Business & Trade

When Hayley Egan, the editor of Segmento, asked me to suggest an Italian podcast to Italians living abroad, it was just the excuse I needed to listen to ‘Morgana’, a podcast by Michela Murgia and Chiara Tagliaferri.

Dr Maddalena Tirabassi is a Fulbright scholar, Director of the Centro Altreitalie on Italian Migration, Globus et Locus, and editor of the journal Altreitalie.

‘After being locked down for so long and seeing the city lose its vibrancy, I wanted to create something beautiful to welcome Melburnians back to Degraves Street,’ says Romina Beltrame, of Melbourne's Il Papiro.

Arriverà la Befana a Fremantle? is a bilingual Italian/English children’s picture book, written by Perth local, Daniele Foti-Cuzzola, and illustrated by Sicilian native, Daniela Pruiti Ciarello

The great Maestro died at the age of 91, and in the obituary that he wrote himself, I found the kindness, tenderness and humility of that man who had welcomed us in his house for an interview. He chose a private funeral because he ‘didn’t want to disturb,’ he wrote.

“Either a film has something to say to you or it hasn’t. If you are moved by it, you don’t need it explained to you. If not, no explanation can make you moved by it.” — Federico Fellini (1920-1993)

It’s been 28 years since Melina Marchetta released her debut novel, “Looking for Alibrandi” to critical and commercial acclaim. The novel about an Italo-Australian teenager, Josie Alibrandi navigating her way through her final year of high school in Sydney’s Western Suburbs was a revelation. Never before had an Australian author accurately depicted an Italo-Australian’s adolescence. (Photo KIREN)

Here at Segmento we acknowledged Da Vinci’s contribution to art and science. This year, it is time to write a similar article, because 2020 marks 500 years since the death of another Ninja Turtle namesake (and great master of the Renaissance), Raffaello Sanzio.

To honour Dante Alighieri on the 750th anniversary of his birth, 2020 sees celebrations worldwide of his life and great literary endeavours.

This year Italy is celebrating Fellini who was born in Rimini on 20 January 1920

Dear readers, some of you have been to Italy, on a short trip, or a long one, or perhaps a semester at uni. You may have WOOFed your way around Umbria, or undertaken an Artist Residency in Rome. At some stage you certainly came to the stark realisation that Spaghetti Bolognese is not a thing.

Elise Valmorbida’s critically acclaimed novel The Madonna of the Mountains is winner of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction 2019. It has been shortlisted for further literary prizes and translated into several languages.

Growing up in an Italo-Australian family, Soprano Pia Harris has fond memories of being surrounded by music and food – two essential components of the beloved Hansel and Gretel story.

In conversation with Carlo Aonzo, leader of "Carlo Aonzo Trio" that will be performing at Co.As.It. on 7 February

The teaching of modern European languages and cultures, including Italian Studies, was established within a frame that mirrored the identification of the Nation with its standard language and its canonical literature - which was almost exclusively written by white, middle- or upper-class men. This model worked on the assumption that such a structure would eventually result in a proud and stable national identity. Yet Italian identities and cultures have always been much more complex, unstable, and contradictory than such a simplified, nationalistic, classist and patriarchal model would like to admit. (Photo: Francesco Ricatti - Cassamarca Senior Lecturer in Italian, and coordinator of the Italian program at Monash University)

Around a week ago, in the main space of the Italian Cultural Institute, I was sitting in the audience amongst friends, university lecturers, guests and invitees, including the newly appointed Ambassador, and there in front of me was a 17 year old boy with no Italian background, performing a main role in a farce by Dario Fo. Listening to his fluent Italian, and noticing his confidence and well-rehearsed comic timing, I realised that Italian language and culture in Australia is cherished, and its dissemination is quite successful. The state of Italian culture in Australia is healthy. (Photo: Laura Napolitano - Director of the Italian Institute of Culture in Melbourne)

When I think about the future of Italian culture in young(er) generations of Australians, I think of the role of local Italians in global concerns, a phenomonen I call ‘glocalism’! (Photo: Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli - Senior Lecturer in Social Diversity in Health and EducationSchool of Health and Social Development Deakin University)

Rosaria Zarro has acted as VMC Commissioner since 2017, when she was first appointed for this role by Minister for Foreign Affairs Robin Scott acting on behalf of the Daniel Andrews Labour government in Victoria.

