Andrea Bocelli made his St. Louis debut on Sunday, October 17, performing before a sold-out crowd at The Enterprise Center in Downtown St Louis. The great maestro was accompanied by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Steven Mercurio, the St. Louis Symphony Chorus, soprano Larisa Martinez, baritone Edward Parks, singer/actress Loren Allred, cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson, and Bocelli’s 9-year-old daughter, Virginia. 

Members of the Italian Community of St Louis and Club Italiano Per Piacere were thrilled to have had the opportunity to meet Bocelli in person before the concert. Others were able to enjoy the concert in a double suite thanks to Michael Cross who was able to coordinate details with Bocelli's personal secretary Luca Cassini. 

Among the attendees from the Italian Community were: Giovanna Leopardi, Francesca Giacomozzi, Fabio Perla, Kristine Galati, Dr. Ron & Phyllis Farotto, Thomas & Adriana Polesel, Maria Grazia Zampini, Antonio Pipoli, Gina Barruzza, Sam Buzzetta, Anthony & Laura Lancia, Carmelo & Maria Gabriele, and Paolo & Concetta Gabriele. 

We congratulate Elizabeth Bernhardt, PhD, on joining the Faculty of Italian at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Bernhardt currently serves as Vice-President of the St Louis - Bologna Sister Cities and as a consigliere in Club Italiano Per Piacere, the only exclusively Italian speaking club in the Midwest. 

Elizabeth Bernhardt's major research interests focus on women’s culture and family life in Renaissance Italy. She also studies Italian artists and artisan culture from the 15th century as well as in today’s world. She completed her PhD in early modern European history at the University of Toronto and has lived in Italy for over twenty years. There she taught a variety of Italian history and culture courses for the University of California in Rome, the American University of Rome and the Liceo Classico Statale Giulio Cesare in Rome. In Rome she published two manuals on early modern Italian art history for her students. In the past she has also enjoyed teaching Italian courses at Saint Louis University. She loves Italy and is thrilled to be teaching Italian language and culture courses now at Washington University.

Her area of specialization is 15th century Bologna, and her manuscript on Genevra Sforza de’ Bentivoglio (ca. 1441-1507) and her enormous family won an award in dissertation form and is about to be published as a thoroughly revised book at a university press. Based on contemporary archival research conducted across Italy, her revisionist biography presents Genevra as the object of serious academic study for the first time—because until now Genevra has been known only through negative posthumous accounts used to destroy her image and reputation. The book explores how Genevra’s life turned into a developing saga (500+ years in the making) about how she destroyed her family and the city of Bologna, known for its ancient university culture and critical thinking.