Frank Nechvatal
The annual Christmas party was held on Tuesday, December 9 at 5:30 p.m.; 29 club members attended and thoroughly enjoyed the meal prepared by the Horizon Room staff. Julie, our new Horizon Room manager, saw to a great meal of lasagna or spaghetti marinara. It was a job well done: bravo!
Our next meeting is Tuesday, January 12 at 6:00 p.m. in the Horizon Room. Remember to bring your canned or packaged foods to the meetings. We will collect these items and get them to a food bank.
The club officers hope that all our members had a great Christmas and New Year’s celebration!
Did you know that the Italian peninsula was an area that gave rise to both the internal and external facets of western culture? It was here that a number of influential civilizations flourished. They were the Etruscan, Samnites, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. Eventually the Roman Empire conquered the earlier civilizations and incorporated them into their culture. For more than 2,000 years Italy experienced numerous migrations and invasions and as such was made up of many independent states. It was not until 1861 that Italy was unified. Due to this late melding of the various regions of Italy into one country with a centralized government, many of the traditions and customs that are now recognized as Italian can be identified by their regions of origin. Yet it cannot be discounted that even though the political and social isolation of these independent states existed, Italy’s contribution to the cultural and historic growth of Europe remains immense. Next month we will examine more historical tidbits about Italy.
Ciao