Legacy members

At our 40th anniversary on May 14th, we gave special recognition to the legacy members of the club; that is, those who have been members since the 1980s.

Back row: 

Ramona Krausnick Antonioni, San Bernardo, Val di Rabbi and Verla, Val di Cembra; 
Josephine Agostini Costa, Cologna (Pieve di Bono); 
Laura Floriani Vitlacil, Bieno, Valsugana; 
Adriana Salvadori Antoniolli, Bondo (Sella Giudicarie);
– Lino Rizzi, Cloz, Val di Non;
Bob Zanoni, Cloz, Val di Non and Vermiglio, Val di Sole.

Front row: 

Rosie Yob, Ralph’s wife; 
Giuseppina Piasente Alvarez, Pieve Tesino;
Ralph Yob, Sporminore, Sfruz and Lover, Val di Non;
Antonio Vitlacil, Borgo Valsugana; 
Nelly Antoniolli Mussi, Roncone and Agrone (Pieve di Bono);
– Ruby Franch Zanoni, Cloz, Val di Non;   
Olga Degregorio Disney, Spera (Castel Ivano), Valsugana.

Giuseppina and Laura were founding members.

Luca Dorigatti, new President

During our 40th anniversary celebration the presidency of the club was transferred from Giuseppina Piasente Alvarez to Luca Dorigatti.

Giuseppina felt it was time to pass the leadership to a younger generation. Giuseppina has spirited one of the most active clubs in Northern America. She has a passionate desire to promote our culture to a new generation of Trentini. She welcomes with open arms the flow of newer immigrants who have come to find success in Silicon Valley and elsewhere in California.
The new president is Luca Dorigatti, a native of the city of Trento.
Luca has held various roles in our community. From 2013 to 2018 he was the US Consultant to the Province of Trento. From 2013 to 2018 he was the US Coordinator for the Trentini nel Mondo Association, and from 2018 to 2021 he played the same role for the Western US.
From 2000 to 2008 he was our club secretary and for the past 10 years he has been a board member. Giuseppina has placed us in good hands by passing the presidency to Luca. 

Giuseppina will remain on our board and will certainly continue to play a pivotal role in our affairs. We express our sincere admiration and gratitude to Giuseppina and Luca for their dedication to our community.

Our club was founded on February 9, 1980 with the assistance of Dr. Bruno Fonza, who was visiting from Trentino. Initially, there were only 30 members. The current club roster contains more than 200 households. Giuseppina has been president now for over 30 years. Soon after our club was founded, the Trentini nel Mondo Association conferred upon our club a formal letter of recognition. During the anniversary event, Giuseppina handed this letter of recognition to Luca, symbolizing the transition of leadership. Luca was also presented with a cycling jersey, the same one worn by the world champion from Trentino, Francesco Moser.

Our club was founded on February 9, 1980 with the assistance of Dr. Bruno Fonza, who was visiting from Trentino. Initially, there were only 30 members. The current club roster contains more than 200 households. Giuseppina has been president now for over 30 years. Soon after our club was founded, the Trentini nel Mondo Association conferred upon our club a formal letter of recognition. During the anniversary event, Giuseppina handed this letter of recognition to Luca, symbolizing the transition of leadership. Luca was also presented with a cycling jersey, the same one worn by the world champion from Trentino, Francesco Moser.

On the left Giuseppina receives a standing ovation

40th Anniversary Celebration

On Saturday May 14th, the Circolo Trentino di San Francisco celebrated its 40th anniversaryat the Prie Winery in Lodi on May 14 th , 2022.
This celebration was postponed 2 years due to the pandemic. The owners of the winery welcomed just over 100 Trentini. Prie is one of the few wineries in the US that produces Marzemino, a typical wine from Trentino mentioned in Mozart’s opera, Don Giovanni. Each table featured this exquisite varietal plus other fine wines. Michael Zampiceni played an array of Italian songs to keep us all entertained. After lunch our president Giuseppina Piasente Alvarez led a group of members in song, including the Hymn to Trentino (Inno al Trentino). Our club prides itself in having members of all ages, young, not so young and in-between. This was in full display at the anniversary. There were two infants. Leonardo Bonadiman was accompanied by his parents who recently moved to California and little Nolan Holober was accompanied by his 95-year-old great-grandfather, Antonio Vitlacil, the oldest attendee.
During our 40th anniversary, we gave special recognition to the legacy members of the club; that is, those who have been members since the 1980s and we transferred the presidency of the club from Giuseppina Piasente Alvarez to Luca Dorigatti.
Armando Maistri, President of the Trentini nel Mondo Association, and Mattia Gottardi, representative of the Province of Trento, wrote letters to the club congratulating us on reaching this milestone. We thank Trentini nel Mondo and the Provincia autonoma di Trento for their solidarity and kind words.

