Welcome to the Educational section of our site. Here you'll find what you'll need for the classes that we offer and the information on the the Library, housed in the Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia.
Italian Classes
To learn more about Adult and Children's classes, schedules and to download a registration form, please click on the link on the left column.
Florence Bartolomei Roselli Memorial Library
The Florence Bartolomei Roselli Memorial Library at Casa Italia contains a vast collection 6,000 books on Italian and Italian-American history, sociology, politics, geography, art, music, literature, opera, film, religion and cuisine. The library's roots go back to the founding of the building as the St. Charles Seminary in 1935. The Rev. August Feccia, CS, reorganized the building in the mid-1970s, compiling a collection of art, biographies and Italian translated novels.
Academia journals of VIA (Voices in Italian Americana), AltreItalie, Arba Sicula (Sicilian History), and the proceedings of the American Italian Historical Association are available. Magazine holdings include Primo, Italian America, Maroons Newsletter, I-AM, Oggi, and FMR (Franco Maria Ricci). The collection also includes about 300 large format art books, as well as volumes donated by Italian governmental entities. Text on genealogy, free Wi-Fi and a subscription to www.ancestry.com is available for research genealogists. A collection of Fra Noi newspaper volumes from 1960 is also available, as is a collection of multi-disc DVD volumes containing 39 hours of audio and visual discussion of the works of 50 artists of the Italian Renaissance. The library also houses an opera appreciation DVD collection, music, road maps and travel guides. Tapes and transcripts of more than 100 oral histories done as part of the Italians in Chicago project, and file drawers filled with research material accumulating Dominic Candeloro's Chicago Italian Neighborhoods are also accessible.
Donations of Italian cookbooks in Italian and English, DVDs, music, books and magazines are always welcome, either for inclusion in the library or for sale at the Printer's Row Book Fair. Cash donations are also accepted.
The library is open every Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. by appointment. Call 708.345.5933
