DANTE NEWS
Calendario
July 12 – Start of Term 3
July 24 – Dante 700th anniversary
July 16 – Book club e DANTE July 23 - Conversazione
Date Claimer:
August 1 – Cineforum
SOCIETÀ DANTE ALIGHIERI "il mondo in italiano"
Newsletter of the Dante Alighieri Society Inc. Brisbane LUGLIO 2021
DANTE ALIGHIERI SOCIETY
26 Gray Street,
New Farm, QLD 4005
Postal address:
PO Box 1350
New Farm, QLD 4005
Phone: 07 3172 3963
Mobile: 0401 927 967
Email:
Web address:
www.dante-alighieri.org.au
PRESIDENT
Claire Kennedy
[email protected] VICE-PRESIDENTS
Rosalia Miglioli
Mario Bono
SECRETARY
Colleen Hatch
TREASURER
Kay Martin
EDITOR
GUEST EDITORS
Bernadine e Rosalia
Inside
○ Dalla Presidente ○ Dante 700 ○ Dalla scuola ○ Ricordiamo Carlo ○ Autobiografia
Read page 3 for details about this exciting event hosted by the Brisbane DAS
Pagina 2 SOCIETÀ DANTE ALIGHIERI, BRISBANE luglio 2021
Dante matters
from the pen of the President…
We are grateful to Salvatore for involving
Danteatro in these events, which have left us keen
to go further with reading, reciting and talking
about the Divina Commedia in future.
At the Tuscan dinner it was fascinating to hear
about Sir Samuel Griffith, the first Australian
translator of Dante (for whom translation of
the Divina Commedia was a recreational activity
providing a break from his demanding work as
Chief Justice), and the architect and sculptor
Andrea Stombuco from Lucca who designed many
schools, grand houses, churches and public
buildings in Brisbane and Ipswich in the 1870s and
1880s, mostly now heritage-listed. The speakers
were Dr Karen Schultz, from the Law School at
Griffith University, and Paul Amabile, president of
the Associazione Toscani nel mondo del QLD &
NT, respectively. We hope to have presentations on
Sir Samuel Griffith and Andrea Stombuco at the
Dante in the future.
COMING UP! on 24 July is a very special event
indeed: our contribution to the Dante700 National
Seminar Series - the year-long seminar/webinar
series exploring Dante’s life, works and influence
that is being organised collectively by the various
DAS committees around the country.
I hope to see you at the Heritage Hall on 24 July.
Read more about this event on page 3.
Viva Dante!
Claire
Cari amici,
Congratulations and warm thanks go to everyone
involved in making our recent and upcoming
events so memorable.
A lively gathering was held on 12 June to celebrate
Carlo, with family and friends sharing happy and
moving stories, photos and videos. Many of us
spoke of how much we owed to Carlo's inspiration
and support. It was also an opportunity to
remember Carlo's ideas and energy in setting our
Dante school on a new path, all those years ago,
establishing it as the creative and welcoming
learning space that it has continued to be.
June was an exciting month for Danteatro, living
up to our name - literally - in putting on Dante-
themed performances. At the Consul's official
reception for Republic Day on 2 June, we created
a tableau vivant in which Dante, Beatrice and
Virgilio posed under a frame garlanded with olive
branches. The Consul, the Premier and many
guests were delighted to be photographed in
conversation with these characters.
Then at a dinner held on 18 June to celebrate and
promote links between Tuscany and Queensland -
as part of Consul Salvatore Napolitano's Giro
d’Italia through Queensland project (see
www.giroditaliathroughqueensland.com/), and in
conjunction with the Associazione Toscani nel
mondo - Danteatro was invited to provide a
reading with brief introduction. Trained by our
local dantista Dr Drina Oldroyd, we read from
Canto XXVI of Inferno, where Ulysses recounts
his final adventure: a voyage into the southern
hemisphere in search of unknown lands.
2
Pagina 3
SOCIETÀ DANTE ALIGHIERI, BRISBANE luglio 2021
VII Centenario Dantesco
A DIVERSITY OF
AUSTRALIAN
VOICES
Samuel Wagan
Watson
***
Dr Chris Mooney-
Singh
***
Dr Drina Oldroyd
As mentioned in the President letter, on Saturday 24 July there will be a very special event indeed: the
Brisbane DAS Committe contribution to the Dante700 National Seminar Series.
