The Italian Cultural Garden Foundation is pleased to announce it has reached the halfway mark of the $750,000 Renaissance Restoration Project. Between 2007-2009 restoration of all major infrastructure has been completed with the restoration completed according to the specifications and guidelines for restoration and rehabilitation of a historical cultural landscape.

This was accomplished in major part to the community wide support and generosity of the Cleveland Italian community and recently from new support from donors out of state.

The restoration of the completed hardscape infrastructure include total restoration of the two large Renaissance fountains, installation of nineteen historical lampposts on both levels, (the Italian Cultural Garden is the first cultural garden to have comprehensive lighting),restoration of the two large staircases, new stone balustrade, sandstone pavement repair and the replacement  bust of Virgil, the Roman poet.

Projects currently in progress include a 14 ft. statue of  Dante Alighieri, originally planned in 1930 by the garden’s creator, Philip Garbo, which was never completed and implementation of Phase I of the landscape design generously donated by Ianiro Landscaping of Cleveland.

The Italian community will have an opportunity to donate benches and statues with a bronze plate memorializing a donor or their family name.

In 2008, the Italian Cultural Garden Foundation initiated the  “Viva La Cultura Italiana” cultural concert series  for the general public presenting opera concerts, plays, and instrumental music showcasing Italian arts and culture fulfilling the original intentions of gardens creator. In 2007, opera concerts were brought back after a sixty-eight year absence with over five hundred in attendance last year.

Extensive archives have been initiated filling the gap of the last sixty years. A book is being planned covering newly discovered original plans of projects never completed and about the life of its creator, Philip Garbo gained from the recollections of his 95 year old daughter, and the current historic restoration of the garden, the first since its inception in 1930.

Italian Cultural Garden Foundation -  216-916-7780.

The following Cultural Gardens have been reserved for events on the date specified:

May 29:  Hungarian & Italian

June 5:  Italian Independence Day Gala Celebration in Italian Garden

June 5:    Hungarian

June 19:  Italian

June 26:  Italian and Hungarian

July 24:  Hungarian and Italian

July 31:   Italian

August 7: Italian

August 14: Italian and Hungarian

August 21: Italian

August 29: Italian

September 4: Italian

September 5: Greek and Italian

September 12: Italian

September 25: Hungarian

October 3rd:    Italian and Greek

October 10:      Greek and Italian

Want to reserve your own date and Garden.  Contact the City of Cleveland’s Special Events office: 216-664-2484 or 664-2012.

For photos and videos of the 2009 performance by Opera Per Tutti (opera for all) in the Italian Cultural Garden go to the following link:  <http://www.clevelandpeople.com/groups/italian/opera-garden-2009.htm>

There are many ways to say happy holidays.  If our headline sounds Italian, you are right!  Visit the Italian Cultural Garden and many of the other Cultural Gardens as they spread holiday cheer.  Here are some photos of the 2009 Italian and Irish Cultural Gardens’ holiday decorations.

2009 holiday decoration--Irish Cultural Garden

Holiday Decorations, 2009, Italian Cultural Garden

Virgil in the 2009 holiday spirit, Italian Cultural Garden

Talk about painless giving.  Here it is. Start Thursday evening, October 8. 2009, between 5:30 PM and 7:30 PM in Jimmy O’Neills restaurant on Lee Road at Cedar in Cleveland Hts.  $15 per person gets you a meal of salmon, pork tenderloin, crab cakes, pecan encrusted chicken or spinach tart with potatoes or rice and mescalun salad with strawberries.  Follow that with a whipped cream cake together with beverages & coffee.  Again, that is all for $15, period.  For another $3, wine or Campari.  Wander two doors north at 7:30 PM for “Miracle at St. Anna”, a Spike Lee film, that looks into WWII from Latino and African-American soldiers’ perspectives.  As the New York Times review puts it:  ““Miracle at St. Anna” breaks free of its own grandiosity and tells a grounded, moving, human story. Not a miracle by any means, but an earthy inquiry into death, duty, friendship and honor. What we’ve always wanted from war movies.”  Admission is $10 for the film.  In English.  Metered parking in back of the theater, Cedar-Lee, and restaurant. TICKETS BY ADVANCE RESERVATION ONLY;  440-527-0644.  Call now while the ticket and food reservations are still available.