Liliana Fierro Lanzano

Liliana Lanzano died at home in Washington D.C. on July 14th at the age of 100.

Born in Naples, Italy, she moved to Rome after completing the lyceum and continued to earn a“Laurea Diploma“ degree from the State University of Rome in 1948. Later that year, she married Gaetano Lanzano in Washington, where he was first with the Technical Delegation of the Italian Embassy and subsequently represented the Italian Atomic Energy Commission. Mr. Lanzano died in 2000.

Mrs. Lanzano’s career and passion centered around teaching Italian and Italian literature at a number of venues ranging in levels from secondary school (created the Italian language program at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Md.) to college (NOVA Community College), and teaching diplomats Italian at the International Center for Language Studies. She also taught Italian language, literature, and culture to Italian students residing in the U.S. who were returning to the Italian school system at the middle-senior high school or university level through programs at Casa Italiana Language School. Mrs Lanzano continued to teach and inspire her students up until weeks before her passing.

Liliana Lanzano is survived by her daughter Isabella Lanzano Kyser of Washington D.C, her son and daughter-in-law Dario and Maria Lanzano of Kensington MD, and her grandson Anthony Lanzano, as well as many friends and students from across the years.

A celebration of her life will be held at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, 595 3rd St. NW, on Saturday, July 22 at 11:00AM. In order to reflect her preferences, please wear bright colors to the service. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in her name to either St. Jude’s Research Hospital or Instituto Antoniano dei Rogazionisti (Padova, Italy).