120 years and counting.
Circolo italiano di Boston was founded in 1901 by a group of Americans enamored with Italy and the Italian language.
Over the course of its 120-year history, the Circolo has been a community of people passionate about Italian language and culture, committed to preserving and promoting it within the United States. Through lectures and experiences, Circolo members share their knowledge and love of Italy, and maintain connections to it and to each other through language and learning.
A registered 501(c)(3) since 2001, Circolo is self-organized, self-funded, and self-governed according to bylaws established in the 1940s.
Started in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood with informal meetings at members’ homes, Circolo italiano di Boston grew beyond into nearby Brookline and Cambridge, where members such as Matilde e Luisa Pfeiffer hosted conversations. Historical materials from the first decades of Circolo italiano di Boston do not exist; but recording secretary’s notes housed in the Houghton Library at Harvard University describe that “the club was formed in 1901. In the years 1940-1949, meetings were held at private houses, often in Brookline, Mass., and at Boston University Women's Building. Most meetings had guest speakers; some meetings discussed dues and finances.”
Over the course of its history, the group has invited luminaries such as Giorgio La Piana and Gaetano Salvemini as guest lecturers; and more recently Franco Modigliani, Mario Draghi, Francesco Giavazzi, Bruno and Nora Rossi, Luciano Berio, Emilio Bizzi, Beppe Severgnini, Laura Ingallinella, Dante Della Terza, Serenella Sferza, Lino Pertile, and Caroline Bruzelius.
2001 Centennial
In 2001, Circolo italiano di Boston celebrated its Centennial Anniversary - or Centesimo Anniversario.
Members contributed to Pensieri e Ricordi - Thoughts and Memories - a publication that remains one of the Circolo’s most complete histories. Spearheaded by past President Barbara Lloyd and then President Lucia Lovison Golob and compiled and designed by then Corresponding Secretary Donald Craig Freeman, the collected stories give a sense of the Circolo’s importance both to its community and to each individual member within it.
Please enjoy the photographs and quotations below, collected in celebration of the Circolo italiano di Boston’s first 100 years… and counting!
From Pensieri e Ricordi
“Voglio dedicare questo progetto a tutti i bambini della comunita’ italo-americana, perche’ rappresentano il futuro e la speranza che sia possibile trovare un felice modus vivendi, uno spazio individuale nel rispetto della molteplice identita’ culturale.”
— Lucia Lovison Golob
“Queste amicizie mi arricchiscono la vita e per me sono profondamente piacevoli e significative non solo perche’ adoro questa gente, ma anche forse perche’ mi fanno ricordare l’Italia e il piacere che sento quando ci vado.”
— Barbara H. Lloyd
“I want to dedicate this to the children of the Italian-American community, because they represent the future and the hope that it is possible to find a happy way of living, a space for their individual selves within two different cultural identities. ”
— Lucia Lovison Golob
“These friendships enrich my life and are profoundly important not only because I love these people, but perhaps also because they remind me of Italy and the pleasures of being there.”
— Barbara H. Lloyd
