Matteo Baceda and Family
Matteo Baceda also attended the picnic along with his wife Jennifer, nearly 7-year-old daughter Stella and 18-month-old twins Oliver and Camilla. They brought along their homemade strudel. Yum! Matteo is from Trento, but he has lived in the Bay Area since 2001. He founded Modernus, a company born “out of a love for what Italy does best, manufacture and design products that are in
our daily lives.” They mainly work on commercial projects. Recently they entered the demountable wall market, with a product inspired by feedback they received from architects and designers around the country. His small, self-financed company is always looking for new talent to bring onboard.
Matteo studied at the University of Trento and then worked in London. After that, he attained an MBA at Dartmouth College in New
Hampshire. Then he landed a job in credit derivatives at JP Morgan Chase in New York. It was there that he met his wife Jenn. In 2001 the
Gap offered to relocate Jenn to San Francisco. They gladly accepted the move. Matteo, Jenn e famiglia, benvenuti al Circolo Trentino di San Francisco!
Mary Elmstrom
Mary Elmstrom recently found out about our club through the Trentini nel Mondo website. She says her grandmother was a regular subscriber of the Trentini nel Mondo magazine. Her maternal grandfather, August Boni, was born in 1897 in Pennsylvania. His parents were Fioravante Boni and Paola Gallazzini from Villa Rendena. Her maternal grandmother, Lena Schivalocchi, was born in Alliance, Ohio. Her parents were Francesco Giuseppe Schivalocchi from Darzo and Maria Stenico from Trento. Mary travelled to Val Rendena twice about 10-12 years ago and met cousins from the Gallazzini family. Since then she has been studying Italian and improving “piano, piano”.
Mary grew up in Berkeley. She met her husband Gary while attending UC Davis. They raised 3 children in Leesburg, Florida, where Gary was a research Professor of Horticulture for 26 years. They transferred to Woodland, California in 1995 and to San Rafael 3 years ago. They are delighted to be back in the Bay Area. Their daughter Kris, son-in-law Aaron and grandson Jax live nearby, and Mary is enjoying her role as “nonna.”
The Val Rendena is well known for its knife sharpeners. We have other club members with origins in the Val Rendena: Ben Maganzini, Maria Mortati (Polli) and Bruce Cozzini. Mary
looks forward to meeting them and the rest of us.
Frank Giunta
Some new members attended the picnic in Alameda. The first was Frank (Franco) Giunta. Frank is originally from Western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. He has lived in the Berkeley/Oakland hills for the past 40 plus years, but he had no idea there was a Trentino club. He found out about our club from Debbie Corradi, President of the club in Minnesota. He descends from the Serafini family of Bleggio in the Valli Giudicarie, about
20 miles west of Trento. Frank’s first visit to the area was in 1969, and he has been back
many times since. He knows other Trentini that are not part of our club, and he plans to recruit them. Benvenuto Franco!!
Federico Menapace
Federico Menapace has been in the MBA program at Stanford University for the past few years. He also has various degrees in civil engineering from the Universities of Trento, Michigan and Trieste. He is working on several projects, including one with Luca Cattoi, a developer and entrepreneur from Arco, Trentino. Luca has visited the Bay Area on several occasions and has become friends with several of our club members. Luca, Federico and others have created a travel reservation program, www.TravelNuts.com. They are currently testing the program out at a hotel operated in Santa Cruz by club members, Dan and Elena Aspromonte. The Aspromontes have been delighted with the results.
Carmella Weintraub
Carmella Weintraub lives in Santa Cruz. Her Trentino ancestors, Zanoni, Bergamo, etc., came from Campodenno and Denno in the Val di Non. Carmella studied child psychology at San Jose State, married and had children before embarking on a career in art and fashion. She learned to sew at a young age from her grandmother. She runs sewing and design classes for youngsters in the Santa Cruz area.
