History

Founded in 1984 as part of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in San Francisco, the IIC in Los Angeles has operated for nine years as the Cultural Office of the Itlaian Consulate General, located at 12400 Wilshire Boulevard.
The IIC became autonomous in 1993, the year in which the Ministry of Foreign Affaris bought the current property at 1023 Hilgard Avenue.
The building, designed by Robert E. Alexander, partner of Richard Neutra, once housed the International Student Center of the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).

The Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles, directed by Francesca Valente, is one of five government cultural agencies established in the United States by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the others being located in New York, Washington, Chicago and San Francisco. The Institute is a center for cultural and academic activities, a school of Italian language and culture, and a center for art exhibitions, film screenings and videos. It promotes the translation of Italian authors by encouraging local publishers and makes the public aware of Italian artists, as well as literary contests and awards.

Since its opening, the IIC has offered numerous cultural events to the Los Angeles community.

Architecture and Design: La Cappella del Monte Tamaro exhibition by Mario Botta and Enzo
Cucchi; works by Bruno Munari and Paolo Pininfarina; objects created by Piero Fornasetti;
lectures by Bruno Zevi, Paolo Soleri, Paola Antonelli at UCLA , Lella and Massimo Vignelli at
the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LA CMA) and at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth,
Texas, and Renzo Piano at The Menil Collection in Houston; exhibitions and lectures by Tobia
Scarpa, Ettore Sottsass, Frank Gehry, Enzo Mari, Cini Boeri, Livio Sacchi and Massimiliano Fuksas;  presentations by Stefano Boeri (Domus and Abitare). Traveling exhibition Silver Treasures from  the Atelier San Lorenzo, Milan.

Visual Arts: Leonardo’s Return to Vinci exhibit curated by Carlo Pedretti and displayed at 10
American Museums, from Berkeley to Princeton; Luca Giordano exhibition at LA CMA; The World of the Etruscans at the Bowers Museum; From Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera 1962-72 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA); lecture by Cinzia Parnigoni on the restoration of Michelangelo’s David at the Getty Research Institute and Bernini exhibition at the Getty Center; Beyond Geometry: Experiment in Form, 1940- 1970 at LA CMA. Contemporary art has been represented by Carlo Battaglia, Mariella Bettineschi, Alighiero Boetti, Sandro Chia, Giorgio de Chirico, Lucio Fontana, Nancy Genn, Nunzio Di Stefano, Eliseo Mattiacci, Mario and Marisa Merz, Luigi Ontani, Achille Perilli, Giuseppe Santomaso, Sandro Sanna, Grazia Toderi, Emilio Vedova, Mario Giacomelli, Liliana Moro, and Laura de Santillana.

Cinema: retrospectives of Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini, Pietro Germi, Nanni Moretti,
Ermanno Olmi, Luchino Visconti; tributes to Nicoletta Braschi, Claudia Cardinale, Cristina
Comencini, Mario Monicelli, Sofia Loren, Anna Magnani, Folco Quilici, Alberto Sordi, Vittorio
Storaro, Bernardo Bertolucci, Carlo Lizzani, Pupi Avati, Agostino Ferrente, Paolo Sorrentino.
Special events: eight editions of the annual Italian Language Week (October 2000-2008).
Literature: events dedicated to Maurizio Cucchi, Umberto Eco, Kuki Gallmann, Mario Luzi,
Claudio Magris, Dacia Maraini, Alberto Moravia, Giulia Niccolai, Antonio Porta, Tiziano Rossi,
Enzo Siciliano, Gian Antonio Stella, Giuseppe Conte, Francesca Duranti and Giorgio Pressburger. Since 2005 the Institute hosts the North American jury of the Premio Napoli.

Music: tribute to Ennio Morricone with Clint Eastwood and Dino De Laurentis; recital by Cecilia
Bartoli at the LA Opera; concerts by Giuseppe Albanese, Eugenio Bennato, Sylvano Bussotti,
Paolo Conte, Marino Formenti, and Stefano Scodanibbio; Paolo Fresu; Antonio Lysy; the Los
Angeles Philarmonic Piano Trio; Massimo Nunzi, Enrico Pieranunzi, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Ennio
Morricone’s Soloists; the Soloists from the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale, Spoleto; I Solisti della
Scala Trio; Cristina Zavalloni, Gualtiero Bertelli’s Compagnia delle Acque; Amelia Cuni; Claudia
Antonelli; Carmen Consoli, Andrea Silvestrelli; Venice Baroque Orchestra, Virtuosi Veneziani,
Trio di Parma and Xtet. Lectures by James Conoln, LA Opera Music Director.

Science: seven conferences of Italian scientists and researchers in the South-Western United
States organized in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Washington and the Italian Consulate  General, Los Angeles; lectures by Sergio Ferrara and by Renato Dulbecco.
History and Philosophy: lectures by Carlo Ginzburg, Remo Bodei, and Gian Antonio Stella.

Theater: Roberto Benigni in a recital of selected cantos of Dante’s Divine Comedy; Marco Paolini in Vajont; Nestor Saied and Massimiliano Farau in Atti unici by Eduardo De Filippo, Dario Fo, and Luigi Pirandello; Novecento by Alessandro Baricco (Accademia d’Arte Drammatica Silvio D’Amico); Societas Raffaello Sanzio in Julius Caesar; Teatro di Roma in Don Chisciotte (directed by Maurizio Scaparro); Pamela Villoresi in a poetry and prose recital; and Ferruccio Soleri in Arlecchino, Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni (Piccolo Teatro di Milano), Francesco Quinn in Voices by Claudio Magris, Francesca Fanti in Love Letters by Dacia Maraini.

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