40th Anniversary Celebration

We’d like to announce the date for our 40th anniversary celebration:  Saturday, May 14th at 12pm.  

Be sure to mark your calendars for this special outdoor event at the lovely Prie Winery in Lodi:  https://www.priewinery.com.  

We plan on making this a festive occasion for adults and children alike.  We will provide more information further on.  

Tickets will be $45 for adults, $25 for ages 12-18, and children under 12 free.  PAY HERE

Passages 2021, Remembering those we lost.

Max Peter Cologna

Longtime club member Max Peter Cologna passed away in Roseville, California on June 20, 2021 at the age of 88. Max’s parents were from Castelfondo in the Val di Non. They immigrated to Rock Springs, Wyoming, the destination of a multitude of Trentini. There Max was born. When Max was 10 the family settled in Ogden, Utah, the site of another large Trentina community. To this day both Rock Springs and Ogden have active Trentino clubs. Max was named after his father, Massimino Pietro Cologna (1892-1977), son of Giuseppe Cologna and Maria Marchetti. His mother, Pierina Casilda Ianes (1905-1999), was the daughter of Pietro Ianes and Carolina Lorenzetti. Max entered the army and was stationed at Ford Ord Military Base in Monterey. He fell in love with California and a woman of Calabrese origin, Jackie D’Andrea. They married and had 3 boys, Paul, Tom and Matt. Max ran a liquor store in San Francisco. The couple lived in San Mateo for 37 years and then moved to Roseville to be closer to family. Jackie passed away in 2019. They had been married over 60 years. Max was particularly close to Olga Disney and Rena (Prevedel) Rossotti, two others of Trentina origin, that had journeyed from Ogden to California. He loved to sprinkle conversations with a few phrases of Nones, the language of the Val di Non.

John Wood

John Wood (1941-2017) passed away at the age of 76. John was an active club member and very proud of his Trentino roots. His maternal grandparents were Giovanni Avanzini and Maria Zuech, both from Brez in the Val di Non. They immigrated to Rock Springs, Wyoming, the destination of many Trentini. They named their first child Americo, honoring the country of his birth. The family then moved to Goldfield, Nevada. Amerigo perished just before the age of 2 from cholera and is buried in the historic town cemetery. Four children followed, Mary, Elmo, Ruby and Juanita. Ruby was John’s mother. John’s Trentini grandparents owned the Lucky Strike Winery in Goldfield. This business was primarily a bar and liquor distributorship. The winery also hosted poker games and other types of gaming. They gained the right to distribute liquor from the outskirts of Reno all the way to Las Vegas. It was a very profitable business until Goldfield went into demise. The mines were producing less gold and silver. That was followed by a devasting flood in 1913, a fire a decade later and finally prohibition. The family then moved to Reno where they opened a small grocery store and hotel. John received an Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Reno and an MBA from JFK University. He was active in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. After years with PGE, he retired in 2007. John was also a member of the Air Force Reserve. John loved a good polenta or canederli supper accompanied by red wine and capped off by a bit of grappa. He affectionally recalled how his grandmother Maria used the polenta stick as a threatening disciplinary tool. John leaves his loving wife of 54 years, Pat, plus three children, Michelle (Keith), Renee (Richard) and John Norman (Jeanette) and 3 grandchildren, Christopher and Nicholas Lam and John Austin Wood.

2021, New members:

John Zanoni

Last year we sent out an appeal for 2 new board members and for 2 youth board members. John Zanoni has stepped up to fill one of the positions. All four of John’s grandparents came from Trentino, Zanoni, Franch and Flor from Cloz in the Val di Non and Panizza from Vermiglio in the Val di Sole. His parents, Bob and Ruby (Franch) Zanoni, are longtime club members. Bob was the club’s Central Valley Representative for years and was instrumental in putting on the Stockton holiday celebration. John and his wife Sarah were both born and raised in Stockton and both attended Sacramento State. John recently retired after working 40 years as an accountant, serving the construction and real estate industries. The couple lived for 30 years in Las Vegas, but now they spend most of their time at their second residence in Reno to be closer to parents and family. John and Sara have 4 kids and 4 grandchildren. Two of their kids participated in the Trentino youth exchange program, Amanda in 2004 and Connor in 2012. John stated: “I’m joining the board to stay connected with other Trentini,
expand my knowledge of heritage and relationship with others in the club, and help recruit other Trentini and youth to join and be involved
“.

