This year's inaugural Mancini Lecture Series, in honor of the late Professor Albert Mancini, was made possible through a generous gift by the Mancini family. This year's series featured two experiences.
The first experience was a lecture from Dr. Karla Mallette, Professor of Italian (Dept. of Romance Languages and Literatures), and Chair and Professor of Mediterranean Studies (Dept. of Middle East Studies) at the University of Michigan, entitled Hang Time: Gambling and Risk in Late Medieval Italy. Professor Mallette's lecture traced the histories of things that travel from one shore of the Mediterranean to another – people, books, ideas, and material objects – how they are transformed in the process, and the transformative cultural impact they have in a new land.
The second experience was a theatre performance and discussion with Giuliana Musso. Entitled Dentro. Una storia vera, se volete, Giuliana Musso's work was about a mother discovering the worst of truths. A father innocent until proven guilty. Waves of doctors, social workers, and other “helpers” who don’t really want to know, furthering the secret’s concealment. Dentro is not documentary theater but an investigation of a current happening; it’s not a work about violence but one exploring the concealment of truth and lost innocence of children.
