With no dues and no expectations, Tucsonans in an East Side club bond through a shared appreciation for Italian language and culture and good conversation.
"The original intent was that we would just meet, have a cappuccino and just chat in Italian," said Sister Rina Cappellazzo, a Dominican nun who started the club about three years ago. The club has no official name but goes by Parliamo Italiano, which means "We speak Italian."
"Well, it went from that to 'Let's talk about Italian culture, and let's do this, that,' so we've had a lot of experiences. We've done a lot of music," she said.
They had a multicourse Italian dinner at Viro's Real Italian Bakery-Café April 14. It was the first time the club met over a meal and the group's last meeting before a summer break.
In September they plan to resume their meetings the second Tuesday of each month at Viro's, 8301 E. 22nd Street. The club communicates through e-mail and phone. There's no membership registration. To participate, just show up.
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The dinner was Italian-American Georgeann Toto's first time with the East Side club, though she belongs to a couple of other local Italian groups.
"I'll probably be joining this because I live closer to this one," she said. Toto takes part in Italian groups to socialize.
The 21 people who went to April's meeting sat at a long table in Viro's, eating and chatting in multiple Italian dialects.
Most of the club members speak Italian. Sister Rina estimates that everyone except five or so people in it do.
"Those who can't speak Italian, listen, and they try to pick up as much as they can."
Toto can't speak Italian, but she can understand it. Likewise, East Side resident Jim Coniglio, who recently started going to the club, knows a little bit of the language. He has never studied Italian, but he remembers speaking it with his grandmother when he was 2 years old.
Like Toto, Coniglio is Italian-American. His wife, Jenny, is not of Italian descent but she also goes to the meetings.
She's not the only non-Italian in the Italian club, either. West Side resident Barbara Peabody says her interest in conversational Italian drives her to make the crosstown trek to the East Side club.
"I studied Italian in college and I always wanted to have a chance to speak more," she said.
During the meetings, Italian learners can hear plenty of the language from fluent speakers.
One of them is Mario Primomo, who moved from Italy to the United States when he was 19 years old. He goes to the club with his wife Teresa.
The club's founder, Sister Rina, has taught Italian 101 at Pima Community College the past two summers. She was invited to teach the class because she started the club.
She was born in the U.S., but her parents were born and married in Italy. "I was raised Italian, so that in our house we only spoke Italian, so that I knew Italian inside and out," she said.
The East Side Italian Club originally met at Beyond Bread, 6260 E. Speedway, but moved to Viro's after a few meetings.
"It's enough space and the nice thing was … that we speak Italian, too," said Rose Croce, who owns Viro's with her husband Vito. She has become part of the club.
"It's nice and it's comfortable for everybody. Plus … it's like meeting more people, so, which you know, is nice."
More information
For more information on Parliamo Italiano, an East Side Italian club that meets at Viro's Real Italian Bakery-Café, 8301 E. 22nd St., e-mail Sister Rina Cappellazzo at RinaOP@cox.net.
