Una meraviglia – Italofonia at FRIT!
Starting in Fall 2025, the Department of French and Italian inaugurated the first Italian Immersion Day on October 7 bringing several high school students to campus for the XXV Week of Italian Language in the World.
The 2025 annual theme “Italofonia: Lingua oltre i confine” (Italophony: Language beyond borders) was chosen by the Ministero degli Affari Esteri e per la Cooperazione Internazionale and it promoted the polyphonic appreciation of Italian language and its different geographical contaminations.
This celebration of beauty and the enriching history of Italian tongues, heritage, and cultures was made possible through the volunteering support of several colleagues, graduate teaching associates, undergraduate Italian majors and minors, a special olive-oil-tasting activity organized by our colleague Dr. Mark-Anthony Arcane and scavenger hunt designed by our Italian Studies PhD student, Samanta Buffa.
This initiative was organized by the Director of the Italian Language program, Professor April Weintritt, and brought more than 40 high school students attending Italian programming in Columbus schools with the support of our colleagues at Bishop Watterson (Cristina Steele) and DeSales (Antonella Iacobone) to whom we are deeply grateful.
Moreover, students had the opportunity to work on a collaborative project and design a storyboard of their preferred Italian parole that embody the richness of their Italian experiences. They participated with their visual project to the International Contest “Adotta una parola”, organized by the Educational Office of the Detroit Consulate.
It was an incredible pleasure to see high school Italian students becoming part of the Ohio State experience on campus. This initiative will become an annual celebration of Italian culture, languages, and identities.