Like all events in the series, ours will be broadcast by webinar but do come in person if you can - Covid
restrictions permitting - at the Heritage Hall in Wooloowin, as it will be exceptionally interesting!
The three speakers will reflect on the theme we have chosen: a diversity of Australian voices.
Award-winning Indigenous poet, essayist and scriptwriter, Samuel Wagan Watson (born in Brisbane, of
Munanjali, Birri Gubba, German and Irish descent), will present a work taking inspiration from
Dante's Purgatorio to reflect on the contemporary world. Life member of the Brisbane DAS and Dante
scholar, Dr Drina Oldroyd, will speak on the various responses of Australians of different backgrounds to
the Divina Commedia, drawing on her decades-long experience of facilitating reading groups on Dante as
well as teaching university students. Dr Chris Mooney-Singh, poet, fiction writer and part-time academic,
will speak to "Heavens and Hells, Western and Eastern: An allegorical look at Dante’s Divina
Commedia and Harold Stewart’s Autumn Landscape Roll", considering the impact of Dante's work as an
architectonic blueprint for Harold Stewart's 'Buddhist Divine Comedy'.
ASSOLUTAMENTE DA NON PERDERE!
Saturday 24 July
Heritage Hall, 28 Chalk St, Wooloowin
2:00pm to 4:00pm
Entry $25 ($20 full time students)
Afternoon tea will be served at interval
Booking essential: 0401 927 967
The full Dante700 Australian programme is at https://danteaustralia.org/ . Also this month, our Mildura DAS
friends are holding a dinner on 9 July, hosted by the well-known chef Stefano de Pieri, who will recite from
the Divina Commedia during the evening. 3
Pagina 4
SOCIETÀ DANTE ALIGHIERI, BRISBANE luglio 2021
Fine del secondo trimestre
Arrivati alla fine del secondo trimestre gli studenti si sono salutati in vari modi: chi ha mangiato e
bevuto in una pizzeria, altri si sono dati da fare portando il mangiare e bere a scuola e invece un
numeroso gruppo ha voluto cimentarsi con l’italiano giocando a trivia. Comunque, a modo loro, pare
che tutti si siano divertiti.
4
Risposte al quiz pubblicato a giugno:
Teatro alla Scala
Museo casa Dante Alighieri
La torre Pendente a Pisa
Angkor Vat in Cambogia
in pizzeria per salutarci e per brindare
Robert che compie… gli anni!
Pagina 5
SOCIETÀ DANTE ALIGHIERI, BRISBANE luglio 2021
Dalla scuola
Carissimi studenti, è stato molto stimolante avervi con noi per il primo e il secondo trimestre di quest’anno,
essere ritornati a fare le lezioni in classe è decisamente un modo di insegnare più entusiasmante per noi della
scuola DA. Vogliamo tanto rivedervi tutti, dopo una dovuta pausa per ricaricare l’animo e lo spirito,
ricordatevi di farcelo sapere!
We would like to see you all back for another fun filled and educational term starting on Monday 12
July. A new course for ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS will be offered in July – tell all your friends – as will
be continuing Conversation, Bookclub and a circolo on Music.
It is important that we have your enrolment form so that we can make sure your class will continue.
Pick up the enrolment forms from the school or on the DAS website.
To get the enrolment form: https://dante-alighieri.com.au/site/school/classes
to write an email: [email protected] to telephone: 0401 927 967
5
BOOK CLUB venerdì pomeriggio 16 luglio
dalle 15:30 alle 17:00
CIRCOLO DI CONVERSAZIONE
venerdì pomeriggio 23 luglio dalle 15:30 alle 17:00
Il costo è di $100 per i cinque incontri di ogni circolo
Presentations from around Australia
On these Fridays from 5:00pm we will view the contributions to the celebrations of the 700th anniversary of Dante of Australian branches of DAS. On July 16 we will listen to the presentation from Sydney These presentations are in English.
CINEFORUM Sunday 1 August
4:00pm (Dante rooms)
Volevo nascondermi is a 2020 Italian
biographical drama film co-written,
directed and co-edited by Giorgio
Diritti.
It stars Elio Germano as Italian
painter Antonio Ligabue, who lived a
notoriously reclusive life, troubled
with physical problems and mental
illness.
Antonio is expelled from Switzerland to
Italy against his will. For years he lives in
poverty in the Po floodplains, but he
never gives up his passion for drawing. It
is the story of Antonio Ligabue, a
revolutionary loner in modern art.
