Alberto Di Giovanni was born in Roccamorice, province of Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy, in 1945. He came to Canada to join the rest of his family in 1963. He entered St. Michael’s College for the Western Year in 1966, graduating with an Hons. BA in 1971 and an MA in 1973. He was the founder and Executive Director of Centro Scuola e Cultura Italiana and also the Director of Cultural Activities at the Columbus Centre, 901 Lawrence Ave West. He has received numerous awards, including the Silver Jubilee Medal of Queen Elizabeth II and the Golden Jubilee Medal of the Queen; Educator of the Year from OISE; Italian Olympic Committee medal for sports development ; Dante Society honors as Vice President for North America and President of the Toronto Chapter; Grand Ufficiale della Repubblica d’Italia.
Caroline Morgan Di Giovanni was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1947. She was raised in Havertown, PA, and came to Toronto in 1966 to attend St. Michael’s College. She graduated in 1970 with an Hons BA in English Language and Literature. She went to Tufts University in Massachusetts to earn a Master’s Degree in Drama in 1972. That year she married Alberto Di Giovanni and moved to Toronto permanently. She became a Canadian citizen in 1977. She was elected as a Trustee in the Metropolitan Separate School Board in 1978 and was re-elected several times, serving as Chair of the Board in 1987 and 1988. She also served as a councillor on the Metro Toronto Council until 1998. Other work included the Catholic School Trustees Association and the Catholic Children’s Aid Society.
Caroline edited 2 editions of Italian Canadian Voices: Anthologies of Poetry and Prose (1986 and 2006) and Bravo, an anthology (2012); five books of original poetry, the latest is Personal Mysteries (Mosaic Press, 2025).
The Di Giovannis have 3 children, each now married; there are 4 grandchildren. Both Caroline and Alberto have been named Honorary Fellows of the University of St. Michael’s College.
Caroline Morgan and Alberto Di Giovanni, who established the Dante Lectures, both took courses on the Divina Commedia by Dante Alighieri during their undergraduate years at St. Michael’s College. After their graduations, they married in 1972 and began their professional and family lives in Toronto. They have treasured memories of their days at St. Mike’s and remain proud alumni.
Alberto went on to organize the Canadian Centre for Italian Studies, known universally as Centro Scuola. This not-for-profit organization gained broad support in the Italian Canadian community, creating events to raise awareness of the contribution Italian culture brought to Canadian life. By the mid-1970’s, Centro Scuola was able to bring groups of Ontario secondary school students to Italy to see the original locations of Italian history, art and literature. In partnership with the Toronto Catholic School Board, secondary school teachers accompanied the student groups and taught classes daily to allow the students to earn credits while they were overseas. This combination of study and travel continued for 35 years, in both summer courses and then semester courses. The experience of living in a typical Italian town and also visiting the great cities provided thousands of Ontario students with long lasting impressions and friendships.
During all those years of travel in Italy, giving lectures and meeting with experts in many fields, Alberto developed a special interest in finding editions of Dante’s great works. His visits to antiquarian bookstores often resulted in rare finds to bring back to Toronto. Facsimile editions were also available to add to the growing collection. This meant that the Di Giovanni living room was filling up with bookshelves. Interest in Dante and the interpretation of the cantos in the Divina Commedia became a shared passion for both Alberto and Caroline. Finally, at the time of Alberto’s retirement as Founder and Director of Centro Scuola, an opportunity arose to create something lasting out of this intense interest in Dante’s legacy. A retirement dinner was organized to raise funds for future scholarships and cultural activities. Participation by so many former Centro students and community members was so great that the fundraising exceeded all expectations. As a result, there was agreement to provide scholarships for Centro students and to contribute to Dante studies at the university level, specifically at St. Michael’s College.
Then began a series of meetings between the Advancement Office and Alberto and Caroline. The outcome resulted in two initiatives: one portion of the funds would support annual awards for excellence in the study of Dante and in Italian language; the other would create an endowment for an annual lecture on Dante and aspects of his great masterpiece, the Divina Commedia. The student achievement awards are given every year convocation.
The Dante Lecture has found a place in the fall semester every year, meant to attract a wider audience that includes students and university academics, but also reaches out to alumni who remember learning about this work as literature, and the general public attracted by the continuing presence of Divine Comedy references in our cultural mix. Both Di Giovannis are respectful of the need for scholarly examinations of the text. St. Michael’s, PIMS, and U of T have strong reputations in Medieval Studies and literary history. However, they wanted to invite the guest speakers to make a special outreach to audiences who may not be engaged in pure academics, but who are ready to listen and learn about Dante in a contemporary context. Happily, that has been the case since the first of these Annual Dante Lectures at USMC, in 2017 (of course with the break for the Covid pandemic). The audiences have greeted the lectures with enthusiasm, holding lively discussions at the reception that follows.
The lecture this year is on ‘Dante’s Musical Journey in the Divine Comedy’. It will take place on Friday, October 24, at 6 p.m. in Room 400, Alumni Hall, 121 St. Joseph St.
For more on St. Michael’s Day of Dante, please visit this page.
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