SEGMENTO MAGAZINE ISSUE V by Segmento

ISSUE V

FREE

June/August 2015 | www.segmento.com.au

THE WARMEST COLOURS OF

WINTER

INSIDE #w to Cianla trip abria

PROJECT

“A non profit initiative aimed to facilitate the exchange of young figurative artists between Australia and Italy”

more than an Art Project... It is an opportunity for: International Exchange I t a l y -A u s t r a l i a Address 203 Maribyrnong Rd Ascot Vale, Melbourne VIC 3032 Australia Telephone +61 410 860 036 Email info@gaiaproject.com.au Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and connect with us on LinkedIn.

The GAIA Project Is a competition aimed at young figurative artists – painters and sculptors. The winners will be awarded a scholarship to spend a period of work/study in the host country.

International Artists Community

All the young Italian and Australian artists, by submitting their application to the exchange program, become members of a social network hosted on the GAIA Project’s portal.

Art Network

OUR VALUED PARTNERS I stitutional P artners

I talian P artners

C orporate S ponsors

and

Services

The GAIA Project will facilitate members’ access to art-schools, and the connection with artistic associations, galleries, curators and art magazines in both countries.

The Gaia Project Award

At the end of each exchange program, the GAIA Project organises a gala event where the artworks of the artists participating in the program will be exhibited, and the best artist will be awarded with a solo exhibition organized by the GAIA Project.

Founder and Managing Director Daniele Curto

daniele curto

daniele.curto@segmento.com.au

EDITORIAL

041 8891 285

Associate Editor Ivano Ercole

WHAT COMES TO MIND WHEN I AM FEELING

editor@segmento.com.au

Graphic Artist Aurora Delfino Creative Consultant Imbarani Poonasamy Photographers Paco Matteo Li Calzi, Daniele Curto.

HOMESICK

To contact the Segmento Editorial Staff: segmento@segmento.com.au 041 8891 285

For advertising please contact:

equires

marketing@segmento.com.au 041 8891 285

Cover photo credits Photographer Paco Matteo Li Calzi

www.pacomatteolicalzi.com

Model Oksana Melnikova Hairdresser & Make-Up Artist Nathalie Prince www.nathalineprince.com.au

Contributors Daniele Brugiotti Marco Maria Cerbo (Consul General of Italy) Omar D’Incecco Valentina Bonatti Johnny Di Francesco Agata Grimaldi Paolo Lolicata Hayley J. Egan Laura D’Angelo Ilaria Gianfagna Laura Vinci Archimede Fusillo Salvatore Rossano Ivano Ercole Matteo Preabianca Elizabeth Wisser

3 MEDIA PARTNER OF

ast month marked exactly two years since I last walked on my native soil. It was a day blessed by the warm colours of the spring when I greeted my family, friends and homeland. Two days later I started my journey in the “Terra Australis Incognita”, as the Europeans in the Seventeenth century nominated it when it was still a legendary land. The comparison is not forced since in my mind Australia was, and in some ways still is, a vast, startling and an incognito continent. While I have spent my last two years in Australia attempting to assimilate as much as possible to the lifestyle of the rich and colourful multiethnic society, another urge began to grow inside of me. Yes, as any Italian immigrant, the nostalgia was taking over almost every aspect of my new Australian life. Firstly the family, then friends and ultimately my hometown, food, weather. It followed a customary and respectful scale of values, occupying a place more special then ever in my heart. Soon, however, I began to realize that there were many and varied things that I was missing about Italy. These things hardly come to mind, yet they are the glue and the hinge of Italian social life. Among these numerous memories there are three, which are particularly dear to me.

PIAZZA

One day I was strolling in the Melbourne CBD and observing the buzzing city life. While wandering between the noisy roads and streets, and the more peaceful lanes and avenues, I noticed that the urban and architectural was fatherless of what is considered the heart and soul of the Italian town planning, the Piazza! Created, as places of aggregation, parliaments rallies, fairs, markets, and sacred representations, piazzas are in Italy the theatre of everyday life. Whether they are the small religious piazzas of the Middle Ages, framed in many towns of Tuscany, Lazio and Umbria (where the high facade of the great gothic cathedrals are surrounded by low and humble buildings); or the beautiful example of the Piazza of Siena built in the shape of a seashell, to me walking into a piazza after a long stroll is like an unexpected break between long hours of work.

PHYSICAL CONTACT

There is little to say, the physical contact in this part of the world is nearly a taboo. I am not only referring to physical contact between a man and a woman, whether they are lovers or just friends. The contact among bodies I am talking about has nothing to do with sex. It is very rare to admire two lovers walking hand in hand on the streets of Melbourne. What about the greetings between two men? In Italy greetings between two men consist of hugs and kisses (two, one for each cheek starting on the right side). Here they limit themselves to a handshake (and a pat on the shoulder if you are young enough) and needless to say no kisses are involved. I have had experience in which the greetings between Australian men and myself, who I was longing to receive hugs and bestow kisses onto, turned out to be an interminable moment of awkwardness.

NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

I spent the first six months of my time in Australia working as a Swimming instructor at a swimming pool in the south east of Melbourne. Due to the very broad environment of the Olympic-size swimming pool it was impossible to communicate with colleagues and clients verbally, from one end of the facility to the other. One day I had a very simple message to deliver to my Manager, who was teaching at the opposite corner of the pool, and the message was: “I have to leave my class (I had to go to the bathroom).” Discouraged by the noise and the spaciousness I began to gesture the sign of having to leave (simply by half closing my hand, keeping the fingers straight, sticking the thumb out and moving them all together up and down). Simple… not quite! My manager seeing my unusual gestures and rather confused ran hastily toward me worrying that I was feeling ill…. Since then, to avoid ending up in a hospital for the innocent need to take a bio break, I gave up any attempt to communicate with our indecipherable code of gestures.

CONtents

#w to Cianla trip abria

18 8

Features 18

John Casamento An entire life devoted to photojournalism by Laura D’Angelo

by I. E. Laudieri Di Biase

Regulars Living La Bella Vita

by Valentina Bonatti

Amalsa

Roots & Routes

Passione Vintage

by Elizabeth Wisser

by Marco Maria Cerbo (Consul General of Italy)

by Laura Vinci

The Art of Making Homemade Salami

by Home make it

All crazy for Sophia

When artificial becomes an ethical choice

Future in their Past

Soggetti Sonori

You “too” Speak Italian

by Matteo Preabianca

Australian Diary

by Hayley J.Egan

by Ivano Ercole

Sardines: the cornerstone of mediterranean cuisine. by Agata Grimaldi

Recipe “Sardine alla scapece”

A new way to enjoy Italian wines by glass

from the cookbook “Sharing Puglia”

by Laura D’Angelo

Ten Years a Stranger

The Sicilian actor who found his fortune making bow ties out of fabric remnants by Laura D’Angelo

by Archimede Fusillo

by Salvatore Rossano

by Johnny Di Francesco and Enza Liberati

by Daniele Curto

Just Australia

by Ilaria Gianfagna

Sophia Loren: the interview that did not happen

Melissa Rush a leading boutique travel agent inspired by her respect and admiration for Italy and its culture by Daniele Curto

‘Adio Properties’ is a building company in which its developments invokes the reminscence of Italy by Daniele Curto

Segmento Magazine June/August 2015

WORDS VALENTINA BONATTI

LIVING LA BELLA VITA

ow can we achieve happiness? By living “la Bella Vita”, the Beautiful Life. You might wonder, “What does that mean?” We all have dreams and desires of being, doing and having something specific in our lives.

