Australians in Italy: Contemporary Lives and Impressions

edited by Bill Kent, Ros Pesman and Cynthia Troup

Long before the advent of modern tourism, Australians travelled to live in Italy, or undertook extensive visits there. Indeed they continue to do so in increasing numbers, as women and men find Italian partners; as business people with European interests settle there; as retirees in their thousands seek "the good life" that Italy, in Ros Pesman's words, this "culturally endowed place of rebirth" seems to promise.

While many are familiar with celebrated expatriates such as Germaine Greer, Jeffrey Smart, Peter Robb and David Malouf, hundreds of other artists, writers, musicians and intellectuals have made and continue to make a notable contribution to the cultural and intellectual lives of both countries. Whilst Australian Studies flourishes in Italian universities, Australian academics write distinguished accounts of Italian history covering various eras. Despite this sustained activity, the scholarly and cultural engagement of Australians with Italy is not a well known story.

This collection seeks to map the past and present of the Australian love affair with Italy, and yields rich insights into its causes, motivations and transformations. Contributors include former Australian Ambassador to Italy Rory Steele, poet Peter Porter, contemporary artists Euan Heng and Jo-Anne Duggan, as well as distinguished academics and young scholars. Amongst the diverse range of articles and vignettes are chapters by Ian Britain on Donald Friend's Italian years, Loretta Baldassar exploring the phenomenon of reverse migration, and novelist Lisa Clifford reflecting on her family ties with Italy.

Australians in Italy will appeal to scholars and students of migration and multiculturalism, Australian Studies, Italian Studies, and tourism and travel. It will also delight those interested in Italy and all things Italian: people of Italo-Australian backgrounds, armchair and actual travellers, sojourners in Italy, and the general reader.

Published August 2008 This book is available online and in print ISBN (paperback): 978-0-9803616-8-1 ISBN (online): 978-0-9803616-9-8 www.epress.monash.edu/ai

CONTENTS AND CONTRIBUTERS:

Hon. Amanda Vanstone Ambassador, Embassy of Australia, Rome (Preface)

On. Stefano Starace Janfolla Ambassador, Embassy of Italy, Canberra (Presentazione) [in Italian]

Bill Kent, Ros Pesman and Cynthia Troup (Introduction)

SETTING THE SCENE

Ros Pesman, Australians in Italy: The Long View

Rory Steele, Twentieth-Century Diplomatic and Trade Relations

Cathy Crupi, Some Facts and Figures

Bill Kent, Gaining a Foothold: Australian Cultural Institutions in Italy

J R Green, (vignette) A. D. Trendall: A Memoir

WRITERS

Bruce Bennett, More than a Love Affair: Australian Writers and Italy

Peter Porter, A Great Tradition Revisited

Lisa Clifford, (vignette) Funghi, Family and Fables

Desmond O’Grady, (vignette) ‘Everything Else in Italy’: A Journalist in Rome

ARTISTS

Judith Blackall, Australian Artists in Italy: Residencies and Residents

Ian Britain, Donald Friend: An Australian Artist’s Affair with Italy

Euan Heng, (vignette) Drawing on Italian Art

Jo-Anne Duggan, (vignette) Rinascimento through a Contemporary Lens

CONTEMPLATING ROME

Peter Howard, Australian Clergy in Italy After Vatican II

Mark Coleridge (vignette) Rome: My Two Cities

Antonio Pagliaro, (vignette) Rediscovering Rome

Cynthia Troup, (vignette) ‘Unevenly Buried’: A Personal Topography of Rome

ENCOUNTERING ITALY

Jane Drakard, Elusive Landscapes: Australians and ‘The Italian Garden’

Chris Wood, Educational Tourism – Cultural Landscapes

Alison Leitch, (vignette) Carrara: Landscape of Stone

Camilla Russell, (vignette) Imagining and Experiencing Italy in the 1980s and 1990s

AUSTRALIAN STUDIES IN ITALY

Lorenzo Perrona, Reflections and Refractions: Australian Studies in Italy

Silvana Tuccio, Australian Cinema in Italy: Sguardi Australiani

Brian Matthews, (vignette) Remembering Bernard Hickey

ITALIAN AUSTRALIANS RETURNING

Loretta Baldassar, Italian Australians in Italy

Luisa Panichi, (vignette) ‘Washing Faces, Cleansing Hearts’: Who Am I?

Aldo Lorigiola, (vignette) The Returned Migrants: The ANEA in Australia

www.epress.monash.edu/ai