Gala Benefit Dinner Celebrates 40 years of La Scuola D’Italia

La Scuola D’Italia Guglielmo Marconi hosted a gala benefit dinner on March 24 to celebrate the school’s 40th anniversary. Founded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1977, La Scuola is a Pre-K—12 bilingual school in Manhattan and is the only school in North America to offer a bilingual curriculum in English and Italian.

The gala celebrated the school’s accomplishments and unique vision, as well as the achievements of successful Italian-Americans, such as honoree Mauro Porcini, Chief Design Officer for PepsiCo. In his speech, Porcini stressed the benefits of mixing Italian and American culture.

“It’s really about blending the visceral, intuitive passion and the holistic, problem-solving dream and approach typical of Italians with a more structured, organized, strategic approach of the American cultural,” said Porcini. “When these two worlds meet each other in this hyper connected global market we live in, magic can happen.”

Porcini’s focus on global interconnectedness and the importance of sharing cultures was reflective of the ongoing changes in La Scuola’s vision and goals for its students. Four decades after its founding, Head of School Maria Palandra says the school is becoming more international and is focusing on instilling a more international outlook in its students. The school’s focus now, says Palandra, is “preparing students for a global world, a different world than the one we saw 40 years ago.”

-Maggie Utter