Unfortunately we tend to leave those dreams aside or place them in a draw and often we even tend to forget about them. Our society is not structured in a way that allows our creativity, desires and dreams to be a “normal” way of living. Instead, we constantly do what others expect us to do; we become something that we are not meant to be in order to possess things that don’t really matter that much at the end of the day. Now I am asking: What is that you really want to do? Where? When? With whom? Which person would you really want to be or become? Relaxed, open, happy and joyful every day? What would you really love having? What would truly make you happy despite what advertising and the consumer society is contestably telling us? There are no right or wrong answers to these questions. In fact, we all have different desires and dreams and there is no right or a wrong way of thinking. What we have to do is to re-connect with them and then do something about it so we can start to incorporate them in our reality and live our Bella Vita. A good way to start is describing your “ideal average day” (The day which, if you were to live it every day, you’d never get bored and you’d never get sick and it wouldn’t hurt anyone or you). The answer can’t be “I’d sit on the beach” or ‘’I’d do 4 REGULARS

nothing all day...” The truth is that holidays only sustain us for a short time. We are designed to “experience’” life, not “escaping from life”. As work occupies a big section of our life, what would you do? Where? With whom? I firmly believe that the 21st century is the time where you can make a living by doing what you love, by sharing your passion, by working flexible hours and by doing all of it from where you want. Is what you want, to work from home? From the beach? From a plane? From a different country every month? Now you can achieve all of it. All you need is a computer, an Internet connection and a desire to create, build and live your Bella Vita. The most valuable asset we all have is time. Therefore I believe we should use it in the most flexible way that allows us to be free, successful and happy at the same time. That’s why I am so passionate about helping women (but men are welcome as well) to transition from a 9/5 job to become the creators of their future success by opening their freedom-based business. This is my ideal Bella Vita. Valentina Bonatti is the author of the self-change book “Powerful Change, 12 steps to re-light your Inner Fire” and part of the knowledge in this article comes from chapter of the book. To purchase the book vale@livinglabellavita.com.au Contact www.livinglabellavita.com.au Website www.valentinabonatti.com

WORDS Matteo Preabianca PHOTOGRAPHER AURORA DELFINO

YOU “TOO” SPEAK ITALIAN Two short stories inspired by an old Italian saying

He was sitting at the window looking outside. His gaze rested on the green meadows and gently stroked the soft hills, then hopped in the pouring and drumming rain. It was his last look at the world he was accustomed to. His aching heart was soothed by the music of the rain and his mind went to the faraway country that would soon become his new homeland. Filippo did not find it difficult to dream. He was very young and it was enough for him to close his eyes and imagine... But now was not the time. He opened his eyes and saw that it had stopped raining. Pink clouds, a red sky and a glimpse of blue, stretched beyond the window. The room was filled with silence and while looking at the sky Filippo heard an inner voice saying “rosso di sera, bel tempo si spera” (Red sky at night is promising good weather). He closed the suitcase and put in the right pocket of his handbag a one way plane ticket. In a few hours, Filippo would leave for a long journey that would take him to Australia. The sky was bright red and it seemed as if it would catch on fire at any moment. It was a wonderful show: a contrast of light and color. The red reflected in the eyes of Valentina shedding sparkles of pain, suffering and melancholy. On the dock of the ship, with the breeze in his hair and the taste of salt in his nostrils, Filippo tried not to think. As the smell of his native land slowly faded away, he saw in his mind the faces of the loved ones and felt in the heart the love for a child who will grow up without a mother. Wrapped in a large, heavy wool blanket, Valentina with a glass of hot tea in her hands, gazing at the horizon and slowly, looking at the sky, she repeated to herself: “rosso di sera, bel tempo si spera”.

mteachesitalian www.matteoteachesitalian.com Thanks to Elisa Perotti

After the funeral she had decided to run her mother house. That was the only place where her grief was alleviated. In the attic, browsing among the dusty boxes, she found a vinyl record. The title had faded and the label had become illegible. She stroked the record with her fingers, then she had an idea. She ran down the stairs, rushed into a room, opened the turntable and, like magic, the room resounded with a warm, pleasant and reassuring man’s voice. It was the voice of the great singer, Claudio Villa, the voice of the youth of her mother. She sank into the leather chair and listened carefully to the lyrics that told of young lovers, illusions and hopes. The song’s refrain was saying: “Rosso di sera bel tempo si spera. Dice la gente che fa bene al cuore, porta fortuna a chi non ha l’amore”. (Red sky at night time is promising good weather. People say it is good for the heart and brings good luck to those who are not loved). She shook her head and looked at a picture of her mother next to the turntable, then glanced at the sky and suddenly saw her dancing happily, with two white pearl earrings and an elegant dress. A tear ran down her face. She closed the window, turned off the turntable, put on her coat and left the house repeating softly: “Rosso di sera bel tempo si spera”.

This is an Italian saying that is used to comfort peasants at sunset after a hard day’s work in the fields and seamen on high seas. A saying that can still be a source of encouragement for those who look at the sky at sunset, when the horizon turns red filling one’s mind with wonder and hope. An antidote to hopelessness and despair that works only if it is pronounced in Italian.

Remember: Rosso di sera bel tempo si spera. REGULARS 5

words and photos Home Make It

The Art of

Making Homemade

Salami

H ot I talian S alami R ecipe Ingredients 1 kilo pork 28g - 30g fine sea salt (if using a curing compound, reduce salt to 18- 20g)

5g sweet paprika

earning the ancient art of curing meat and creating the perfect homemade salami is one of the most prized Italian family food experiences. The whole process from meat selection, mincing, mixing, filling, curing and ultimately enjoying the end product is highly satisfying, rewarding and not to mention, tasty. Although the motivation for having a batch of salumi in storage to complete the Italian families’ pantry of staples for the year, most will agree that bringing family and friends together to experience the richness of culture and traditional homemade Italian foods is what it’s really all about. Home Make It have long been assisting families to transform their garages into suburban food factories, offering generations of experience, advice and all the supplies required to get people equipped and inspired. Leading the way in Melbourne with the education of homemade food and beverages with various hands-on workshops and courses further reinforces Home Make It’s place at the forefront of the growing slow food scene. And their recently launched equipment and recipe kit ranges will ensure to get all people, from the expert to the novice alike on their way to producing and preserving delicious and healthy homemade foods.

