Italian American Heritage Month: Mariuccia Zerilli-Marimò

Born in Milan in 1926, Mariuccia Soncini, grew up during wartime Italy, experiencing hardship and learning early on lessons of discipline, equality, and public service. Casa Italiana Zerilli—Marimò at NYU+2Casa Italiana Zerilli—Marimò at NYU+2

She married Baron Guido Zerilli-Marimò in 1949, becoming deeply involved in the post-war Italian industrial and political milieu. Her husband, a pharmaceutical industrialist whose business (Lepetit) had suffered during the war, built it back up into a multinational concern. Casa Italiana Zerilli—Marimò at NYU+2Casa Italiana Zerilli—Marimò at NYU+2

After Guido’s death in 1981, Mariuccia devoted herself increasingly to philanthropy and cultural promotion. Her most prominent legacy is the founding of Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at New York University in 1990: she purchased and restored a historic 19th-century brownstone in Greenwich Village (former Winfield Scott House) and donated it to NYU to house a dedicated Department of Italian Studies and serve as a vibrant cultural center. Casa Italiana Zerilli—Marimò at NYU+3Casa Italiana Zerilli—Marimò at NYU+3Casa Italiana Zerilli—Marimò at NYU+3

Casa Italiana offers courses, free public events (in literature, visual arts, cinema, music, theater, etc.), translations of contemporary Italian works, and serves as a bridge between Italy and the U.S. in cultural and academic exchange. Casa Italiana Zerilli—Marimò at NYU+3Casa Italiana Zerilli—Marimò at NYU+3Casa Italiana Zerilli—Marimò at NYU+3 She also established the Zerilli-Marimò Prize for Italian Fiction in 1998 to promote contemporary Italian literature in English‐speaking countries. Casa Italiana Zerilli—Marimò at NYU+2Wikipedia+2

Mariuccia Zerilli-Marimò passed away on October 17, 2015, at the age of 89. At her death she was still deeply involved as founder and Chair of the Advisory Board of Casa Italiana.