Italian subtitles
Australian Red Cross
New Farm Branch (Celebrating 37 years in 2021)
Please arrive by 10.00 am for 10.30
Tuesday 20th July 2021
New Farm Six Cinemas
701 Brunswick Street, New Farm
$15 includes: Film, food, drinks and Lucky Door prizes
Enquiries:
Bruna Burello-Day 3254 0091 / 0417 190 675
Pagina 6
SOCIETÀ DANTE ALIGHIERI, BRISBANE luglio 2021
Chi era Carlo?
Durante il pomeriggio con tanti degli amici della famiglia Zincone, Mila ci ha
raccontato qualcosa di Carlo: cose che ha fatto e cose che ricordiamo.
When Carlo first came to Brisbane, he must have wondered where he’d fetched up. A decent coffee was nowhere to be had (desperate for one, in his lunch-break he’d scour the city streets in vain), yet salt was apparently available everywhere, all manner of shop advertising ‘SALE, SALE!’. He was also puzzled by what he took to be massage parlours in many suburbs, somewhat seedy looking joints in industrial areas emblazoned ‘Body Works’. Eventually he was told it was car bodies worked on there, not human. Meanwhile the body of the rather ramshackle house they’d bought in Miskin Street was being worked on by Italian friends, whose company was appropriately called ‘Domus constructions’. One day, opening the door to a delivery man, Mum was asked, ‘Are you Mrs Doormouse?’.
Fast forward some years
Of the scores of Dante Society and Griffith Uni Italian events Carlo had a hand in a few standout:
- the reception in the Dante rooms at Creek Street following a group visit to the Pompeii AD79 exhibition, when Carlo had the idea of serving slices of watermelon and roasted ceci (chickpeas) to represent the flames and ash.
- when Fiorella and Carlo’s students at Griffith staged Luigi Pirandello’s one-act play La Giara on the Humanities lawn. 'Mpari Pè is here with us today. The giara itself languished under our house for years afterwards. Perhaps it could come in handy for something?
- La Piazza, theme of the most successful Italian immersion weekend, held at Stagnopoli (some still call it Stanthorpe). You’ll see footage of it here today - Grazie Francesco! A typical Italian piazza was recreated, with all the various activities which take place there. Much fun was had by all.
- perhaps the most memorable Dante function for Carlo though was one held some years earlier
in the Roma Street rooms, when his brother-in-law Eugenio (a close friend of Carlo’s long before marrying his sister Elena) spoke and showed a film he’d made of Rome. For the first time Carlo’s two worlds came together. He was clearly moved by the occasion.
At that stage Carlo couldn’t know that, after a
long and sometimes painful separation, he was to see his Roman family at regular intervals: from the mid-80s onwards, he started taking Dante and Griffith students on biannual Winter tours of Italy. Several participants are here today.
…continues on page 7
6
Pagina 7
SOCIETÀ DANTE ALIGHIERI, BRISBANE giugno 2021
Chi era Carlo? ...continua He came into his own as Cicerone but it could have its hitches. Travelling by train one time with a large group which had dispersed to find seats, as they approached their
station, to get everyone’s attention Carlo shouted ‘scendere tutti!’ (everybody off). So the compartment duly emptied onto the platform. While Carlo’s group reunited, the other passengers were left scratching their heads, wondering why on earth they’d been ordered
off the train. There are so many stories from our trips to Italy:
- the time in Palermo when Dario Fo, doing a one-man show which we’d been told was sold out, invited the group to share the stage with him
- the time we climbed the clock tower in Piazza San Marco to watch i mori strike the hour, only to discover the mechanism had been frozen all afternoon. We were offered a free ticket we couldn’t use but got to see the clock’s innards
- the time, his feet sore from walking around Milano all day, Carlo wore his K-Mart kung-fu
slippers to La Scala (he was very proud of that)
Of course, there are lots of stories from home too:
- the time Carlo taught our dog Sasha to read, Italian naturally. He always spoke Italian to dogs (and small children) who had no trouble understanding him, as Luath and Angus can attest
- the time he cooked polenta which wouldn’t set and, when it finally did, despite being starving and irritated we had to find some string to cut it with because that’s what was done
- the times we’d sing when stuck in traffic on the Bruce Highway coming home from the beach. Mum used to wonder why all Italian songs had the same tune before realising Carlo was tone deaf
Carlo wanted us to remember good times spent together. That won’t be hard since
there were so many of them. As he liked to say, ‘Good onya, mate!’.
