Vittoria Piasente Guerra

Club member Vittoria Piasente Guerra passed away on November 9, 2020. She was born in 1935, 2nd youngest child of Fortunato Piasente of Castello Tesino and Maria Assunta Granello of Pieve Tesino. Her mother had 13
children in all, but 4 died in infancy.
At the time Mussolini gave a ribbon award to women who had several
children. Vittoria’s mother proudly wore that ribbon.
At the age of 33, Vittoria came to California to visit her sister, club president Giuseppina Piasente Alvarez. She met fellow Italian, Marco Guerra. They married, formed a family and settled in San Francisco and then in Fairfield. Church bells rang in Tesino commemorating her life.

Donald “Don” Rossotti

Donald “Don” Rossotti passed away at his home in Salinas on June 26, 2020, husband of club member Rena Rossotti Prevedel. Don followed in his parents’ footsteps farming artichokes and a variety of line vegetables. Rena’s parents, Aldo Prevedel and Ida Dorighi, were from Brez in the Val di Non. They immigrated to Superior, Wyoming, and then to the Ogden, Utah area where Rena was raised.

Wine Enthusiast, a world premier wine magazine based in New York, selected Trentino as the Wine Region of the World 2020, “unrivaled in Italy for its diversity.” There are 164 wineries in Trentino, 77% of the production being in white grapes and 23% in red. Organic grapes comprise 12% of the total, and that percentage is constantly increasing. The main importers of Trentino wines are the US, the UK and Germany. Wine Enthusiast adds:
“The Trentino region is one of the most dynamic, multifaceted, quality terroir driven wine-producing areas in the world today.”
In 2005 Wine Spectator, the “Bible” of the wine world, named Cantina Mezzacorona one of the “Top 20 Value-Oriented Wineries” for its quality and reliability. Only 5 European wines were on the list. Mezzacorona’s Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay were acclaimed for their “refined varietal aromas and vibrant acidity”.

The Trentino nel Mondo Association was founded in 1957 as a bridge to the many Trentini that had emigrated to other lands. In 2017 they held an anniversary celebration in Trento. Speakers included Honorary Association President Bruno Fronza and Past President Ferruccio Pisoni. Bruno Fronza visited the Bay Area 41 years ago and helped launch our club. Ferruccio Pisoni attended the 2004 ITTONA Convention hosted by our club. He recently passed away. The Trentino nel Mondo featured Ferruccio Pisoni on the front cover of the November/December 2020 issue of their magazine.

UPDATE 20/4/2021
Dear Supporters,
We have reached the fundraising campaign goal to support the post-production of the documentary.
A big Thank You to everyone for the support! This project is possible thanks to you and your generosity.
The documentary editing process will be a long and exciting journey. The goal is to release the documentary by the beginning of 2022.
Supporting the project is still possible and open. 
Any additional donations will be used to extend the TrentiniAmericani web page and publish the film’s extracts.
Subscribe to our mailing list to receive updates on the project. 
Grazie!

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September 2020

Many of you know Vincenzo Mancuso, the documentarian commissioned by the Trentino Historical Museum to interview Trentini in the US. A few years back Vincenzo interviewed several of our members and produced a short documentary that was featured on Trentino television and elsewhere. Click here to view the series of short documentaries that were produced by Vincenzo and shown in Trentino. Vincenzo would like to assemble a full-length documentary entitled Trentini Americani tapping into the over 160 interviews he conducted from 2009 to 2018. L’Italo Americano newspaper featured the project in a full-length article entitled
Preserving Memories, Strengthening Identities: The Trentini Americani Project.

Unfortunately, the Trentino Historical Museum can no longer fund the project. Hence, Vincenzo has reached out to the Trentino community for help. As he says: This film is about your history, your memory, and your families.
Vincenzo has budgeted $9000 for the project. He has received donations for just over half that amount. Costs will cover the ollowing: selection and editing of interviews (Seattle / Idaho / Montana), 16 mm and super8 archive digitization (Solvay, NYC, Colorado, Pennsylvania), editing of episodes (NY/ Colorado / Wyoming / California / Pennsylvania), audio editing, music copyrights, stock footage, translations and subtitles (Italian-English) and graphics and post-production.

We encourage you to donate to this project by visiting trentiniamericani.org.

As part of Boy Scout Troup 941, middle-schooler Christopher Lam of Pleasanton (mother Michelle is a descendant of the Avanzini/Zuech family of Brez, Val di Non) produced face shields with 3-D printers for frontline healthcare workers. They purchased the material through fundraising. They worked non-stop, fabricating thousands of shields. They donated them to hospitals all over California and even Washington D.C. They also donated the shields to dental and physical therapy offices, Pleasanton Unified School District, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, etc. Way to go boys!

A recent article in the Italy Magazine was subtitled Six Lakes to See in Trentino. It featured Toblino in the Valle dei Laghi, Molveno aside the Brenta Dolomites, Levico in the Val Sugana, Ledro and Tenno near Riva del Garda, and Tovel, the largest natural lake in Trentino.
I Borghi più belli d’Italia is an association of the most beautiful villages in Italy. There are 281 in all that have received this honor, including 6 in Trentino: Bondone, a fortress town in the southernmost part of the Valle del Chiese; Canale di Tenno, a medieval hamlet near Riva del Garda; Mezzano, at the foot of the Dolomites in the Valle del Primiero; Rango, “where time has stopped”, in the municipality of Bleggio Superiore in the Valli Giudiarie; San Lorenzo in Banale, at the gateway to the Adamello Brenta National Park; Vigo di Fassa, with majestic views of the Catinaccio Dolomites.