Letters to Italy

Sara Marinelli
  • 4.9 (19)
  • DOCUMENTARY
  • WEEKLY SERIES

Letters to Italy by Sara Marinelli is an eighth-part series about the impact of Covid-19 on Italian immigrants in the Bay Area. How did Italian expats feel when they received news of their country being the epicenter of the pandemic in the Western world, and how did it affect their distant relationship to home? At the intersection of personal memoir and documentary, each episode features conversations with an Italian expat to hear how the pandemic reshaped their life in the U.S., and how they tried to remain connected to Italy in a time of crisis and forced separation. Conversations bring up questions of belonging, resilience, community, and how to transform challenges into possibilities.

Season 1

  1. EPISODE 1

    Ep. 1 - Sara Marinelli, Writer & Radio-producer - My letters to Italy

    Writer and radio producer Sara Marinelli introduces the series by sharing some of her Letters to Italy that she has been writing since the onset of the pandemic.  Through a collage of voice-memos, phone calls, radio news, journal entries, and music recorded on Italian balconies, Sara explores her sense of belonging and ways to connect from afar with the country she left fourteen years ago. *** Since recording this episode, Italy’s vaccination plan has sped up. 13% of the population has received the anti Covid-19 vaccine, as of early May 2021.  Episode notes Writer/ Producer/Editor: Sara Marinelli Mixing consultant: Rebecca Seidel Sound design: Sara Marinelli Intro and outro music: “Hopeful Motivation” - James Yan Music bed: “Passage IV” (remix)  -  Laura Inserra Website: https://podcast.saramarinelli.com Website for Sara Marinelli: www.saramarinelli.com Website for Italian Frequency radio show: www.kxsf.fm Social: IG: @saramarinelli1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sara.marinelli.92/ This series was made possible thanks to the support of COMITES of San Francisco and the Italian Consulate of San Francisco, with funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. I'd like to thank: the Hershowitz family, Elisabetta Ghisini, Whit Missildine, Mia Warren.

    17 min

  2. EPISODE 2

    Ep. 2 - Valentina Imbeni, Founder and Head of La Scuola

    The second episode of "Letters to Italy" by Sara Marinelli features Valentina Imbeni, founder and head of La Scuola International, an Italian-American school in San Francisco fostering the Reggio Emilia's approach to education. Valentina grew up in Bologna, and has lived in the Bay Area for twenty years. La Scuola is one of the few schools in San Francisco that offered in-person classes after the first wave of the pandemic.  Valentina shares the challenges and efforts to keep the school open, and recounts of her connection to Italy during the peak of the crisis. Episode notes Producer/Editor: Sara Marinelli Mixing consultant: Rebecca Seidel Sound design: Sara Marinelli Intro and outro music: “Hopeful Motivation” - James Yan Website: https://podcast.saramarinelli.com Website for Sara Marinelli: www.saramarinelli.com Website for La Scuola: www.lascuolasf.org This series was made possible thanks to the support of COMITES of San Francisco and the Italian Consulate of San Francisco, with funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

    19 min

  3. EPISODE 3

    Ep. 3 - Lucina Di Meco, Women's Rights Advocate

    The third episode of "Letters to Italy" by Sara Marinelli features Lucina Di Meco, gender expert and women’s rights advocate. She is the author of #ShePersisted. Women, Politics & Power in the New Media World, and serves as the Senior Director of Girls’ Education & Gender Equality at "Room to Read."  She grew up in Liguria, and has lived in the USA since 2007, and in the Bay Area for the last five years. While in Episode 2, Valentina Imbeni told us about the efforts to keep a local school open during the pandemic, Lucina Di Meco speaks about the challenges of an international nonprofit in pursuing its mission to promote gender equality in the Global South at a time of crisis. Lucina also ponders her relationship to Italy, her sense of belonging, and how she turned a difficult moment into an opportunity to further alliances in her work as a researcher and advocate for women’s political leadership. *** Episode notes Producer/Editor: Sara Marinelli Sound design: Sara Marinelli Intro and outro music: “Hopeful Motivation” - James Yan Website for Sara Marinelli: www.saramarinelli.com Website for Room to Read: www.roomtoread.org Website for Lucina Di Meco:  www.she-persisted.org This series was made possible thanks to the support of COMITES of San Francisco and the Italian Consulate of San Francisco, with funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

    20 min

  4. EPISODE 4

    Ep. 4 - Lorenzo Ortona, Consul General of Italy in San Francisco

    The fourth episode of "Letters to Italy"  by Sara Marinelli features Lorenzo Ortona, Consul General of Italy in San Francisco. Lorenzo Ortona recalls some of the most difficult moments the Italian diaspora on the West Coast went through when Italy was first hit by the pandemic, as well as the challenges that he and his team faced in support of the community. As Lorenzo's mandate is set to end this June, he also considers some of the highlights of five years in office in the vast Consulate’s jurisdiction, and the legacy he leaves to the people he served and with whom he established strong and long-lasting relationships. His is not only a letter to Italy, but also a message goodbye to the Italian community here. *** Episode notes In expressing his gratitude toward all the people who have supported him in many endeveaors during his tenure, Lorenzo Ortona would like to remember his friend Jeff Capaccio, founderand chairman of SVIEC,  Silicon Valley Italian Executive Council, who passed away suddenly in March 2021. Producer/Editor: Sara Marinelli Intro and outro music: “Hopeful Motivation” - James Yan Website for Sara Marinelli: www.saramarinelli.com Website for the Italian Consulate of San Francisco: www.conssanfrancisco.esteri.it This series was made possible thanks to the support of COMITES of San Francisco and the Italian Consulate of San Francisco, with funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

