Have you ever wanted to speak Italian or become more fluent in la bella lingua? The American Italian Cultural Center (AICC) has announced its next series of Italian Language Lessons for 2016! This widely popular class is offered in four different levels, from beginner to complete fluency, and runs for 8 weeks. Space is limited to a maximum of 10 students per class to ensure a low student-teacher ratio. The courses are held at the American Italian Cultural Center located at 537 South Peters Street, in downtown New Orleans. For full course listings and to register, please click here.

Join the American Italian Cultural Center at Andrea's Restaurant for a delicious Italian dinner and entertainment by Phillip Manuel. This event will be a fun way to help our two communities rebuild! Proceeds will be split between victims of the Louisiana flooding and the Italian earthquake. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

Our hearts ache for our friends and family at home and abroad. The AICC is collecting donations for the victims of the Louisiana flooding and the Italian earthquake. Please consider making a donation, all levels of support are greatly appreciated. Grazie!

Join us on the first Thursday of every month at 6:00pm at the American Italian Cultural Center to practice your Italian conversation skills! So we can adequately prepare for each Thursday, please click this link to let us know which Thursdays you would like to attend.

This lecture will examine the impact of New Orleans' Italian community on the city's cemetery landscapes. While the great avenue of Italian society tombs in Metairie Cemetery is a powerful visual reminder of New Orleans' Italian heritage, many other historic cemeteries have stories to tell.From the influence of 1850s Italian sculptor Americo Marozzi on Bywater cemeteries like St. Vincent de Paul and St. Roch, to hidden Florentine masterpieces in Cypress Grove, Italian artisans have subtly made their mark upon the development of our iconic cemeteries. This lecture will also present lesser-known Italian burial places and society tombs, including those in Odd Fellows Rest and Valence Street Cemeteries. Focusing primarily on the contributions of Italian artisans, the lives of some Italian cemetery "residents" will be highlighted as well. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.

Join the American Italian Cultural Center for its screening of The Children Are Watching Us (1944), a film that follows Prico, a four-year-old boy whose reality is transformed when his family disintegrates. In The Children Are Watching Us, director Vittorio DeSica and screenwriter Cesare Zavattini collaborate to produce a harrowing depiction of a young boy whose adult role models cease to protect and support him. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.

As a part of the American Italian Cultural Center's bi-monthly lecture series, photojournalist Mauro Marinelli will deliver a lecture on his photo technique and his travels, describing what it is like trying to document a subculture. Mr. Marinelli will present on his artistic images and the corresponding prose of his work Under Old Stars: Wanderings in Italian Hill Towns, elaborating on the collaboration between the photographer and the writer and divulging the advantages and barriers to this type of creative project. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.

Join us for our first group tour to Italy, led by Alessandro, our native Italian language teacher. The journey of a lifetime, this tour will include not only landmarks in Rome, Florence, Siena, and Venice, but also local treasures shared with you by Alessandro.

The group will depart for Italy on September 12th and return on September 22nd. Please express your interest ASAP as reservations are limited. The deadline to opt-in is June 29th, and the first ten people to join receive free Italian language classes with their deposit. For more information, click here.

Call us at 504-522-7294 or email Alessandro at alessandro@americanitalianculturalcenter.com to sign up today!

Many of the memorable sights a tourist sees in Rome were created by one man, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Presented by Tom Cortazzo, this lecture will feature a virtual walking tour through the Eternal City to see many of Bernini's breathtaking and inspiring creations, from his spellbinding sculpture David, to his Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona and his grand colonnade in front of St. Peter's Square. Hear about this prodigy who grew to command commissions from popes, fell from grace in the world of architecture and staged a triumphal return to be recognized as the undisputed father of the Baroque style and leading sculptor of his age. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.

As a part of the American Italian Cultural Center's bi-monthly lecture series, photojournalist Mauro Marinelli will deliver a lecture on his photo technique and his travels, describing what it is like trying to document a subculture. Mr. Marinelli will present on his artistic images and the corresponding prose of his work Under Old Stars: Wanderings in Italian Hill Towns, elaborating on the collaboration between the photographer and the writer and divulging the advantages and barriers to this type of creative project. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.

Florence has a legitimate claim to being the birthplace of the Renaissance, the cultural movement that changed the western world forever, and in the 15th and 16th Centuries, more of the Renaissance luminaries had some connection with Florence than any other city in the world. Presented by Tom Cortazzo, this lecture continues the American Italian Cultural Center's virtual walking tours of Italy's great cities, as we move from Rome to Florence to see some of the great landmarks of the Renaissance and some of the most famous works of art ever created, which give this small town a claim to being the one-time cultural capital of the world. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.

The American Italian Cultural Center sponsors a night of dinner & Italian conversation every month! This event is for AICC members, Italian natives, Italian language students and anyone who might enjoy a night of eating, drinking and speaking Italian. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.

Join the American Italian Cultural Center for its screening of Obsession (1943), a masterpiece acknowledged as the first film of the Italian neo-realist movement. Director Luchino Visconti loosely based Obsession on the American novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain, resetting the story in Italy's Po Valley. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.

Learn about the history of pasta in New Orleans and the South from Leonard DeFrancisci, whose great grandfather immigrated to the United States in 1905 and built his first pasta machine in 1914 under the name I. DeFrancisi & Son. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.

Celebrate the holiday season with the American Italian Cultural Center for its first screening of Frank Capra's classic It's A Wonderful Life. In the film, an angel helps a compassionate but frustrated businessman by showing what life would have been like if he never existed. Staring James Stewart and Donna Reed, this heartwarming film is the perfect way to start the season. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.

One was an orphan-turned- street-brawler who forged a new, controversial painting style.The other was a coddled prodigy and darling of the papal court, whose sculptures and architectural projects furthered the ambitions of the most powerful patrons. Michelangelo Merisi—better known as 'Caravaggio'—and Gianlorenzo Bernini are the undisputed stars of 17th -century Italian art and two of the greatest masters who ever lived. Join us fora lecture by Loyola art historian Fr. Gregory Waldrop, S.J., on their art and the intersection of their often scandal-ridden careers with the intrigue, violence, and splendor of Baroque Rome. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.

Join us for a discussion with writer and historian Alan Gauthreaux, who will present his book Italian Louisiana: History, Heritage and Tradition. Gauthreaux will describe the experience of those Italians who arrived in Louisiana over one hundred years ago and faced prejudice, violence and political exile. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.

The AICC has recently signed up wi‎th Amazon.com to become an eligible charity on their list of charities. ‎When making a purchase through Amazon, if you will list the American Italian Renaissance Foundation (our parent corporation) as your designated charity, the AICC will begin receiving a .5% fee from Amazon at no cost to you! You only have to sign up once and then sign in to Smiles.amazon.com when making a purchase. Thanks for helping us continue our Mission. Click here to sign up!