art and frescoes in residences, churches and over 100 theaters, including the Ohio Theatre. The design of the upper garden is taken from the Villa Medici in Rome.

This year’s Opera in the Garden will take place on Sunday, July 31st at 6 p.m.  in the Italian Cultural Garden (990 East Boulevard).

35 band members and staff from William Penn High School in York, PA spent Friday afternoon, April 15th, cleaning up the Greek, Hebrew and Italian Cultural Gardens thanks to their initiative in seeking out volunteer opportunities in places where they visit, and thanks, too, to Business Volunteers Unlimited, Cleveland, OH for providing the site and service that links volunteers to community service opportunities in the Northern Ohio area.  The Penn group probably holds the record for the most trash and plant matter cleaned up in two hours, so far:  about 1700 cubic feet.  Impressive!  And much appreciated.  Makes a world of a difference in the Gardens for the many sightseers and nearby residents alike who are in the Gardens every day.  See the photo of  ten of the students who worked in the Hebrew Cultural Garden, below.

Band members-Wm Penn High, York PA clean-up Hebrew Cultural Garden

Italian Cultural Garden executive director is on a campaign for authentic restoration

Joyce Mariani is good at turning visions into realities.

She’s the executive director of the Italian Cultural Garden, a board member for the Cultural Gardens Federation and – as if she’s not busy enough – the executive director of the Cleveland Italian Film Festival. Though her passions obviously revolve around Italy, her latest garden vision is more global.

“My dream is to host something like a one- world day where all the gardens can hook up to their mother countries,” Mariani said. She means over the Internet. People all over the world would be able to enjoy live events and commune with Clevelanders over Wi-Fi video feeds.

That’s still a few years away, but Mariani loves the energy (and dollars) being poured into the birth and restoration of the gardens along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. There’s been $2 million of development just in the past five years, and Mariani said that will increase to $4 million once new restoration projects are completed.

Right now, Mariani is focused on Italy. That is to say, on the Italian Cultural Garden.

In her restoration efforts, she’s manufacturing an Italian landscape that’s almost as authentic as the real thing.

“It’s not just patching, so to speak,” Mariani said. “All the work we do must be done according to specified guidelines. It takes a lot of research and a lot of study to be done properly.”

She began in 2007 “on a wing and a prayer,” with the intent of constructing a renaissance fountain modeled after the one in Villa Medici in Rome.

That project alone set her back $20,000. The complete restoration costs $750,000, of which $360,000 is already raised and allocated. The Italian Garden is the first with comprehensive lighting – 19 lampposts – and the first to “go green,” meaning no more pesticides from the City.

The next major physical alterations will be a new quadrant with a miniature pantheon, around which 12 granite columns will celebrate Italian cultural figures. Also on deck is a 14- foot bronze statue of Dante (who wrote “The Divine Comedy”).

All this costs money, of course. Fortunately, Mariani’s enterprising fundraising knows no bounds. She started the Cleveland Italian Film Festival three years ago in conjunction with the garden redevelopment. Much of her fundraising dollars come from that annual event.

She also solicits for donations.

“It’s difficult raising money for parks and gardens,” she said, “but looking back, the key is getting people tapped into your dream. Then they get excited about it. Really anything is possible if you have great passion.”

What many residents are passionate about are the events Mariani has reintegrated into the Garden’s programming. After a 66-year hiatus, last year’s “Opera in the Italian Garden” night attracted close to 800 attendants from across the City.

“It’s become like Central Park with the concerts,” Mariani said. “We have about 250 chairs set up, but people come to picnic and have a good time.”

Later this year, Mariani wants to host a poetry reading and an orchestral performance of the “Fountains of Rome.”

So if you’re planning a trip to Italy in the near future, consider canceling it. An afternoon in the Garden would be much less expensive.

By Sam Allard

NV online editor