The Fairbridge Festival, held in May this year, took on a special Italian theme. Folk legend Riccardo Tesi and the superb Banditaliana enchanted audiences with their contemporary, virtuosic take on music from the oral tradition in central and northern Italy. (Above: Fairbridge Festival closing parade - Photo: David LeMay)

Lucia Brighenti is a young and successful Italian pianist currently touring and traveling in Australia. She has garnered numerous awards and accolades both in her native territory and abroad. Her comprehensive and ambitious musical training and professional trajectory have taken her from Italy to Mexico, to Germany, the UK, Spain, and now Australia.

The benefits of bilingual experiences in young children have been researched and documented for years. A plethora of resources exists to support parents and caregivers who are trying to establish a bilingual home for their little ones

Back In 1929, the University of Western Australia (UWA) became the first Australian university to appoint a professor of Italian, Francesco Vanzetti. Vanzetti, from Venice, was a true pioneer for the Italian language in Western Australia. When he reached retirement age, he lobbied for the University to create a full Italian department and refused to retire until his dream was realised. 20 years later, the University finally fulfilled his wishes and he retired at the age of 85.

Tucked away in the heart of Melbourne’s Carlton is a very special and unique place. It’s where many gather to reflect, others flock for support and guidance, and droves go to challenge themselves and enrich their lives with new cultural and linguistic endeavours. I am of course speaking of the Education Department of CO.AS.IT., comprising the Resource Centre and the Museo Italiano.

At Brunswick South Primary school, the children are not ‘taught’ Italian, they simply use the language to learn 50% of their curriculum. The school has been running a bilingual program since 2017. One unseasonably cold, windy spring morning, we took the opportunity to get to know some of these students, Melbourne’s future Italian speakers, and find out some of their favourite things about Italy, Melbourne, and life.

Songbird and folkloric explorer Kavisha's original song's lyrical ingredients include humour, poetry, social justice and the spiritual. Combine this prowess with the voice of an angel and you have the experience of a Kavisha concert.

Miriam La Rosa is a Melbourne University-based curator from Sicily currently involved in the cross-cultural and cross-regional artistic project “Preservation is an act of political warfare. An exchange artist residency between Sicily and Australia”. The Italian promotional, cultural organisation CO.AS.IT is hosting a documentary screening and exhibition opening on 12th November and running until the beginning of 2020. (Photo - from left to right - Kade McDonald, Jesse Gibbs, Miriam La Rosa, Regina Pilawuk Wilson, and Xena Wilson. Mondello beach, Palermo, Sicily. 28 July 2019. Photograph: Timothy Hillier)

The Jewish International Film Festival is in full swing and it is a fascinating time of the year for avid cinemagoers looking for films outside the mainstream, that challenge and engage all at once. Screening at a number of cinemas nationwide, the festival attracts a culturally and ethnically diverse audience and 60 films from 23 countries are classified according to 3 main categories (Feature, Series, and Documentary), thus appealing to a wide range of tastes. In Melbourne (as in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra) the festival this year runs from 23 October to 21 November and is hosted by the Classic Cinemas Elsternwick, the Lido Cinemas Hawthorn, and the Cameo Cinemas in Belgrave.

For 10 days only, six artworks created in response to the Holy Shroud of Turin using an ancient technique and colours of Piraccini’s own invention, invite you to embark on a historical, scientific and artistic journey whilst provoking dialogue and contemplation.

For the first time in Melbourne, Mimmo Cavallaro brings us his dynamic and passionate modern mix of traditional Calabrian/Italian folk music in this one night only event! The folk music master will perform in Adelaide,Shepparton, Melbourne, Sydney and Wollongong

Alfredo Malabello, many thanks for taking time out to see me. You are a fascinating and impressive man with many strings to your bow and balls in the air. You have built a name for yourself as a musician/pianist, singer and all-round entertainer ̶ with a “voice of romance”. An icon in the Australian music industry, you feature heavily in the media and have been called “Australia’s very own Italian son of song”

Ron Howard, the acclaimed director of “Solo: A Star Wars Story” (2018), “The Da Vinci Code” (2006), “A Beautiful Mind” (2005), “Apollo 13” (1995) and many others successful movies is back to the music documentary. Now, with “Pavarotti”, the director has pushed himself in a different, unexplored world: that of Opera.

