History

The Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago, directed by Silvio Marchetti, is the cultural office of the Consulate General of Italy in Chicago. Founded in 1985, the Institute is one of five cultural agencies of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the United States. It is located in the heart of Chicago along the Magnificent Mile. Chicago is considered the cultural vortex of Illinois, as well as a multicultural and multi-ethnic metropol in which over fifty languages are spoken. Throughout its history, Chicago has experienced waves of Italian immigration. The first real consistent influx of Italian migration was recorded in 1890 and reached its apex in 1914. The second important wave of migration happened parallel to World War II as a result of European political involvement. Today, the Italian community in Chicago, intrepid and far reaching, is an essential part of Chicago’s social fabric- so much that many of its members are well known and have reached outstanding heights in a variety of fields illuminating entrepreneurial, artistic, and mercantile abilities.

It is in this context that the Italian Cultural Institute operates under the guidance of its directors dating from 1985 with Silvio Marchetti, Annamaria Lelli, Bruno Bellotto, Lidia Ramogida, Francesca Valente, Tina Cervone and at present once again, Silvio Marchetti, who have all learned to involve themselves in an effective way in dealing with the vast territory for which they are responsible.

The Institute collaborates with the major cultural institutions of Chicago and the Midwest. Since 1995, in synergy with its internal language school, Italidea, the Institute has offered a myriad of choices in the level and type of course from Italian opera, to literature, to gastronomy.
Since its inception, the Italian Cultural Institute has taken a multilateral approach to public programming, proposing events that present the most relevant aspects of Italian culture from the past and present, and working daily on two fronts: for the American public of Italian origin, and for a far greater American public composed of diverse ethnicities.

In order to encourage and promote mutual understanding of Italian and American culture, the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago has adopted a line of reciprocity; alternating guests such as Roberto Benigni, Umberto Eco, Gianni Vattimo, Dacia Maraini and Sandro Sanna, with various American artists in some way connected with Italy like Nancy Genn, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, one of the fathers of the Beat Generation, and Felice Frankel, a researcher at MIT in Boston and an internationally renowned photographer.

This short history testifies to over twenty years of work devoted to the promotion of our language and culture.

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