It is always useful, at the end of the year, to look back at the highlights of the past twelve months’ activities, feeling proud of what went well and looking at how to improve in the year to come.
In no particular order we feel these were Il Circolo’s best 2023 moments:
Mondo Nuovo
Olga Campofreda, author and fencing expert, honoured us by accepting to lead our book club. “Mondo Nuovo”, the name of the book club, is symbolic of a different approach and a brave choice of books, privileging subjects like women’s condition, mental health, and the life challenges facing younger generations. Some of the books discussed included “L’impostore” by Zadie Smith and “L’età fragile” by Donatella di Pietrantonio.
Match POiNT 2023
Olga Campofreda is also one of the professional judges (together with Benedetta Cibrario, Daniele Derossi, Marco Mancassola, Paolo Nelli, Giovanna Salvia, Caterina Soffici) who selected the winners of Il Circolo’s literary competition dedicated to unpublished short stories written in Italian by UK residents. The second edition consolidated the success of the previous year and crowned Filippo Rossi as the overall winner. The competition has attracted a lot of interest and support. The organising committee is already sifting through ideas for the next edition subject. Further details on our website.
Ai WeiWei at the Design Museum
The collaboration with the Design Museum continued in 2023, offering exclusive privileges to Il Circolo’s members. One of the best occasions was definitely the opening of Ai WeiWei’s exhibition, with the famous artist interacting with the public and press.
La Bella Stagione
Il Circolo was involved, together with CinemataliaUK, in the official presentation of “La Bella Stagione” a film by Marco Ponti on the unforgettable championship win of the Sampdoria football team, a nostalgic look at a unique team and one of its ”heroes”, Gianluca Vialli, who played in Italy and the UK, and prematurely died in London at the beginning of 2023, at the age of 58.
New Website
Il Circolo has definitely come of age in the last few years, and the need for a new, updated website became obvious. In a few months of productive consultation with the experts of We Give Digital Services, the logo was given a more dynamic look and the new website was created. Definitely easier to navigate, the new website gives a full picture of Il Circolo activities, giving visitors a “one-stop shop” to see and book events and, subscribing, having access to an exclusive area for members-only events and discounts. As always, in these cases, the website will evolve, adapting itself to the needs and interests of the visitors and members. Visit our new website.
The Italian Christmas Market
Il Circolo’s year traditionally closes with this main fundraising event. Held at the beginning of December in Chelsea Old Town Hall in Kings Road, it offers the best possible choice of Italian quality gifts, art, and food delicacies, a few weeks before Christmas. 2023 was its 26th edition and met, yet again, with the approval of vendors, many of them coming back year after year, and the public, looking for a special present or something to tickle the taste buds.
Of course, these are only some of the activities of Il Circolo that in 2023 organised an average of four events a month including the ones organised by the Art Club and the French Club.
All the funds raised in these events went to support the various projects that Il Circolo helps to finance, including some of the awards of “Italy Made Me” and the research on “Mental health for the youth”.
It has been a full and satisfying year! Now our gaze is firmly on the 2024 calendar of events to surprise our followers with new ideas, welcome more members, and raise more funds for the projects that il Circolo supports. As we say in Italian, we are creating ‘’Un Circolo Virtuoso’’!
