The Week of the Italian Language, an annual global event, is celebrated this year between 19-25 October with the theme “Lingua Geniale”, and Taalhuis Amsterdam is hosting a one-day festival dedicated to the Italian language and culture.

Our school has been teaching Italian for many years, and we’re proud to have welcomed so many students who made this “Lingua Geniale” their own. In this festival, we are excited to extend this welcome to an even wider audience: from Italians missing a taste of home, to those who’ve never spoken a word of Italian, or anyone who simply loves discovering new cultures. This festival is for anyone ready to enjoy a little piece of Italy, if only for a day.

Throughout the day you’ll find countless options to immerse yourself in the Italian language, culture and tastes. You’ll find yourself in Italy, surrounded by food and drinks and artisanal products all from Italian soil.

And of course we will close the day with an Aperitivo Parlante, live music, Italian cocktails and chit-chat.

Saturday, 24 October 2026
12:30-21:00
Gerard Doustraat 220
Free admission for children under 12 yo.

Program:

Ground floor
12:30 – Doors open and welcoming
14:00-14:45 – Impro theater show by AmsterDaje
17:30-18:00 – Aperitivo parlante
19:00-19:45 – Live music show by AcquAria trio (Vincenzo Castellana, Joris van Beek, Remco Sietsema)
20:00-20:15 – Sing-along with Taalhuis band
Delicious Sardinian food from Pasta Paradijs all day.

1st floor
12:45-13:30 – “…E alla fine diventai Betty Boop” book reading & signing by Carmelinda Gentile
13:15-14:00 – Lecture: 5 Italian Songs: Exploring Contemporary Italian Music by Luca Di Maio
14:00-14:30 – Mini Italian lesson for beginners
14:00-14:45 – Lecture (in Dutch): Goede Hollanders. De Nederlandse zoeaven en het Italiaans (1860-1870) by Koen de Groot
15:00-15:45 – Italian conversation with theatre techniques (A2+ level) with AmsterDaje
15:00-15:45 – Lecture: Giacomo Prampolini, the Polyglot Prodigy by Carmen van den Bergh
15:00-15:45 – Wine tasting: Italy through Wine: Volcanoes in a Glass (€15)* with Barbara Summa*
15:45-16:30 – Italian conversation with Theatre techniques (A2+ level) with AmsterDaje
16:00-16:45 – Lecture: The Dante Alighieri Society: between ‘italsimpatia’ and cultural diplomacy by Arnold Witte
16:30-17:15 – Wine tasting: Two Wines, Two Italies (€15)* with Barbara Summa
16:30-17:00 – Mini Italian lesson for beginners
17:00-17:45 – Lecture: Shaping a national identity: Italian TV from the 50s to the 70s by Valentina Abbatelli

Cinema, il Giornale, Roma Aeterna, Dante Alighieri, Italstudio, and Labrys

2nd floor
12:30-17:30 – Mercato with Levende Talen, Het Amsterdams Lyceum – Corso Italiano, Alfabeto Libri, Armonia Beauty Salon, Momentiblu, Julia Bridge, Foldo Piadina
12:30-17:30 – Readings and games for children
15:00-17:00 – Mini pasta workshops with Marzia

* Wine tastings cost an additional €15.

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Festival Line-up

AcquAria trio
AcquAria is an electrifying Southern Italian-Dutch folk band (trio) that brings the vibrant spirit of the Mediterranean to life. With tambourines, guitar, accordion, violin, and voice, they ignite the stage with fast traditional dances like Tarantella, Tamurriata, and Pizzica, alongside sweet songs and lullabies. Their repertoire offers a fully immersive journey through authentic—and sometimes forgotten—sounds of Southern Italy. Get ready to dance!
Vincenzo Castellana: vocals, tambourine, guitar, winds; Remco Sietsema: accordion, vocals; Joris van Beek: violin, mandolin

AmsterDaje
AmsterdamDaje is Amsterdam’s leading Italian improvisational theater community, bringing together countless people through improvisation, storytelling, and stand-up comedy. Through courses, workshops, and live performances, they offer a warm slice of Italy in the Netherlands and a powerful generator of human connection. Their uniqueness lies in taking the stage without a script, filling the theater with spontaneous and overwhelming energy. They are an inclusive space where the only rule is to get involved, convinced that shared laughter is the best way to feel at home.

Arnold Witte
Arnold Witte is an art historian at the University of Amsterdam. A true Italy enthusiast, he has been visiting Italy for research since his doctoral studies on painting in Rome around 1600. From 2015 to 2020, he was a research fellow at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome. Since 2025, he has served as Chair of the Dante Alighieri Amsterdam.

Barbara Summa
Barbara Summa is a writer, conference interpreter, Italian teacher, and sommelier (AIS). She has lived in Amsterdam since 1995 and works at the intersection of language, culture, literature and gastronomy between Italy and the Netherlands. Through her platform Madrelingua, she organizes cultural courses, wine tastings, culinary workshops, and language trips to the Abruzzo region. In her activities, the focus is not on technique but on the story: wine, food, and literature form the gateway to Italian culture.

Carmelinda Gentile
Actor, theatre director, and author Carmelinda Gentile has built an international career driven by a passion for storytelling. Trained at the prestigious INDA (National Institute of Ancient Drama), she has worked with renowned Italian theatre directors and is widely known for her role as Beba in Inspector Montalbano. As founder and artistic director of the Korego Theater Group in Amsterdam, she promotes Italian theatre and culture through performances and workshops. She recently made her literary debut with …E alla fine diventai Betty Boop, a deeply personal memoir about resilience and new beginnings.

Carmen van den Bergh
Carmen Van den Bergh is Programme Chair of the Bachelor’s programme in Italian Language and Culture and Senior University Lecturer in Modern Literature at Leiden University, specializing in twentieth-century Italian literature. For her research projects, she has received support from various research funds and institutions, including FWO Flanders, NWO, the MDRN research group at KU Leuven, and KNAW/DANS. She has published books and contributions with, among others, Cesati, Brill, Palgrave Macmillan, Taylor & Francis, Peeters, PU Rennes, Les Impressions Nouvelles, and Wijdemeer.

Koen de Groot
Koen de Groot is a historian specializing in the Papal Zouaves, about whom he published a monograph in 2023. He is also an editor at Historisch Café Amsterdam and editor-in-chief of the journal Roma Aeterna.

Luca di Maio
Luca Di Maio is an Italian musician, producer, songwriter, and language teacher based in Amsterdam. He is the founder of Frastuono, a festival dedicated to contemporary Italian music, and hosts Luca’s Wunderkammer on Amsterdam-based radio station Echobox.

Marzia Ruta
Marzia has been teaching Italian at Taalhuis Amsterdam since 2018. Originally from Bologna, she is not only an experienced Italian teacher but also a passionate cook and handmade pasta maker. At Taalhuis, she regularly organizes and leads cooking workshops, bringing her love of Italian food, culture, and traditions to the classroom.

Valentina Abbatelli
Valentina Abbatelli studied History of Italian Language and Linguistics in Rome, where she also trained to become a teacher of Italian as a foreign language. In 2013, she moved to the UK, where she completed a PhD in Italian Studies at the University of Warwick and taught Italian language and culture for more than ten years, lecturing on twentieth- and twenty-first-century Italian history and society, as well as the history of publishing. In 2024, she moved to Amsterdam, where she currently teaches Italian language and culture at Taalhuis Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam, and the Italian Cultural Institute.