Florida Atlantic University launches the fifth edition of the International Symposium "Italy in Transit," this year more daring than ever. The annual meeting of students and scholars, organized by Ilaria Serra and the FAU Italian Program with the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, starts with the Michele D. Serra Series in New Italian Cinema on Friday March 19, at 5pm (EST).

Guests are filmmaker Marco Bonfanti and producer Anna Godano who specialize in bizarre and courageous stories in their movies "L'uomo senza gravita'," "L'ultimo pastore" and "Tubiolo e la luna." Always on Friday evening, Anthony Tamburri (Calandra Institute) and Stanislao Pugliese (Hofstra University) will discuss the widespread presence of Italians in the world.

On Saturday, at 8:30am, students from Milan and Florida will share their research on daring Italians, guided by their teachers Serena De Candido, Marianna De Tollis and Vittoria Zingaro. They will present explorers, immigrants and a scientist, virologist Ilaria Capua, who is an inspiring example. Capua herself will be present to meet the students and audience.

At 10am, scholars will describe new research across the ocean: from the Sardinian poet Giovanni Corona, object of an international study directed by Simona Cigliana (La Sapienza), to the new research on "Poetic Geography of Italy" discussed by FAU students with Stanislao De Marsanich (Parchi Letterari). Inter-University collaborations are explored by Magda Novelli (Florida International University).

Several Italian American "Firsts" are the topic of the 11:30am session dedicated to the memory of Prof. Mario Mignone (Stony Brook): the first Italian American film festival (Odra Dorante, FAU), the virtual exhibit for painter Tom Di Salvo (Domenica Diraviam, FAU) the newly launched "Strade Dorate: Osservatorio di cultura italoamericana" (Emanuele Pettener, FAU, and Valentina De Cesare, Milan), and the discovery of a new document that testifies to the friendship between writers Jerre Mangione and Andrea Camilleri (Manuela Filomena, FAU, and Mariolina Camilleri, Rome).

The Symposium's most daring moment, that will bring Zoom to the extreme, is the event of Saturday afternoon at 1pm: The First World Summit of Italians in Transit. This session will connect Italians from the farthest corners of the earth and space: Daniela Minerbi, a painter from Hawaii; Corrado Passi, a writer from South Africa; Gian Pietro Zanatta, a teacher in Brazil; Barbara Martelli, a professor in New Zealand; Gretar Skulason, a teacher in Iceland, and Emanuele Jones who is working on the SpaceX mission to Mars. Their Q&A across 24 times zones will take place at 3:30pm (EST).

Consul General Cristiano Musillo, AATI President Ryan Calabretta-Sajder, Provost Bret Danilowitz and Myriam Ruthenberg (FAU), Fabio De Furia (Miami Scientific Italian Community), Lidia Pupilli (University of Macerata) and Augusto Cavallini (COMITES) will introduce the different sessions.

The Symposium has been a beloved moment of aggregation and friendship in South Florida for the last four years. This edition will bring the same spirit on the virtual space, and even stretch its possibility with an all-Italian creativity.

The link: www.tinyurl.com/italy-in-transit