3g chilli flakes 1g cracked black pepper 20ml hot pepper sauce 30-50ml sweet pepper sauce (depending on dryness of the meat)

30-50ml red wine (depending on dryness of the meat)

intestine or casing

Have a go at becoming your own salumiere by trying the following Hot Italian Salami Recipe. Contact the friendly Home Make It team before commencing your salami making process for further information, safety tips or assistance.

Clayton Store: (03) 9574 8222 Reservoir Store: (03) 9460 2777 info@homemakeit.com.au www.homemakeit.com.au

8 REGULARS

Meat preparation Ensure all equipment that will be used for your homemade salami making has been sanitised before use and that gloves are worn at all times. Salami should be kept in as cold conditions (14Ë&#x161;C max) as possible to maintain meat integrity. Cut skin off leg, and try to keep as much of the fat on as possible. Once meat has been separated from bone, section out any sinew, cartilage or bone fragments from the meat. Keep the nice white fat with the meat; any translucent fat needs to be removed. Salami should roughly be made up of a 30% fat to 70% meat ratio.

MINCE

1 2

Once you are happy with the meat preparation, you then cut the chunks of the meat and fat into strips or lengths that will fit into the hopper of your mincer/filler. Then mince the pork and the fat with the coarse 12mm mincing plate.

MIX Add the spices, ensure to mix thoroughly and evenly throughout the minced meat. Use a little wine, liquid or pepper sauce to help the mixing if meat is too dry. Mix thoroughly until the meat is a sticky consistency. Test by sticking a patty into your hand, turn your hand upside down, if the patty sticks and defies gravity your meat is ready for filling, if it falls off â&#x20AC;&#x201C; keep mixing. Cover the meat and let it sit for 6 to 24 hours in a fridge to settle and absorb the spices before filling.

FILL Soak casing in either of the following lukewarm water solutions; water and wine (50% water - 50% white wine), water and salt (10% salt to amount of water), water and lemon (1 whole lemon cut in wedges, placed in water) and soak the casing for no longer 5 minutes each. Drain any excess water out of casing ready for use. Create balls of meat to fit into the hopper of the mincer/filler and pack in, ensure there are no air gaps between the balls of meat as you fill, so you will need to continually feed the balls of meat into the mincer hopper as you are filling the casing. Make sure that the casing is packed hard and that there are no air pockets left in the meat.

Tie off the salami with string as tight and as close to the meat as possible. Tie a loop in the string on one end for hanging up the salami for curing. Once tied up, prick skin of salami with a pricker several times over the surface of the salami to allow any air to escape. Applying netting to your freshly made salami will ensure the meat remains tight and compressed throughout the curing process which will also assist in a successful cured salami. Netting can be applied to salami using a netting tube applicator. Then thread string through end of net, make a loop and then leave to hang in a well-ventilated place, normally for several months or more depending on size of salami.

Curing Salami For most people a garage or cellar is going to be used as their curing area. The following rules should be applied to curing areas: Make sure that no vermin, flies or animals can access the area The area must remain cool (14Ë&#x161;C max.) at all times The area should not be draughty Humidity during curing should try to be at least 60+%, If humidity it is not high enough, then some water in a bowl or moist sawdust can be used to help humidity content.

Storage Once salami is deemed ready, for best results, they should be vacuum-sealed and placed in the fridge to give the salami the maximum life.

Enjoy with family and friends! Disclaimer: Home Make It offers this recipe as a suggestion only. All imagery, menu and process information is copyright protected. We take no responsibility for outcomes due to the variability of meat quality, salami making ability, equipment used and suitability of salami making area for production of salami.

REGULARS 9

WORDS Laura D’Angelo PHOTOgrapher AURORA DELFINO

A new way to enjoy fine

Italian wines by the glass

TAP. at Zanini Restaurant, Melbourne.

ndrew De Angelis is the founder of TAP., a brand of “wine on tap” promoting a new concept to serve fine wines by the glass. Third generation Italian born and bred in Melbourne, wine has never been something new for Andrew, especially as he grew up drinking it at the table with his family, a ritual that reveals his roots and a strong bond with Italy. “I learnt to drink wine with my meals at home and as I became older I recognized how to understand wine in different dimension and began to appreciate its significance and the diversity it offers”, he says. His big passion for drinking wine has led Andrew to create TAP. “I wanted to offer diverse groups of the drinking community the ability to savour good quality wine by the glass without the necessary high price tag, and focus on the real reasons why we drink it: for the love of wine, to complement our food, and, actually drink the true flavors and characters of the varietals.” Andrew decided to launch TAP. with Sangiovese and Pinot Grigio, two of Italy’s most popular wines, “... sourced from premier wine-growing regions, Tuscany and Veneto, to maintain their authenticity”, he explains.

10 FOOD&WINE

“Melbourne is currently in love with both of them. You see them nearly on every wine list across Melbourne’s top food locations, so we wanted to allow everybody the ability to drink a true representation of those varietals.” An afternoon spent with Andrew gave me the chance to experience those varietals and find out that they are simply excellent, smooth, refreshing. Rosè lovers are able to enjoy a dry, gentle blend of Italian red grape varietals as well, and new wine varieties are about to be presented, Andrew reveals. But, apart from the genuine aromas and flavors, what are the strengths of TAP.? Eco-friendly, innovative and affordable: these are some of the keywords of this new technology and able to change Australian habits about drinking wine. Let’s start with the idea of sustainability. “TAP.’s carbon footprint is really important to me. We use premium stainless steel kegs that last up to 30 years. One keg contains 20 litres of wine, and that means 26 bottles out of circulation. As a consequence, you don’t’ create waste, you don’t throw bottles, corks, caps and packaging in landfills...”

TOP TAP: Pop-up. ABOVE Wine Kegs. BELOW Andrew De Angelis.

