Portland+Bologna

PBSCA is an active organization that hosts and co-hosts many events throughout the year. In recent years, we have hosted our youth exchange to and from Bologna, Italian cyclists, our Amici dinner, our annual Sagra fundraiser, wine tastings and more. As an official Sister City, we also are part of the Portland Rose Festival activities including the Grand Floral Parade which happens 2nd weekend of June every year.

A LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT

As the curtains draw close on another eventful year, we invite you to pause and reflect on the moments that have defined us. Our President, Phil Potestio, has penned a heartfelt End-of-Year Letter, encapsulating the achievements, and the lessons learned throughout this transformative year.

Read here

BOLOGNA IN OUR HEARTS

In early May, our friends and family in NE Italy, particularly in the Emilia Romagna region, have had their lives turned upside down by devastating, 100-year flooding that has caused significant damage and loss of life. Please visit our Facebook page to follow these events, and if you would like to help one option is to make a donation to the Italian Red Cross.

(Pictured below L-R: PBSCA supporters Massimo Antinucci and Sally Hudson witih Bologna Mayor Matteo Lepore, Deputy Bologna Mayor Anna Lisa Boni and Phil Potestio, PBSCA Board President. Taken in Bologna, early May 2023)

ANNOUNCING OUR NEW “CIBO E AMICI” FUND, IN HONOR OF MARIA ROSA MARTELLI BREKKE

Portland’s thriving Italian-American community - and our own PBSCA - owes a debt of gratitude to this inimitable woman, who was born in Bologna and made Portland her home. Affectionately known as la donna di Bologna, her warm smile and talent as a home chef helped so many of us to feel connected to each other and to the world around us through her food and her love of Italian culture.

In her honor and thanks to a generous seed gift, the Maria Rosa Martelli Brekke Cibo e Amici Fund was launched earlier this year. With this fund, PBSCA is creating a series of educational events to help us better understand and celebrate the power of Italy’s food culture, specifically that of the Emilia Romagna region, to bring us closer together. We kicked off in April with our first Virtual Taste of Bologna event featuring Chef Giorgia Lambertini, and we hope you can join us on June 8 for our Amici dinner. Ideas welcome!

We invite you to read our 2006 interview with Maria Rosa and to make a contribution to help this grow faster. (If you are giving online, please also send us an email to let us know that we should direct this!)

OUR YOUTH EXCHANGE, SINCE 2008

The Portland-Bologna Youth Exchange Program is a two-year cycle. We are resuming the program in Summer 2023—first hosting students from Bologna and then sending Portland students to Italy in 2024. Applications for 2023-24 are closed however we invite you to visit our Youth Exchange page!