    26 min

  5. EPISODE 5

    Ep. 5 - Angelo Greco, Principal Dancer at SF Ballet

    The fifth episode of "Letters to Italy"  by Sara Marinelli  features Angelo Greco, principal dancer at San Francisco Ballet. Angelo tells the story of how from the prestigious Opera theater of La Scala in Milano, he relocated to San Francisco in order to perform every night.  Until everything changed.  When the world of performing arts came to a standstill because of Covid, the 2020 SF Ballet season was cancelled, and the current one was produced in an empty theater. Angelo shares how he felt during the months of lockdown, being deprived of the stage, which, as he says, “sets him free."  He also talks about his relationship to dance and art, the power to dream and his yearning to create. In recalling the hardest moments of the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy, he reflects on his relationship to home and his sense of belonging. *** Episode notes Producer/Editor: Sara Marinelli Sound design: Sara Marinelli Intro and outro music: “Hopeful Motivation” - James Yan Music from the film "Icarus" by Pietro Pinto -  Fabio Vassallo Website for SF Ballet: www.sfballet.org Website for Sara Marinelli: www.saramarinelli.com IG: @saramarinelli1 This series was made possible thanks to the support of COMITES of San Francisco and the Italian Consulate of San Francisco, with funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

    29 min

  6. EPISODE 6

    Ep. 6 - Laura Inserra, Composer and Musician

    The sixth episode of  "Letters to Italy" by Sara Marinelli features Laura Inserra, world-renown hang musician, composer, and multi-instrumentalist.  Laura tells the story of how from the restrictions of her Sicilian background, she moved to the Bay Area in 2006 to experiment with new professional possibilities in music and technology. Unable to perform, teach, and produce music events during the pandemic, Laura did live streams of what she describes as sound journeys -  called "Shelter in Music.” Laura conceived the sound journeys as her way to support her family in Sicily by teaching them to use music as a shelter during the strict lockdown in Italy.  She shares the moving story of how from her fear to be judged and misunderstood by her traditional Sicilian family seeing her play many unconventional instruments, she instead discovered and established a deeper connection with her family like she had never done before. Bonuses of this episode***:  Laura Inserra’s music; the sound of her several instruments, and of a lovely and lively Easter dinner in Sicily with her family members.  *** Episode notes Producer/Editor: Sara Marinelli Sound design: Sara Marinelli Intro and outro music: “Hopeful Motivation” - James Yan Tracks by Laura Inserra: "Serendipity", "Dedication," "Eternal Wisdom". Excerpt from "Shelter in Music." Website for Laura Inserra: www.laurainserra.com Website for Sara Marinelli: www.saramarinelli.com IG: @saramarinelli1 This series was made possible thanks to the support of COMITES of San Francisco and the Italian Consulate of San Francisco, with funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

    29 min

  7. EPISODE 7

    Ep. 7 - Elisabetta Ghisini, Entrepreneur and President of COMITES SF

    The seventh episode of "Letters to Italy" by Sara Marinelli features  Elisabetta Ghisini, Entrepreneur and President of COMITES SF. A long time resident of the Bay Area and a very active member in the Italian community, Elisabetta shares how after the first initial moments of crisis due to the shock of the pandemic devastating her native Italian region of Lombardy, she was then able to turn this time of upheaval in opportunities for personal growth, for new professional adventures, and for a re-assessment of  COMITES'  priorities and projects that would sustain the Italian community during the Covid-19 emergency. *** Episode notes Producer/Editor: Sara Marinelli Website for Sara Marinelli: www.saramarinelli.com IG: @saramarinelli1 Website for COMITES: www.sfcomites.org Website for Elisabetta Ghisini's company: www.continuumlab.ai This series was made possible thanks to the support of COMITES of San Francisco and the Italian Consulate of San Francisco, with funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

    25 min

  8. EPISODE 8 BONUS

    Ep. 8 - Sara Marinelli - Letter to my future self

    In this last episode, writer and producer of "Letters to Italy," Sara Marinelli,  concludes the series by reflecting on the conversations with her guests about home, belonging, and Italy during the pandemic; and by sharing a personal letter to her "future self," in which she had imagined the post-quarantine time that has now finally arrived. *** Episode notes Writer/Producer/Editor: Sara Marinelli Intro music: “Hopeful Motivation” - James Yan Music bed: “Passage IV” (remix)  -  Laura Inserra Website: https://podcast.saramarinelli.com Website for Sara Marinelli: www.saramarinelli.com Social: IG: @saramarinelli1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sara.marinelli.92/ This series was made possible thanks to the support of COMITES of San Francisco and the Italian Consulate of San Francisco, with funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

    8 min
  • 8 Episodes

4.9
out of 5
19 Ratings

About

Letters to Italy by Sara Marinelli is an eighth-part series about the impact of Covid-19 on Italian immigrants in the Bay Area. How did Italian expats feel when they received news of their country being the epicenter of the pandemic in the Western world, and how did it affect their distant relationship to home? At the intersection of personal memoir and documentary, each episode features conversations with an Italian expat to hear how the pandemic reshaped their life in the U.S., and how they tried to remain connected to Italy in a time of crisis and forced separation. Conversations bring up questions of belonging, resilience, community, and how to transform challenges into possibilities.

Information

  • Creator
    Sara Marinelli
  • Episodes
    8
  • Seasons
    1
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Sara Marinelli
  • Show Website
    Letters to Italy