All the equipment is made of the highest quality materials that help prevent the risk of UV rays, oxidation, cork taint and wastage, which means innovation. “Our kegs preserve quality, maintain flavor and have excellent thermal properties ensuring the wine is never compromised by any contamination”, Andrew states. And that’s very important. Elder people in Italy, in fact, believe that if wine crosses the mountains, it’s gets spoiled. It is not only a popular belief, but also a simple way to explain science and in this case the odds that wine goes bad when prone to thermal shocks. “With TAP. the consumer can be sure that wine is always consistently fresh and perfect every time, regardless of location”, he stresses. Innovation also includes the concept of beauty. “The aesthetic of this brand are our towers. We wanted to create a very powerful design because we knew that this was the face of TAP. They are made from ceramic and combined with an elegant and eye-catching handmade design”, and in fact Andrew’s philosophy is that customers must fall in love with the product first, before tasting it! Another goal for TAP. is to challenge the general stigma that wine from the tap is low quality or cheap. TAP. Wines are instead authentic, elegant and affordable both for the consumer and the restaurateur. “TAP. was pioneered on this principle, we should all have the accessibility to drink quality wine by the glass and not worry about the brand or label and the price tag that comes with it.” And what about restaurateurs? Over the course of a year all the indirect costs associated with bottled wine add to reduced profitability. TAP. is revolutionary: all the wines by the glass “on-tap” have zero wastage and the operators no longer need to pay for waste disposal of bottles and packaging. In addition TAP. offers a full turn-key solution to the wines by the glass. “Being a part of TAP. means you can focus your time and energy on other aspects of your business. We have developed a program that is very easy and have taken out all the “grey” area surrounding wine-on-tap.” One last thing before I leave you with the wonderful taste of TAP., have you noticed the dot in the logo? “This is not a punctuation error but it stands for ‘punto e basta’ meaning “that’s it” or simply TAP. End of story! “

For further information visit the website www.tapwines.com.au FOOD&WINE 11

words I. E. LAUDIERI DI BIASE PHOTOGRAPHER Paco Matteo Li Calzi

Sophia Loren: the interview that did not happen

ophia Loren's visit to Melbourne as a special guest of “La Dolce Italia” Gala Charity Dinner to raise funds for the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, was but a flickering moment in the long and impressive career of the most famous actress Italian cinema has ever produced. She came, she saw and she won... the admiration of the lucky ones who could afford taking part in the gala event and quickly disappeared like a shooting star. She didn't give any interview limiting herself to answer a few questions at a press conference where she arrived almost an hour after the scheduled time, wearing a red pant suit, stunning diamond earrings and the bearing of a noblewoman. It's a pity that what was realistically Sophia's last visit to Australia has passed without leaving any meaningful trace of her spirit apart from her commendable support to the work of the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, an advocacy institution dedicated to protecting children from violence. An ideal opportunity to let her reminisce about some of the most significant moments of her life both as a movie star and as a woman was lost. Yet Segmento is offering its readers an interview that never happened but it is nevertheless true because we have taken most of her answers from her autobiography “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: My life as a fairy tale”, which was published last December and went unnoticed to most of the people she met in her short stay in Melbourne. Sophia Loren was born from a passionate and stormy on-off relationship of her mother with a man called Riccardo Scicolone who came from an aristocratic family and refused to marry her. He gave his name to Sophia who had to pay (using her first pay cheque) to ensure her sister Maria also had the family name Scicolone. So the first question regards her father. What do you remember of your father when you were a child? “When you are five, six, seven, you follow what your mother tells you because you want to make peace. You want the normality, which we didn’t have. My father would always come to see me when my mother sent him a telegram saying, ‘Sophia’s very sick. Come.’ It didn’t matter why he came. What I always wanted, because all my friends had it, was a father. I wanted to be like them, to be normal. But this was not possible. So you see these things when you’re 13, 14, when you’re almost grown up. You see it for what it is.” What attracted you to marry Carlo Ponti, a man 22 years older than you? “I felt at home with him. I was terribly young and he gave me confidence. He taught me many things. One day he bought me a suit and he said, ‘You should always wear suits because it suits you very well.’ But he was always saying stuff like that. I cut my hair to look

like an actress who was very successful at the time, Lucia Bosè, and Carlo said, ‘You should always wear short hair.’ “Each time I did something that he liked he would always say, ‘You should always do that’ and yes, this gave me confidence. He was protective and he took my insecurities away, yes. He looked and sounded like he would take care of me, which no other man had done.” And yet, in a way, you renounced your youth? “I have no regrets on how my life turned out. I have had bad moments, such as when I was trying to have children and I couldn’t — that was a big problem for me, really a tragedy — but I solved that problem. There are always moments that you don’t like, but you have to focus on the positive things instead of the negative. Otherwise, you go behind, not ahead.” Don't you regret being absent from the Oscar night when you won your first and only Best Actress Academy Award, for your 1962 film La Ciociara? “I didn’t expect to be nominated, because generally (the Academy) didn’t nominate anything that wasn’t done in the English language. Reading the papers, I saw that people were saying, ‘Maybe Sophia Loren is going to win.’ I said, ‘Listen, if I don’t win, of course I’m going to be a little bit upset, but I’m happy to be among the five nominees. I thought, ‘If I win, I think I’m going to faint, and I think I better faint at home than on stage’ — so I didn’t go.” Is it true you went to sleep before the Oscar was announced? “I really didn’t think I was going to win. I was in Italy at home. Of course, with the change of time in Italy and America, we made a mistake and at 6 a.m. said, ‘Well, the ceremony is over’ and went to bed. The next thing you know, Cary (Grant) is calling and saying, ‘Sophia — you won, you won!’ After I found out, I smoked a cigarette.” There have been rumors about your closeness with Cary Grant. Now perhaps you can reveal what happened between the two of you. “We first met in Spain on the set of the film “The Pride and the Passion”. Cary won me over with his good manners and zest for life. I was just 22 years old and often confused by a life that was going much too fast. He, at 52, had lived a lot and suffered a lot, too, although it appeared as though he had everything. I was very much involved with Carlo (Ponti), who had become my home and my family, even though he already had a family and it wasn't clear when we'd be able to get married and live together in broad daylight. And Cary was married to Betsy Drake, his third wife, who came and went from the set, although their relationship had been faltering for a long time. Fortunately, we were staying in two different hotels, and this helped to at least keep some distance between us. He charmed me, but I always stayed one step back. I didn't want to, and couldn't, raise his hopes. I was afraid of having to give myself over completely

