Established in 1996, the Manchester branch is one of the Society’s many branches around the world.
The Society’s headquarters are in Rome, and its mission is to promote the Italian language and Italian culture abroad.

The Manchester branch does not have its own premises. Membership is open to both Italians and non-Italians, and members and supporters enjoy a wide programme of events throughout the year.
Members and non-members alike are welcome to attend.

Scopri i Parchi Letterari® Italiani!
Accade a volte di sognare tra le pagine di un libro; ma che ne direste se ad avvolgersi attorno a voi fosse un intero Parco Letterario? Scopri i nostri percorsi ed itinerari attraverso i luoghi di vita e di ispirazione dei grandi scrittori di tutti i tempi.
Vai al sito http://www.parchiletterari.com

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS:

 (Members and non-members alike are welcome to attend, unless specified otherwise). 

ITALY, YET DIFFERENTLY – Art, archaeology, history in the island of Sardinia

This event is organised in collaboration with the Dante Alighieri Society in Loughborough

SATURDAY 7 FEBRUARY 2026 – 4.20pm for 4.30pm start

Venue: Cross Street Chapel, Cross Street, Manchester

                                                          

A talk about the many cultural aspects of Sardegna/Sardinia. This island in the centre of the Mediterranean with a rich history, has oscillated over the centuries between East and West, influenced by Rome and Carthage, Spain and Italy. This unique characteristic is evident in its culture, which has engaged in fruitful dialogues with artistic movements from the Italian mainland throughout the centuries.

Speaker: Alessandro Picciau (President of the Cultural Association Atobius – Cultura e Turismo in Sardegna)

Venue: Cross Street Chapel – Cross Street, Manchester M2 1NL

Admission:  members and our students of Italian   FREE   /   non-members   £ 3.00

The talk (in English) will be followed by a social gathering with a glass of wine and nibbles.

To better arrange seating and refreshments, it would be appreciated if you could book in advance by emailing us at dante@newfuture.org

Boccaccio and Bibliomania in Industrial Manchester

SATURDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2026 – 4.20pm for 4.30pm start

Cross Street Chapel, Cross Street, Manchester M2 1NL

The year 2025 marked the 650th anniversary of the death of Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), author of the Decameron and a key figure in the tradition of Italian and European narrative prose.

To round off the celebrations in Italy and around the world, you are invited to a talk exploring Boccaccio’s reception in the North West.

Giovanni Boccaccio’s ‘Il Decamerone’ (1348-53) is often described as the ‘human comedy’ in contrast to Dante’s earlier ‘divine comedy’. Yet it has also been described as a ‘mercantile epic’, focusing as it does on the everyday life of late medieval Italy, and especially the self-determining city-states run by the new class of civic merchants. This talk examines the reception of this mercantile epic in mercantile Manchester during the Industrial Revolution. For Boccaccio’s arrival and accommodation in the city’s libraries and reading rooms can be used as a prism through which to read fundamental changes in the social fabric of nineteenth-century Britain. With the emergence of the shock cities of the modern world, education and libraries became accessible to an ever wider social demographic. The arrival of Boccaccio to the industrial Northwest presents a particularly rich case study of this translation of cultural capital during the ‘age of the machines’.

Speaker: Talk by our Honorary President, Prof. Stephen J. Milner (Serena Professor of Italian Studies, The University of Manchester)

Venue: Cross Street Chapel – Cross Street, Manchester M2 1NL

Admission:  members and our students of Italian   FREE   /   non-members   £ 3.00

The talk (in English) will be followed by a social gathering with a glass of wine and nibbles.

To better arrange seating and refreshments, it would be helpful if you could book in advance by emailing us at dante@newfuture.org

 

 

Club di Poesia / Poetry Club 

The Club di Poesia / Poetry Club of Societa’ Dante Alighieri in Manchester, under the coordination of Jim Howell (Executive Committee), is starting a new series of meetings in 2026.

The next FREE meeting will be on Zoom on Monday 9 February 2026, 6.15pm, details are going out soon to members of the group.

If you are new to the group and like to enrol, please contact dante@newfuture.org