ANU Italian Cultural Society revived

ANU students have revived the Italian Cultural Society in a move to inject new vigour into the study of Italian language and culture at the university.
 
More than 50 students, staff and dignitaries including the Italian Ambassador to Australia celebrated the launch on campus on 7 August with Italian food and wine.
 
"We’re glad to have the support of the Italian program in the School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics and the Italian embassy in Canberra,” Gian Marco Farese, the society’s inaugural president and a linguistics researcher at the School, said.
 
“We hope that this society, which is part of the ANU Students Association and ANU European Clubs, will help encourage students who are studying Italian, or just have a general love of all things Italian.”
 
Italian Ambassador, Pier Francecso Zazo, said community-led groups like the society were vital in maintaining interest in Italian, in particular as 4.9 percent of the Australian population are Italian or have Italian roots.
 
Some 80 percent of people who study Italian don’t have an Italian background, he added.
 
Head of School, Professor Catherine Travis, said ANU has taught Italian for close to 40 years, since the mid-1970s.
 
She acknowledged the support of the Dante Alighieri Society for students of Italian at ANU, and that of the Italian government for their sponsorship on a lettore, an Italian lecturer.
 
The current lettore is Grazier Micciché, who said the university’s students of Italian are exposed to contemporary Italian culture and participate in such events as writing prizes, a translation project, and the Italian film festival.