to another culture, so different from my own. At the same time, it was hard to resist the magnetism of a man like Cary, who said he was willing to give up everything for me. We remained friends long after the movie was finished. Cary showed me great joy when my sons, Carlo Jnr and Edoardo, were born. And I felt the same happiness for him, years later, at the birth of his daughter, Jennifer, whom he'd so longed for. And I was delighted when I met his splendid wife, Barbara, whom he loved to the very end. This is true friendship, being happy together in the fullness of life's little and big miracles.” You spent your whole life with Carlo Ponti until his death at the age of 94 in 2007. Did you ever doubt he was the right man for you? “Never! When you get it, you hold on to it, because it doesn’t come again. In my life, family has always been very important. It gave me a structure, a positive foundation. Maybe because my mother never married my father, the dream of my life was to have a family. A family is forever. If your spouse goes away and dies, that foundation doesn’t change. It’s me and my children and grandchildren — yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” How would you describe in a few words your philosophy of life? “You have to enjoy life. You have to enjoy everything that you do. You have to play with everything that you do, and at the same time, also take yourself quite seriously. Life is not easy sometimes, but you have to get over it and make it beautiful.” And how would you describe yourself? “I am a nice friend in life — my friends appreciate my sincerity — and I like the Pope very much. Every Sunday, I look at him and I pray. I am very religious, and I don’t know if people think of me that way.” Your favourite co-star? “Marcello Mastroianni and I had a wonderful time together. We worked together for at least 20 years, and we got to know each other very well. We were great friends. We had the same sense of humor; he was really the ideal partner for me. He was really a member of my family.” How were you able to stay constantly in shape? “If you want to look good, you have to be a little careful in everything that you do. I like to walk outside in parks in the morning, and I’m careful about what I eat. You can’t have pasta every day thinking you’re going to stay beautiful.” Regarding your sons, Carlo Junior and Edoardo. One is an orchestral conductor, the other a writer and director. They are both doing well in life. “They made me so happy with my life. And I have four grandchildren. Carlo’s son is very much like Carlo. And the girl is like his wife who is Swedish. They have blue eyes.” Do you think that your eyes are your best feature? “No. No, I don’t. My character is my best feature.” CELEBRITY 13

ALL CRAZY

FOR SOphIA Enza Liberati and Johnny Di Francesco

WORDS AND RECIPE Johnny Di Francesco PHOTOGRAPHER DANIELE CURTO

La SoPHia Loren

here are a number of reasons for my choice of ingredients for the Sophia Loren pizza. First and foremost, I wanted to choose ingredients that she likes. I did my research and discovered that she loves eggplant parmigiana, so I knew that the flavours from that dish would somehow need to be incorporated. I also wanted the pizza to be classic and elegant, like the woman who had inspired it, so I limited my ingredients to just a few with a focus on quality and taste over quantity. The result is the use of eggplant, tomato and stracciatella to create a pizza that I believe will encompass the flavour of one of her favourite dishes, but in the form of one of mine - a pizza!

INGREDIENTS

LA SOPHIA LOREN

250 g Dough 50 g Stracciatella 80 g Buffalo Mozzarella 60 g Eggplant 2 Roma tomatoes Fresh Oregano

METHOD

Eggplant: Cut the Eggplant into strips. Place in a baking tray, drizzle oil and add salt to taste. Bake at 130°C for 15 min. Roma tomatoes: Cut the tomatoes into 6 segments. Place in a baking tray and sprinkle with icing sugar. Bake until soft for 30 minutes at 80°C. Stretch the pizza dough into a round disk. Top pizza with the buffalo mozzarella and place the cooked eggplant and tomatoes around it, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil. Once cooked, sprinkle with fresh oregano and top with the stracciatella. Bake for 10 minutes at 280°C (domestic oven) or in a wood fire oven for 90 seconds at 400°C.

14 FOOD&WINE

RECIPES ENZA LIBERATI PHOTOGRAPHER DANIELE CURTO

Mousse INGREDIENTS 500 g Chocolate ‘Ivrone 50 g Whole milk 500 g Cream semimontata

Raspberries Jelly INGREDIENTS 400 g Mashed Raspberries 100 g Sugar 12 g Animal gelatin

METHOD Boil the milk and emulsify with chocolate Côte d’ivoire. When the mass is at 35 °c lighten with the whipped cream semimontata.

METHOD Melt a portion of the purée with the sugar and gelatin, combine the remaining puree and pour into a mold to a height of about 1 cm.

MOUSSE WHITE CHOCOLATE AND GELEE OF RASPBERRIES

MOUSSE WHITE CHOCOLATE AND GELEE OF RASPBERRIES and Vanillia Bavarois & Orange BAVARESE

COMPOSITION Put in a mold the mousse, let cool down and then add the raspberry jelly and close with the remaining mousse. Use chocolate spray for decorating.

“The food is not just a satisfaction of the palate or a need to grow and sustain itself,

but much more. It is the attention,

care and love that it

creates, through the conviviality, wellbeing!”

Enza Liberati

Enza, who is also the head of “Sodalizio Lady Chef”, a group of about 20 female chefs from the Abruzzo region, has granted us the honour of sharing with Segmento readers some of the delicacies that have been relished during the gala dinner.

Basic English Cream (crème anglaise) INGREDIENTS 1000 g Liquid cream al 35% 1000 g Milk 400 g Yolk egg 200 g Sugar METHOD Beat sugar and egg yolk together until is thick and creamy. Heat liquid cream with milk and pour over the top of the beaten yolk egg and sugar. Cook together until 82°C. Pour into strainer.

Orange Jelly (Gelè all’arancia) INGREDIENTS 700 g Fresh orange juice 8 gr Gelatin (Soak 8 g of gelatin with 40 gr cold water for 2 h) 120 g Caster sugar 100 g Cointreau 20 g Pectin METHOD Combine fresh orange juice, sugar and pectin in pot and heat until boil. Add the gelatin and Cointreau.

Bavarian Vanilla Cream (Vanilla Bavarois) &Orange Bavarese INGREDIENTS 600 gr Basic English Cream 14 gr Gelatin (soak 14 g of gelatin with 70 gr cold water for 2 h) 2 gr Fresh Grated Orange n. 2 Vanilla Bean (pods) 400 gr Liquid Cream METHOD Add vanilla, fresh orange peel and gelatin with the basic English cream and warm to a temperature of 40°C. Let cool, until luke warm (aprox 4°C). Meanwhile whip the liquid cream until a shiny glaze appearance. Incorporate the whipped cream (in small quantities) into the Bavarian orange and vanilla cream little at a time mixing well. Pipe into silicone moulds and freeze.

Bavarian Vanilla Cream (Vanillia Bavarois) & ORANGE BAVARESE

nza Liberati from Pescara, Abbruzzo, is the award-winning chef who has created a ninecourse meal for the exclusive “La Dolce Italia Charity Gala”, with special guest Sophia Loren. Enza has surprised his guests with traditional Italian dishes using the finest ingredients freighted from Italy.