Christmas Celebration

On Saturday December 11, we had a small, informal get-together at board member Luca Dorigatti’s residence in Palo Alto.  Luca and wife Michela made a delicious vin brûlée which was accompanied by pandoro and a mega panettone.  As a special bonus, we all walked away with a bottle of Trentino Pinot Grigio donated to the club.  We had a special visitor, Luca’s nephew from Trento, Tomaso Giannuzzi. He is attending high school in California for a year.  Gemma Angeli Zueck and Laura Floriani Vitlacil entertained us singing “Tu Scendi dalle Stelle” and other songs in Italian.  

Grazie a tutti e buon Natale!

New Representatives Province of Trento & the Trentini nel Mondo Association

For several years board member Luca Dorigatti has served as both the US Consultant to the Province of Trento as well as the Western US Coordinator to the Trentini nel Mondo Association. He has decided to step down from both positions. Luca, thank you for your dedicated service to the Trentina community in the US!
The Province selected 15 new consultants to represent those countries that have a large concentration of Trentini. Amy Antoniolli of Chicago and Francesca Gottardi of Houston were selected for the US.
The Trentino nel Mondo Association selected 16 new coordinators worldwide. Michael Pancheri of New York was the Eastern US coordinator. He will now be the sole representative for the entire US.

Amy Antoniolli


Amy Antoniolli – New US Consultant

Amy is an environmental attorney and a consultant on renewable energy at Shiff Hardin. She lives in Chicago with her husband and two children.
In 1998 Amy participated in the first Trentino Youth World Congress. In 2000 she won a scholarship to study at the University of Trento where she received a Certificate in Italian and European Community Law. In 2016 she participated in a Trentino youth gathering in Rock Springs, Wyoming entitled Blueprint – Together Trentini. Amy’s grandparents, Agosto Antoniolli and Adelina Ferrari, were born in the Val Rendena.


Francesca Gottardi

Francesca Gottardi – New Us Consultant
Francesca Gottardi, one of two new US consultants to the Province of Trento. Francesca is originally from Pergine Valsugana. She now lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband. Francesca is an attorney and PhD candidate at the University of Cincinnati in political science. She attained JD (Juris Doctor) and LLM (Master of Laws) degrees at the University of Cincinnati, where she is currently teaching international law. Francesca also has a Masters in Law at the University of Trento. In 2020 the University of Trento honored her as the “Alumna of the Year”, and she was invited to speak at the university’s commencement ceremony. Francesca speaks multiple languages. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, camping and marathon running.

Nuovo Console

The Italian Consulate of San Francisco has a new consul general, Sergio Strozzi. He got right into action throwing a pitch during the Giants Italian Heritage Night at AT&T Park. He also invited Bay Area Italian clubs to a meet-and-greet at the Consulate. Board member Luca Dorigatti gave a short presentation on behalf of the Circolo Trentino di San Francisco.

In the picture the new consul general Sergio Strozzi and Luca Dorigatti.

Capun

Cologna is a village in the municipality of Pieve di Bono-Prezzo.
Several families from Cologna settled in the Central Valley of California. The church in Cologna is named St. Rocco. August 16th is the feast day of St. Rocco, and in Cologna there is always a large celebration. Many of our members in the Central Valley do the same. Capun is a delicacy made on this occasion (note some refer to it as capuc). Below the recipe. Enjoy!

Recipe
2 loaves of dried grated French bread
2 loaves of fresh bread soaked in ½ gallon of milk
6 bunches of Swiss chard, cut and sauteed
2 large bags of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and sauteed 2 lbs. parmesan cheese, grated
1 lb. Swiss cheese, grated
2 lbs. dry jack cheese, grated
12 Italian sausages, casing removed and sauteed
2 lbs. bacon, chopped and sauteed
1 lb. butter, melted
1 ½ head of garlic, chopped and sauteed
4 yellow onions, chopped and sauteed
2 white onions, chopped and sauteed
6 eggs
1 head of celery, chopped
1 bunch of parsley, chopped
Salt & pepper

Mix all the ingredients together well. Make into paddies 2 ½” x 2 ½”. Wrap in concord grape leaves and tie with string in pairs of two – with the ingredients above, about 60 pairs. Place in salted boiling water for 20 minutes.