Acclaimed Italian filmmaker Mimmo Calopresti, noteworthy for his 1995 drama ‘La seconda volta’ and ‘La parola amore esiste’ (1998), winners of three David Di Donatelli Awards, has excelled also in documentary filmmaking and wants to bring the lives of everyday people to the screen, shedding light on human experiences and stories that concern all of us. (Images from the Opening Night of the Lavazza Italian Film Festival in Melbourne: Palace Cinema Como: 20 September, 201

Seductive, courageous, and at times heartbreakingly honest, sell-out crowd-pleaser show La Nonna is an intimate portrayal of a young man’s journey to self-discovery benefitted by his close bond with his Italian grandmother, or nonna, and their cross-generational dialogue.

The evening of 4 September, 2019, saw the CO.AS.IT hosting of a Q&A event on Italian Matriarchy and Queerness: Exploring La Nonna, where director, performer and human rights activist Samuel Dariol engaged in conversation with renowned Deakin University scholar Dr Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli.

‘From the Imprint of Jesus’ by artist Veronica Piraccini is bound to resurrect the age-old debate surrounding the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. (Photo Gabriella Carta - Veronica Piraccini in her atelier d’art in Rome)

‘If I could, I would like to end my career sitting in a piazza telling stories and, at the end of my life, weave through the crowd with my coppola in my hand’. This was Andrea Camilleri’s response when asked why, at the age of 93, he had not yet decided to retire.

One sunny Saturday Melbourne afternoon in January 2017, tickets to the final ‘Eat The Beat’ party sold out. Italian entrepreneur Matteo Belcore had, in a relatively short time, risen from obscurity to ubiquity in Australia’s night life scene. (Photo - The Eat The Beat Team. From the left: Etwas, Andrea Guadalupi, Matteo Belcore, Chris Mattó and Matteo Freyrie)

Gianrico Carofiglio, the multi-award winning Italian writer, translated in twenty-seven languages, visited Australia to attend the Byron Writers Festival in early August.

Winner of two Nastro d’Argento awards and one David di Donatello award, Edoardo De Angelis’ dark and sombre Il vizio della speranza (2018) reminds of his narrative and cinematographic style in forerunner Indivisibili (released 2016 and also set in bleak and desolate Castel Volturno in the rough outskirts of Naples). - Image published in the Hollywood Reporter 17 September, 2018 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/vice-hope-1144004

Lemons carry symbolic importance and become a metaphor for life in Ciro D’Emilio’s sombre but captivating debut feature and coming-of-age story Un giorno all’improvviso (2018), which premiered at the Venice Film Festival the same year as its release. (Image published in Screen Daily: 6 September, 2018 https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/if-life-gives-you-lemons-venice-review/5131972.article)

Feel good movie Bangla, with high audience ratings and awarded a Nastro d’Argento for best comedy in 2019, is light-hearted while at the same time it delivers an important social and political message. (Photo published by the IFFR, 2019 https://iffr.com/en/persons/phaim-bhuiyan)

Stephen Cuttriss has been praised by the media as one of “Australia’s heavyweight tango musicians” and a bandoneon player who “ignites the sonic soundscapes of Argentina on this unique instrument. He explores the roots of both urban tango and rich rural folk traditions" - Photo Stephen Cuttriss (with kind permission by Stephen Cuttriss)

Running for its 48th consecutive year, the Giffoni Film Festival organised in the small town of Giffoni Valle Piana, near Salerno in Campania, attracts all the more people during this artistically vibrant time of the year. An annual event that brings together people of all ages, the festival specifically focusses on and appeals to children and families, and as part of this it also allows children to get hands-on experience in regard to the many ins and outs of the fascinating medium of filmmaking. (Photo Giffoni Experience: Premio alla carriera a Claudio Gubitosi, 13 September 2013)

120 artists have created 99 murals that have a total length of 1,260 metres, second only to the Berlin Wall. The Art Mile, inaugurated in May this year, in the Roman district of Torraccia, is an explosion of beauty and an example of how public spaces can be turned into surprising works of art. Segmento went to visit an unknown Roman area which is way out of the city’s centre, and definitely way "out of the ordinary". (Photos: Jesper Storgaard Jensen )

An aficionado of Italian arts and culture as well as a regular Segmento event attendee, Italo-Australian writer and teacher, producer and filmmaker Vita Catalano is a woman and force to be reckoned with.