FOOD&WINE 15

WORDS AGATA GRIMALDI

SARDINES: THE CORNERSTONE OF

MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE

A HUMBLE FISH THAT FEEDS YOUR BRAIN

ew diets or lifestyle meal choices can claim the benefits that the Mediterranean diet offers: the promotion of longevity and the reduced risk of cognitive decline, diabetes and some type of cancers. When you mention the Mediterranean diet, people often think of the typical Italian meals such as pizza and pasta. However, the reality is that the Mediterranean diet is more of a plant based diet, where fruits, vegetables, hearty grains and beans are preferable, followed by seafood, a bit of dairy and red wine, with red meats only on special occasions. This diet refers to the way people of Southern Italy, Greece and Crete used to eat (and I’m sure some still do) in 1960. A study conducted at the Mayo Foundation after World War II on 13,000 middle-aged men from different countries such as the US, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, and Finland suggested that the Mediterranean men were in the best cardiovascular conditions. Apart from daily exercise, their fresh home grown and cooked delicious meals were high in macronutrients and low in sugar and unhealthy fats. In particular two core ingredients of the Mediterranean diet are beneficial for the brain and most likely responsible for reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, which affects more than 30 million people worldwide: olive oil and sardines. A component of this monounsaturated fat has the ability to clear the brain from the accumulation of a protein, responsible for this condition. Also, this shy fish that is always left in a hidden corner at fish markets, contain precious fatty acids, that build the membranes of the brain, and phospholipids, which are neurotransmitter precursors and therefore support mental clarity, focus and memory. So, next time you are having friends and family at your BBQ add a few sardines to your table! agata.grimaldi@googlemail.com

16 FOOD&WINE

From the cookbook “Sharing Puglia” By Luca Lorusso&Vivienne Polak

Sardine alla scapece | Sweet and sour sardines This tasty marinated fish has Middle Eastern roots and is similar to the more familiar escabeche. This ancient way of preserving food, using vinegar and breadcrumbs, is not only clever, but also practical. Once the fish is layered in a container, it will last in the refrigerator for months. You can make this using any small fish such as sardines or whitebait. It makes a great appetizer accompanied by a glass of rosato from San Severo. SERVES 6 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) white wine vinegar ½ garlic clove, crushed ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric pinch of saffron threads 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) sardines or whitebait 100 g (3 ½ oz/ 2/3 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour 60 ml (2 fl oz/ ¼ cup) olive oil for frying 250 g (9 oz) day-old sourdough bread Place the vinegar, garlic, turmeric and saffron in a saucepan over medium heat and boil for 2–3 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl to cool completely. Wash and then pat the fish dry with paper towel. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the flour in a shallow dish and dredge the fish. In a large frying pan, over medium heat, fry the fish in the olive oil on both sides until the fish is golden and crispy. Transfer to paper towel to drain. In a food processor, make coarse breadcrumbs from the sourdough bread. Tip the breadcrumbs into the cooled vinegar mixture and stir to combine well. Place a layer of the breadcrumb mixture in a shallow rectangular ceramic dish and place a layer of the fish on top of that. Continue layering the fish, alternating with the breadcrumb mixture, until finished; making sure the last layer of fish is completely covered with the breadcrumb mixture. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 day before eating.

words LAURA D’ANGELO PHOTOGRAPHER AURORA DELFINO

The Sicilian actor who found his fortune making bow ties out of fabric remnants

aolo Lolicata is the young creator of Lolicu, a project based on designing bow ties. Actor by profession, Paolo came to Melbourne to improve his English and follow his great grandfather’s footsteps. Captured by the charm of this city, here he is, 5 years later: a vintage artisan inspiring new original styles in town.

How did you end up making bow ties? For fun! My flat mate had a sewing-machine and a bag full of fabrics, and I thought ‘What if I make bow ties out of vintage fabrics?’ The first ones were not that good so I spent a whole summer with my mother in Sicily, she likes sewing and taught me. On my return I started producing my first bow ties and sold them in markets around Melbourne. I kept doing that, then I created a website. What’s the public response? The international response is good, I do sell in Italy, in shops in Hong Kong, New York, Canada... now I am focusing on the Australian market, as I want to develop my product and be more solid about what I am offering. Describe your typical customer. Usually people between 18 and 35 years old, even puppies. I have a dog collection, a kid collection; I do also a lot of custom made weddings, bow ties for the groom and the best man... I actually love weddings, it’s fun being part of the stressful arrangements. Among your customers there are a lot of women, are you surprised? Yes, thinking that bow ties are basically men’s accessories. During my first market a lot of girls came and I thought they wanted to buy something for their boyfriends but I soon realized that they were buying the bow ties for themselves! Women are today my main customers, probably because my bow ties are not so classic, not so manly. Where do you get the fabrics? I use random fabrics from everywhere, especially from Italy. Every time I visit my country I buy a huge selection of textile. The advantage there is that even if you go to small towns you can find amazing fabrics from the ‘70, ‘80 on sale in very old stores.

ABOVE Lolicu, the bow ties’s Jar. BELOW Paolo Lolicata.

Do you use recycled textile? Yes, I also go to recycle store or shops... I really like the vintage patterns of old clothes, and even the quality, most of the time better than the newer fabrics. I’ve seen you pack bow ties in jars... The idea came from a chat with a friend in Milan. I was uncertain where to pack my product once completed, so Riccardo asked me where my mum would have put it. In a jar! I replied. She makes tomato sauce and preserves at home and put them in jars so I decided that using jars instead of boxes would be very Italian. Jars also keep the shape of the bow tie. Do you think the hipster wave is helping your business to grow? Hipsters are always searching for new things, turning attention towards old styles, barber shops, places where you go to make your own suit or shoes... a higher value is put on the making of product, it’s what I appreciate the most. And then the attitude, the way hipsters relate to fashion, their interest in organic food. Do you consider yourself a hipster? I don’t but I love hipsters and their style. Creating with your hands, is being Italian an advantage? Everyone would buy Italian shoes, because of the quality, the style and taste. The power of Italy is in the craftsmen or ‘artigiani’. I grew up with my grandfather making sculptures out of stone, my mother sewing clothes or Grandma blankets, the neighbors making furniture... in my case I had to develop my skills on a good pre-existing base.

