The Oslo Times
The Dante Alighieri Society 90 years in Norway
Written by Paola Aparicio Cavero|December 4, 2013
On December 6th 2013, the Dante Alighieri Society in Norway will celebrate its 90 years with an official visit by its general secretary Alexander Masi. ‘Dante’ has been a meeting place for people with a special interest in Italy and the Italian culture in particular. Nowadays the organization is working with its European ‘sister-organizations’ like the British Council, Institute Cervantes, Alliance Française, Institute Camões and the Goethe-institute.
PRESIDENT ROBERTA LUCIANI, HONORARY MEMBER MARIANNE ZIMMER, SECRETARY INGEGERD RAFN, VICEPRESIDENT IGOR DI TOTA (BEHIND) ADVISER ODDBJØRN SØRMOEN, TREASURER GIULIA DI NUNNO AND A!DVISOR THOR RIEBER-MOHN (from left to right)
The Dante Alighieri Society was founded in 1889 in Italy with the aim to promote and spread the Italian culture and language. Dante Alighieri founded its first committee in Oslo, Norway on December 6th 1923. This initiative was supported by numerous cultural personalities like
professor and art historian C.W. Schnitler, art historian Ragna Thiis, director Hans Dedekam from the Industrial Design Museum, the art-painters Ludvig Ravensberg and Hans Ødegaard and the Italian ambassador Cambiagio. The first board of the Oslo committee consisted among others of the Italian v!ice consul and wood-carpenter Mario Caprino, the father of film director Ivo Caprino.
The Oslo committee broad together Norwegians and Italians living in the region around Oslo by organizing meetings with topics related to Italian art, geography and culture. These meetings took place at the National Gallery in Oslo, the Chamber of Commerce and other locations made available by the members. In the period before WWII Dante Alighieri in Italy was influenced by Mussolini’s ministry of culture. The Norwegian committee however, remained a purely cultural society and was not politically involved. Nevertheless, in the 1930’s, the amount of members decreased and the activities were cancelled.
In 1949 the society ‘Amici dell’Italia’ (Friends of Italy) was founded, becoming the Dante Alighieri Oslo committee in 1956. This initiative was supported by cultural personalities like the artists Henrik Sørensen, Per Palle Storm, Willy Midelfart, Else Christie Kielland, director general of the Directorate for Cultural Heritage Harry Fett, arthistorian’s Hans Peter L’Orange and Sigurd Willoch, besides writers Odd Eidem, Sigrid Undset and professor Francis Bull. The society was named ‘Società Dante Alighieri Comitato di Oslo’ and has used this name since.
The activities of the DA society during the 1950s and 1960s focused also on fundraising projects in Italia. For example, the Oslo committee collected money for the work of father Borellis who took care of homeless children in Napoli and after the flooding’s in 1966 there were fundraising for both Florence and later Venice.
Nowadays the meetings of the Oslo committee are mainly focused on cultural activities and concerts but the thematically spectrum has been broadened significantly in recent years.
Dante Alighieri Society awards language stipends to be used at italian language courses in Italy, and has a close working relation with the Italian Cultural Institute by joined concerts, literature evenings and presentations. Dante Alighieri Oslo is one of two centers for PLIDA in Norway, an education program for Italian language teachers that the Dante Alighieri Society organize.
The DA society will celebrates its jubilee with over 150 members this friday with a dinner and a conference about the history of Dante Alighieri in Norway.