The Italian Cine-scapes #2 film festival, running from May to November, 2019, and co-organised by the Italian Institute of Culture and Palace Cinemas, is a visual feast awakening the senses. Running for its second consecutive year, the festival honours Italy’s past and present, celebrating its architecture, its people, and both collective and individual emotions.

Perhaps the most famous poem in the Italian language is a brief idyll composed of fifteen loose hendecasyllables in which the poet, about to climb a hill, sees a hedge that blocks his view. His mind begins to wander, and he fantisises about unknown and endless places, where peace and tranquility reign. The hedge blocking his view becomes a springboard to the inner self.

Brunswick South Primary School, Victoria’s first Italian bilingual school, is a fascinating example of the positive power of Italian language education. I spoke with teachers Ivana D’Aprano, Lucy Curatolo and Nancy Cozzo to better understand the reality, challenges and joys of facilitating an Italian bilingual program. (photo Wide Shut Photography)

On stage they are mesmerising. She is perfectly coiffed. Her hairstyle defies gravity. The genuine, warm smile never leaves her face. He sits on the seat beside her with his accordion balanced on his lap, looking over to her regularly. (Photo Salvatore Rossano)

Leonardo da Vinci. The artist, scientist, architect, botanist, writer, historian, cartographer, inventor, in other words, the original ‘Renaissance Man’, is one of Italy’s most beloved historical figures, and this May marks 500 years since he died, reportedly wrapped in the embrace of the King of France. (Image - The Death of Leonardo da Vinci by the French artist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. The painting is showing Leonardo da Vinci dying, with Francis I of France holding his head)

Rachael Birthisel, Soprano - a name you may not yet know, but certainly one to keep an ear open for. I first met Rachael close to 15 years ago at The University of Melbourne where we studied Italian together. Her journey has always been one that’s intrigued me.

Located on a leafy street in residential South Yarra, the Italian Institute of Culture (Elm Tree House, as it is also known) was purchased by the Italian government in 1974. The building rests on centuries of local and international history alike. Built in 1857, throughout the decades this imposing house has accommodated notable Australians and Italians carrying out cultural as well as political functions.

The Acclaimed Australian Baritone will make his debut as Aldo Marini when the musical premieres at Subiaco’s The Regal Theatre on April 9.

Electrifying, hypnotic, cutting-edge and eclectic, the ground-breaking music of Italian award-winning and world-renowned group Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, from Puglia in southern Italy, is an exotic fusion of traditional sounds and new beats and rhythms that are the result of the band's reinterpretation of the old - while they move their folkloric music into an exciting era.

Interview with award-winning Italian documentary filmmaker and screenwriter Alina Marazzi, Melbourne, 17 February, 2019 - (Photo Alina Marazzi prior to the screening of Vogliamo anche le rose at CO.AS.IT, Melbourne, 15 Feb., 2019. Photograph by Jytte Holmqvist)

The name might be unfamiliar to readers of Segmento but fashion stylist Lynette Pater has had a big hand in making known the talents of a man who has twice graced the pages of this magazine—Italian milliner Stefano Costabile. (Photo Richard Shaw)

It's a familiar cycle throughout Italy and all over the world. The humble, traditional ways of living were abandoned, for a newer, more comfortable lifestyle.

I accept all interpretations of my films. The only reality is before the camera. Each film I make is kind of a return to poetry for me, or at least an attempt to create a poem (Bertolucci).

It was the first very hot day of my first Australian summer. I was in Melbourne on an exchange program, studying at the University of Melbourne for a semester during the last year of my Master’s degree from the University of Bologna.

Watching Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino (CGS) play live is a transcendental experience. It’s the power and intensity of the voices, the agile hands over the button accordion and the neck of the bouzouki.

Baldessin/Whiteley: Parallel Visions is an exhibition on display at the NGV Australia until January 28th 2019. The retrospective proposes two expressionist artists who made a name for themselves in Australia and overseas during the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Italian soul and jazz sensation Mario Biondi is on his way to perform in Australia for the first time, and apparently, he couldn’t be happier.

Valeria Solarino is impressively prolific, starring in several movies almost every year since the inception of her acting career in the early 2000s.

You are an accomplished filmmaker (with a degree in Criminology from the University of Melbourne, a Master in Anthropology with a special focus on International Development, and a Diploma in Film and Media from Sydney Film School) concerned with humanitarian and human rights issues.