So, to echo our departed friend,
mi raccomando: abbiate pazienza, fate le cose con criterio, e godetevi la vita!
(be patient, do things well, enjoy life!)
7
Ringraziamo di cuore l'altra famiglia di Carlo, la
Società Dante di Brisbane, per tutto l'impegno,
l'amore e la buona volontà che ci avete messo per
far riuscire così bene la celebrazione della sua vita il
12 giugno.
È stata veramente una bella
occasione.
Vi siamo molto grate.
Mila e Marge
Pagina 8
SOCIETÀ DANTE ALIGHIERI, BRISBANE luglio 2021
Autobiografia Anche quest’anno gli studenti di italiano del secondo anno all’università di Griffith si sono
adoperati nello scrivere la loro autobiografia e, come sempre, la commissione che ha letto i loro
saggi è rimasta stupita dalla creatività delle loro interpretazioni. Ci rammarica il fatto di dover
scegliere un vincitore, tutti gli scritti sono degni di premi.
Il vincitore del concorso ‘Frammenti di vita’ del 2020 è James Coggins, cominciamo a pubblicare
il suo capolavoro che poi continuerà nelle prossime edizioni.
Casa foglia ed altri luoghi
Per tutta la vita viviamo in una varietà di luoghi. Ci circondiamo con le persone e le
cose con cui risuoniamo affinché possiamo appartenere a qualcosa di più grande di noi
stessi. Ognuno di questi luoghi è come una casa – anche se non siamo cresciuti lì o se
da allora ci siamo allontanati, una parte di noi vive ancora al suo interno. In questa
autobiografia (di un certo tipo), condividerò con te alcune delle case in cui ho vissuto,
sia per molti anni o per solo un momento nel tempo. Mentre tutte hanno qualche
variazione di quattro pareti e un tetto, tutte per me significano qualcosa di diverso. In
questo senso, non è né la qualità materiale di questi luoghi né il passare del tempo che
le ha rese significative. Invece, è qualcosa di più intangibile e indescrivibile; uno
spirito da ognuna di loro che si è aggrappato a me e ha contribuito ad essere ciò che
sono oggi.
Casa pietra
Da dove cominciare un’autobiografia se non nel più ovvio dei posti: mi chiamo James
(piacere). Sono un uomo di ventun anni da Byron Bay ed abito a Brisbane. Ho i capelli
lunghi castani, la barba e i baffi e il fisico magro. Indosso le camicie spesso, di solito
con i pantaloni e una cintura. Ho una collezione grande di calzini con molti colori
diversi e molti modelli diversi.
Ma, ho la sensazione che quando la gente chiede ‘chi sei tu?’, voglia i verbi invece dei
soggetti. Quindi, che cosa faccio? Beh, mi piace passare la maggior parte del mio
tempo con i miei amici più cari che ho incontrato al liceo.
Abitiamo insieme a Stones Corner e naturalmente
condividiamo molte attività insieme. In particolare, ci
piace uscire al pub, giocare video giochi o guardare la TV
e i film. Ma ci piace anche fare le ‘cose noiose’ insieme,
come appendere fuori il bucato, lamentarsi della vita al
tempo di pranzo e fare la spesa. Siamo una piccola
famiglia felice. Abbastanza spesso, tuttavia, preferisco
essere solo con un romanzo o un film. Di solito leggo e
guardo tutto ciò che è acclamato dalla critica di tutti i
generi e di tutte le culture, ma mi piace il genere horror in
particolare. Sento che la sua affinità con ‘lo strano’ gli
permette di esplorare nuovi estremi creativi mentre anche offre alle persone un’intensa esperienza emotiva.
Alcuni dei miei preferiti lavori in questo genere includono il libro Frankenstein di Mary Shelley e il film
Possesssion di Andzej Zulawski. Ma naturalmente, non tutto il mio tempo è trascorso ricreativamente. Quando non sono con i miei amici o
con un romanzo, sto studiando per la mia laurea in studi internazionali. A parte la mia materia principale
l’italiano, mi specializzo nello sviluppo internazionale che si interroga su come il benessere umano possa
essere "migliorato" attraverso una serie di meccanismi sociali e politici. È un argomento che mi affascina
siccome credo che incarni molti dei problemi di oggi mentre fornisce anche le riposte per il futuro.
Continua il mese prossimo 8
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