Could you describe the experience of living out of creativity? I can manage my whole world and I like it! I wake up every morning and I need to create stuff, sometimes till 3 in the morning. My friends use to say that I always think about work but making bow ties, to me, doesn’t feel like working. So what’s your job? I like answering that I don’t have one. lauramartina.dangelo@yahoo.it FASHION 17

words LAURA D’ANGELO PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD TIMBURY

John Casamento An entire life devoted to photojournalism

John Casamento John and his son Peter

18 PHOTOGRAPHY

ohn Casamento’s name would be well known to many newspaper and magazine readers across Melbourne as a result of his 52 years in photojournalism. His assignments have covered major news stories in politics, arts, sport, and those that headline from Mick Jagger to the late Pope, John Paul II. We could not forget Melbourne zoo’s baby gorilla ‘Mzuri’, the world’s only gorilla to survive after artificial insemination. His pictures were seen around the nation and the world. Meeting him has been a real surprise, especially because I had no idea who John was. I just knew he had a long career as a photographer however, during those hours spent at his son’s house in Carlton, I discovered he is more than that. He is part of the history of photojournalism in this country. Despite this, he stands out for his modest and quiet attitude, a genuine smile and strong humanity, something you usually don’t find in people of a high professional status. We were sitting on the patio, John, Maria his wife, and his son Peter and we warmed up by the autumn sun, beside us a little table set with sweets and berries. He took us back in time to the year his father, then17 years old, left his native Aeolian island to seek fortune in Australia. After 25 years spent in Melbourne, John’s father finally decided to visit his father and brother, who had remained in Italy and were both fishermen. During his journey he bought a very simple camera, a Kodak: it was the first camera John handled in his life. He was immediately captivated by it and started shooting photos of his mates, and later on, together with his older brother Pietro, interested in photography as well, learned how to develop film using the photo chemicals and tanks. They had the habit of turning the house bathroom, or pantry, into an efficient darkroom and, while the lights were off, the fantasy flew waiting for the snapshots to materialize among their fingers. Could you imagine the excitement of those moments? Maybe similar to the one a kid feels when, a pencil in hand, for the first time creates signs and lines and shapes on a white sheet. When John turned 16 he left school and got a job at The Sun News-Pictorial, now known as The Herald Sun, and spent 36 years there. “At that age I decided I wanted to be a newspaper photographer rather than a teacher, a choice I’ve never regretted”!, he says smiling. After the first 4 years of cadetship, both in the darkroom and accompanying the senior photographers, John Casamento became a qualified photographer and photojournalist. Like his colleagues he mostly worked on simple activities: “We never had the luxury to choose our own assignments. I personally complained, but those were the rules and breaking them would have meant being dismissed.” Nevertheless John had wonderful job experiences that enriched and molded him, beyond the generic definition of being a photographer but something more, a reporter of life in its thousands of shades, part journalist, part artist and technician and so on. In 1986 John realized one of his dreams: his editor sent him to the

Vatican for a feature on John Paul II and even more extraordinarily he became part of the papal entourage which accompanied the Pope on visits to 6 countries: Bangladesh, Singapore, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and The Seychelles. “Because I am catholic and my faith is the most important thing in my life I was very pleased. That experience was the highlight of my career”, John says while Maria laughs, adding jokingly: “The faith is the same reason I’ve never divorced him”, probably referring to her husbands absences, over the years, often overseas. In 1991 John left The Herald Sun to work for the Leader Community Newspapers Group. Since 2007, personal satisfaction accomplished and many awards collected along his career, John’s been freelancing. John is the father of 4 but only his son Peter inherited the same passion for photography. “At weekends I liked to take my children with me, where appropriate of course, and Peter was particularly interested in my job. He left his studies in Civil Engineering to become a professional photographer and now he has a leading business, the Casamento Photography, and he is very good, as passionate as me”, he says proudly. Today John works for Peter part-time: his assignments are reporting all the special events going on at the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, a proof of a long-lasting bond of this accomplished man with religion: “I have been taking pictures since I was 16, I like any work at all! I have always enjoyed my work and its variety”, and a question arise spontaneously: what’s John own definition of photography? “To me photography means interaction. I mostly love shooting people in real life, no matter who, poor and wealthy, saints and sinners. I chose and stayed with it all through my life”, like a lifelong wedding. Not coincidentally Casamento is the Portuguese word for wedding, as the President of East Timor once pointed him out cheerfully. John and a lifelong marriage with photography. Recently the Casamento family sold a picture representing a young Mick Jagger to raise funds to help children affected by heart diseases and sustain a special surgery known as the Fontan procedure. www.fontanregistry.com

Captions Off to war Bound for the war in Vietnam, a soldier is farewelled by his loved one before boarding a plane with other defence force members at Essendon Airport. 1967. Flying hooves Broken twigs scatter as horses clear a brush steeple in a jumps race at Flemington Racecourse. 1978. I'll have a close-up please Melbourne Zoo's baby gorilla Mzuri made history when he became the first gorilla to be conceived by artificial insemination and survive. The media were frequent visitors to the zoo to record his early years. 1984.

“To me photography means interaction. I mostly love shooting people in real life, no matter who, poor and wealthy, saints and sinners.”

lauramartina.dangelo@yahoo.it

PHOTOGRAPHY 19

MELISSA RUSH

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHER DANIELE CURTO

‘ADIO PROPERTIES’

IS A BUILDING COMPANY IN WHICH ITS DEVELOPMENTS INVOKES THE REMINSCENCE OF ITALY

ichele Bonadio was born in Melbourne, Carlton; a city considered the cradle of Italian settlement. After a degree in Commerce he fulfilled a dream of his, which was dabbling in the field of property. In 1993 Michele established a building company that is now named “Adio properties” in which the Italian soul and feel is incorporated in each of their developments. Michele is extremely proud of the way “Adio properties” treats and forms its relationship with their clients “We are very different from most builders out there. We have a passion for the result and if it isn’t what we want we pull it down and start again”, states Michele. “We rectify anything that isn’t right. We are about making people happy with what they have.” Michele how does your Italian background affect your daily activities and which part does it plays, in the “Adio Properties”? “I love Italy and I am proud of my Calabrian heritage. I travel back to my family hometown every year to spend at least 2 weeks on the beach. I marvel at its beauty and feel so proud that my parents had the courage to leave their own family and friends and start a new life. This a painful decision, but one that would eventually lead us to a prosperous lifestyle. “Adio Properties” is Italian at its core, it not only uses Italian materials and craftsmen, but in the way we treat our clients, the open attitude toward them (we do not take the money and run) reflects the kind of hospitality which Italy is renowned for.” Adio is the second part of your surname and is an Italian word for “to god”, which is present in all the current developments you work on. “One of our old developments was named after my mother; we called it JB6 on Lygon Street. Our latest completed development “Aquila Apartment” pays homage to the early migrants and their influence on the inner city especially Fitzroy, Carlton and Collingwood and also to my family who lived adjacent to the site for over 20 years. Our next major development in Preston is named “Il Matteo” after my first-born son. Our target market is about lifestyle choice. People who want to live in great locations serviced by public transport with cafes, restaurant and cinemas at their doorstep.”