Rebecca Castellini is one of Western Australia’s most sought-after young Opera singers, having performed in a number of major productions including Tosca, The Merry Widow and Lucia Di Lammermoor. But if Castellini’s name doesn’t’ ring any bells, it’s because up until last year the Perth songstress had been performing under a different name – Rebecca Bunn.

Principal Dancer of the Teatro alla Scala, Nicoletta Manni, showed incredible talent as a ballerina at a very young age. Born in Lecce, she spent much of her childhood training until she was accepted at the La Scala Theatre Ballet School when she was just 12 years old.

Linda Jean Bruno was once told that if you want to do something well, you have to choose one thing, and stick with it. A piece of advice the actor/restaurateur has firmly rejected. She has found that combining her passion for acting and the management of her family’s restaurant Zia Teresa has been advantageous to both careers.

The first time he landed in Rome, he burst into tears of emotion. He was a recently graduated 23-year old. He’d bought his ticket to Italy with his meagre savings and he didn’t even know why he was going, but he went and fell in love. A love that is renewed each time he goes back, as if he had lived there in a previous life and is simply going home.

I was just 15 years old when I first stumbled into La Scala opera house in Milan. Truth be told, I had lost my way from the outstretched corridors of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and was in search of directions – no romantic story here at all.

Rarely these days - with mainstream Hollywood blockbusters being churned out at a constant speed - do we find small yet big films that explore the very depths of our emotions and encapsulate the essence of our human existence, with all its beauty and many heartaches.

The mark left by the artists that have spent time at John and Sunday Reed’s homestead is still evident today not only through the exhibitions, it now houses as the Heide Musuem of Modern Art, but also from the traces that they have left in the building itself.

If you have a flair for art, you’ll be familiar with the National Gallery of Victoria, the Ian Potter Centre and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), but you may not have heard of Heide, the museum of Modern Art, Hidden in the hills of Bulleen, this museum will immerse you in contemporary Australian art. I have overlooked this jewel for too long. and now it’s time to see what I’ve been missing out on!

Fabio Mollo’s 2017 film Il padre d’Italia has been called “una storia di amore assoluto, puro e universale” [1] . The film has received favourable critical acclaim and audience ratings and appeals to the viewer aesthetically and from a both narrative and moral perspective. [2]

I remember the scene vividly. He lay motionless on his back. Blood streaming from a number of gunshot wounds. He stares blankly back at us. Lifeless. Dead. The year was 2008 and ‘Underbelly’ was on our TV screens.

The Corsini family have been one of the most influential and notable Florentine families for the last seven centuries. Like the Borgias and the Medicis, in Florence, the Corsini family name is one that is synonymous with prestige, wealth and nobility.

In keeping with neorealist traditions, Italo-American cineaste Jonas Carpignano’s second full-feature film (co-produced by Martin Scorsese) A Ciambra is shot on location in the Reggio Calabria seaside municipality of Gioia Tauro, on the Tyrrhenian coast.

It all depends / on what happened yesterday; / it all depends / on what the papers / say; / whether / today / you are a wog, / a New Australian / or an alien.

Set in a non-specific northern Italian location - we are told the narrative about to unfold develops “somewhere in Italy” - in the early 1980s and based on the 2007 novel by Sephardi Jewish writer André Aciman, Luca Guadagnino’s multi-award nominated new film Call Me by Your Name (or Chiamami col tuo nome in Italian) is an ageless celebration of love and life, of scenic beauty and parallel human beauty - particularly that of the male body.

When we think of linguistic influences in Australian culture we often think of the languages brought to us by migrants from foreign lands.

Buffet style dinner with Italian deliciousness, lots of cocktails and wine to celebrate the three years of commitment and hard work of Segmento. Click on the image to read all the details (menu and program).

Whenever I think of Italy, I think of sun-kissed days by the Mediterranean ocean – aperitivo in hand, watching the beautiful people go by through the lens of my Ray-Bans, golden tans, late dinners, dancing to Italian music whilst the sea breeze tousles my hair.

This year’s Lavazza Italian Film Festival (Melbourne 14 September - 8 October, 2017) offered a selection of fine films, some of which have recently been released.

Perth-based mother of three Tania Pietracatella has been enamoured with Italy and the Italian language ever since she first visited the Bel Paese on a family holiday when she was 12 years old.

