About 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.

Publication information

ISBN (paperback):   978-0-9803616-8-1
ISBN (web):   978-0-9803616-9-8

Publication date: August 2008.
Available formats: print (paperback) and online (HTML and PDF).
Length: approximately 248 pages (exact page extent tbc).
Illustrations: approximately 30 images. These are black and white in the print version, and colour (where available) in the online version.

Prices

• Paperback:   (RRP)   AUD $37.95   (not including postage and handling)
• Online, for individuals:   AUD $29.95
• Online, for institutions:   AUD $80.00

Contents

• 'Introduction' – Bill Kent, Ros Pesman and Cynthia Troup
• 'Australians in Italy: The Long View' – Ros Pesman
• 'Twentieth-Century Diplomatic and Trade Relations' – Rory Steele
• 'Some Facts and Figures' – Cathy Crupi
• 'Gaining a Foothold: Australian Cultural Institutions in Italy' – Bill Kent
• 'A. D. Trendall: A Memoir' – J. R. Green
• 'More than a Love Affair: Australian Writers and Italy' – Bruce Bennett
• 'A Great Tradition Revisited' – Peter Porter
• 'Funghi, Family and Fables' – Lisa Clifford
• '“Everything Else in Italy”: A Journalist in Rome' – Desmond O'Grady
• 'Australian Artists in Italy: Residencies and Residents' – Judith Blackall
• 'Donald Friend: An Australian Artist's Affair with Italy' – Ian Britain
• 'Drawing on Italian Art' – Euan Heng
• 'Rinascimento through a Contemporary Lens' – Jo-Anne Duggan
• 'Australian Clergy in Italy post Vatican II' – Peter Howard
• 'Rome: My Two Cities' – Mark Coleridge
• 'Rediscovering Rome' – Antonio Pagliaro
• '“Unevenly Buried”: A Personal Topography of Rome' – Cynthia Troup
• 'Elusive Landscapes: Australians and “The Italian Garden”' – Jane Drakard
• 'Educational Tourism – Cultural Landscapes' – Chris Wood
• 'Carrara: Landscape of Stone' – Alison Leitch
• 'Imagining and Experiencing Italy in the 1980s and 1990s' – Camilla Russell
• 'Reflections and Refractions: Australian Studies in Italy' – Lorenzo Perrona
• 'Sguardi Australiani : Australian Cinema in Italy' – Silvana Tuccio
• 'Remembering Bernard Hickey' – Brian Matthews
• 'Italian Australians in Italy' – Loretta Baldassar
• '“Washing Faces, Cleansing Hearts”: Who Am I?' – Luisa Panichi
• 'The Returned Migrants: The ANEA in Australia’ – Aldo Lorigiola
• 'Index'

Plus a 'Preface' by Hon. Amanda Vanstone, Ambassador, Embassy of Australia, Rome, and a 'Presentazione' (in Italian) by On. Stefano Starace Janfolla, Ambassador, Embassy of Italy, Canberra.

About the editors

Bill Kent is an Australian Professorial Fellow in the School of Historical Studies at Monash University, and was founding director of the Monash University Centre in Prato. He is a widely published specialist in the cultural and social history of late medieval and Renaissance Italy, and is general editor of the critical edition of Lorenzo de' Medici's letters. In 2004 he published Lorenzo de' Medici and the Art of Magnificence (Johns Hopkins University Press).

Ros Pesman is Professor Emeritus in the School of Philosophical and Historical Enquiry at the University of Sydney where she was formerly Challis Professor of History and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Her most recent publications include From Paesani to Global Italians: Veneto Migration to Australia (with Loretta Baldassar, University of Western Australia Press, 2005).

Cynthia Troup has taught in the School of Historical Studies and in the Faculty of Art and Design at Monash University, and at The University of Melbourne she works in Italian Studies. She is a writer and academic editor. Her publications include short stories, articles on Italian Studies, and essays and interviews in the fields of contemporary art and music.

Publisher

Monash University ePress

Building 4
Monash University
Wellington Road
Clayton 3800
Victoria
Australia