ITA History

Dr. Paul Patanè (pictured above), president emerita of the ITA, was the Association’s Historian. Prior to his passing, together with Lucrezia Lindia and Rosa Riccio Pietanza (past presidents), the following article was written:

In Joseph G. Fucilla’s "An Historical Commentary on the Italian Teachers Association Subsequent to the Recent Publication of Its 'Annual Reports'" pp. 101-107, 

• The Italian Teachers’ Association was founded in 1912 and suspended its activities during World War I.  It was reorganized in 1921 with Dean Mario E Cosenza as president and Dr. Leonard Covello as vice president. 
• From 1922 to 1939, the ITA issued eighteen annual reports and published a survey on the  study of Italian in the US.
• The Italian Teachers Association functioned independently until 1943 when it became affiliated with The American Association of Teachers of Italian.

Dr. Mario Cosenza was the first Italian-American to serve as an acting president of a major American college, Brooklyn College, founded in 1930. Dr. Covello was the first Italian American to become principal of a New York City public High School, Benjamin Franklin HS. Dr. Covello taught  the first Italian Language Class at a public high school

In his book “A Sicilian in East Harlem”,  Salvatore Mondello notes that 

• In 1922 Dr. Covello and Dr. Cosenza campaigned successfully to have the Board of Education place Italian in parity with other languages taught in High Schools. 

For decades, the ITA of the NY Metropolitan Area included Teachers of Italian from New York City, Long Island, Westchester, and New Jersey.

Among traditions established are meetings at Casa Italiana at Columbia University, poetry contests, Christmas shows,  Professional Development sessions, Carnevale programs, coaching future teachers of Italian, June luncheons, Dante medals and certificates for graduating seniors.

In the 1970’s, Niveal Roman and Rosa Riccio Pietanza worked on a film strip entitled "Why Study Italian." They also started a quarterly ITA newsletter and the Leonard Covello Educator Award.

In 1975, the ITA was asked to assist in starting Italian Language Week in NYC. There had been a French Language Week campaign the previous year to promote the study of French.

Under the auspices on the BOE, representatives of Italian educational associations came together to plan Italian Culture Week. The first week was celebrated in 1976!

The Italian Teachers and Italian American Educators and Organizations were the backbone of this effort with a key focus on the promotion of Italian language and culture in our schools. With the financial support of Fortune Pope and other organizations, Italian Culture Week became Italian Heritage and Culture Month and continues to thrive.  

During his presidency in the late 1990’s, Dr. Paul Patanè always spoke of Leonard Covello’s book The Heart is the Teacher (pictured and linked above) and gave his copy to Lina Rocchio, who in turn pursued the re-printing of Covello’s Book. 

We express our gratitude to the Calandra Institute and Anthony J. Tamburri for re-publishing Covello’s book. You can find it for purchase at the link above. 

Info contact:

Lucrezia Lindia:   Lglindia@hotmail.com

Rosa Riccio Pietanza:   rmrp@aol.com