The Venice International Film Festival 2017 (30 August to 9 September) marked 74 years since its inception in 1932.

By definition, soul is ‘the immaterial essence, animating principle, or actuating cause of an individual life’ (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Our souls are intangible but reveal themselves in our thoughts, emotions and feelings, and in a most meaningful way, through our creative activities. Of all art forms, no genre gives vivid expression to our souls more than soul music.

Buon appetito, buongiorno, grazie, nonna, nonno, Pasqua, Natale… If you are born into an Italian family in Australia, these words become part of your vocabulary. They were so imbedded in mine as a child, I didn’t realise there was an English equivalent.

To know Stefano Costabile’s work is to know a mastermind in action. Likened to the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll’s imaginative world of Alice in Wonderland, Stefano is indeed mad about hats. With a career spanning decades, and with work gracing various industries and fields, Stefano has proven that he has what it takes to lead the millinery industry and set a new standard in functional Italian fashion. As it goes, there is certainly more to hats than meets the eye: medium, design, artisan technique and styling.

From a young age, Daniela Pruiti Ciarello would often get lost in the magical worlds of the fairy tales and fables she was told. “I’ve always been a dreamer,” she proclaims. “Faries, goblins, dragons and magic mirrors populated my childhood, and I often nestle into this world to escape from reality.”

Each year when I attend the Italian Film Festival in Melbourne I feel I get a glimpse into the heart and soul of Italy through the films that have been made, and most loved, by Italians that year.

Life, famously, is full of surprises and often more unlikely than a Hollywood blockbuster script. In that vein, a few years ago if someone had have predicted that I would give voice and sense of identity to the younger generations of the Italian-Australian community in Australia I would have thought they were nuts. On the contrary, I would expect them to have divine gifts from God.

In todays ever-changing digital landscape consumers are constantly looking at faster ways to access entertainment. The increasing popularity of social media and streaming services such as Spotify and Netflix have seen traditional mediums of entertainment including film, television and radio struggle in recent years.

Of the thousands of young Italians that every year ends up in Australia, most of them are destined to be let down. Personal dreams and expectations need to face a sad reality, getting trapped in the vicious circle of humble and casual jobs and no prospects. Hence, a huge army of waiters, dishwashers, farmers and so on, often with a degree.

The story of Australia’s largest independent cinema chain and founder of Palace Cinemas, told like a film

Clichés about Italians are the image, often distorted, that foreigners abroad have of us. They began in Europe with the spread of travel diaries of the intellectuals who visited our country, struggling with the educational journey called “Grand Tour”. Centuries later, in the early 1900s, the stereotypes were reinvigorated thanks to migratory phenomena.

A few weeks ago, at the Italian Institute of Culture of Melbourne, a group of key stakeholders met a delegation of members of the Italian Senate to discuss the current state of Italian language education in Victoria. The delegation was accompanied by the Italian Consul-General Dr. Marco Maria Cerbo and comprised Sen. Claudio Micheloni, Sen. Francesco Giacobbe, Sen. Pippo Pagano and Sen. Vito Rosario Petrocelli.

Do you ever hear voices in your head? I do. All the time. I hear two. One voice, usually the voice of reason and control, speaks English. The other, the voice that pipes up in moments of extreme emotion and passion, speaks Italian.

Vittorio Sgarbi is a famous Italian art critic and historian. He is a most prolific author and some of his books, though quite expensive, have become best-sellers. Sgarbi is a media personality, and has made a name for himself with his boisterous invectives at people who in his view are incompetent or inept in their role as public figures.

Pizza for us Italians is more than an appetising dish. It’s a magnet for getting together and spending good time with family and friends. It’s our gastronomical mandala, symbolising our gregarious spirit. Over a pizza we laugh, we joke, and most of all, we talk.

Considering how vibrant and passionate the Italian community in Australia is, it’s both concerning and disheartening how few Italo-Australian stories have made their way onto the big screen. Sure, we all laughed with Vince Colosimo’s Frank in “The Wog Boy” series and went on a journey of self-discovery in “Looking For Alibrandi”, but since then Italo-Australian cinematic stories have been few and far between – until now.

As well as achieving the status of a leading Italian academic philosopher, the 72-year old Massimo Cacciari has devoted a great deal of his life to politics, holding a seat in the Italian parliament for seven years when he was still relatively young and the office of Mayor of Venice (his native town), for three terms, the last one ended in 2010.