A LEADING BOUTIQUE TRAVEL AGENT INSPIRED BY HER RESPECT AND ADMIRATION FOR ITALY ANd ITS CULTURE

n the fast paced and technological era of the Internet, travel has become easier and relatively inexpensive. Nevertheless there are an increasing number of people who desire a more customized and personal approach. Travellers who seek for a service and options that goes beyond an online booking but rather for a personal touch with professional advice. Melissa Rush is a sophisticated and well-travelled lady who 25 years ago established a boutique world travel agency called “Rush Down Travel” with a focus on travel to Italy. Melissa nurtures her relationship with clients that reflect the typical Italian hospitality (that many people from Italy brought with them to Australia). “The first thing I ask clients”, admits Melissa is “what their interests are, what would they like to do and see once in Italy. What events need to be reserved in advance?” When I have distinguished what they would like to do I will create an itinerary that includes their requested interests. However when they actually travel over there they get much more than what than expected.” Melissa what does “Rush Down Travel” do to please their clients? Please share an anecdote. “I recently had a couple that travelled last year and I arranged for them to be part of a Fiat 500 tour, which went through the hills of Florence and Siena in Tuscany. They spent the entire day in their Cinquecento, visiting three vineyards and enjoying the lifestyle that Italy had to offer. This is something that our type of clients love.”

www.adioproperties.com.au

#Most travel agents send you away with tourists. Melissa sends you on holiday with the locals!

20 BUSINESS

REGISTER YOUR INTEREST IN PURCHASING AN ADIO PROPERTY AND YOU CAN WIN A WEEK CLOSE TO TROPEA CALABRIA! www.adioproperties.com.au

WORDS and photos Salvatore Rossano

SOGGETTI SONORI

ACCORDION

FROM TOWN FESTIVALS TO THE LIMELIGHTS OF INTERNATIONAL MUSIC: THE JOURNEY OF AN “UNCOOL” INSTRUMENT

n my town, up until thirty years ago, it was common to be initiated into music from an early age. Some learned from their parents or relatives; others took lessons from eccentric teachers who travelled throughout the province teaching for a few ‘lire’. In my family there were no musicians, and so, when I was 12 years old, I convinced my father to hire Mario, the teacher who would introduce me to the magical world of piano. Mario, the Maestro, was a tall guy with thick and heavy eyeglasses. He drove a beige Fiat Panda and used to walk into my house always loaded with instruments. Apart from the piano Mario also taught guitar, mandolin, organ and accordion. The latter was perhaps the most popular among my friends. I didn’t know at that time that in the future this curious instrument would become one of my greatest passions.

When I was a child the accordion was certainly not a cool instrument. The accordion was the protagonist of small town festivals, and evoked images of parents and even grandparents dancing in packed ballrooms every Sunday. The famous dance “Liscio” from the Romagna region had also conquered the South of Italy, and this style of playing was what was normally taught to young aspiring musicians. Mario, who probably learned to play the accordion in similar circumstances, was a great lover of both classical and traditional music. Even though at the time I did not understand the difference, I knew that with that magic box he could play both, and with refined mastery. Over the years I have known musicians from all over the world and found that in every country in which the accordion was introduced, the instrument has fit deeply and ‘harmoniously’ into their musical traditions. What would the Valse Musette in France, the Forrò in Brazil be without the accordion? What would the accordion be today without the great expertise of Italian artisans who, since the end of the nineteenth century, elevated the instrument to the technical perfection? Although it first appeared in Central Europe, it was precisely in Italy that the accordion began to spread widely, in particular by the laboratories of a small village in the Marche region, Castelfidardo. Perhaps some of you have an instument at home with “Soprani”, “Serenelli”, Piatanesi”, or “Borsini” written on it. These brands accordions were all manufactured by the artisans of Castelfidardo, that before becoming the home of the accordion and the diatonic accordion, was just a small agricultural village. Aside from Italian instruments, Italian musicians also began to sail throughout the world

exporting their music; they joined the local ensembles and played in the vaudeville and recorded jazz. As did the Derio brothers in the United States at the beginning of the Twentieth century. In 1928 Guido Derio, who was considered the world’s foremost Piano-Accordionist, arrived in Australia and acquainted this country with the wonderful instrument. This instrument that is played close to the heart, though now present throughout the music conservatories of Europe, is still today overlooked in the academic world of music. As Giorgio Albanese (a paesano and a talented interpreter of the instrument) comments, the accordion is still seeking emancipation from it’s humble folk origins. Giorgio made his debut in Australia a few weeks ago. I attended his concert and witnessed the reaction of the dumbfounded audience. Many find it hard to believe that such delicately played jazz music could come from a humble “squeeze box”. Artists like him are helping to redefine a more appropriate understanding of the accordion. Giorgio also began to play at a very young age under the guidance of a local master, like Mario. Another Maestro, perhaps self-taught, but certainly enchanted by the soulful and versatile instrument that even featured in the dreams of none other than Leonardo da Vinci. Now what’s uncool about that?

Some technical details It may seem strange but the accordion is considered a wind instrument, just like the flute or trumpet. It is the air, in fact, that generates the sound. The air is produced by the opening and closing of the bellows. It is by vibrating the reeds inside the instrument, by means of a complex mechanical system, that these are opened and closed; depending on the keys you are playing. The skill of the maker is then also in tuning the different registers of the instrument and being able to give the musician as much versatility of sound as possible.

santataranta@gmail.com www.salvatorerossano.com

REGULARS 21

Laura vinci

PASSIONE VINTAGE The redemption of the pinball machine Once considered a source of evil and a symbol of youth rebellion, it is now seen as innocent as a game that can be compared to the blood, drugs and sex you find in today's video games

o you miss the old pinball machine? Do you remember that wonderful clicking and clacking sound, all those colourful blinking lights and the joy of getting an extra ball? Not long ago, pinball machines seemed to be everywhere, now they have all but disappeared from pubs, bars and game arcades. There was actually a time when pinball was a symbol of youth and rebellion as it was declared illegal by the American authorities. If you watch a movie or TV series that was either produced or takes place during the 1940s and 1950s, virtually any time pinball makes an appearance, it is for the purpose of portraying a young character who is a rebel. For example, the Fonz is regularly seen playing pinball in "Happy Days" episodes and in â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Simpsonsâ&#x20AC;?, Sideshow Bob once proclaims, "television has ruined more young minds than pinball and syphilis combined." Pinball was banned from the early 1940s to the mid1970s in most of America's big cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, where the game was born and where virtually all of its manufacturers have historically been located. The stated reason for the bans was that pinball was a game of chance, not skill, and so it was a form of gambling. To be fair, pinball really did involve a lot less skill in the early years of the game, largely because the flipper wasn't invented until 1947; five years after most of the bans were implemented. Up until then, players would bump and tilt the machines in order to sway the ball's gravity. Many lawmakers also believed pinball to be a mafia-run racket and had a bad influence on youth. The machines robbed the "pockets of schoolchildren in the form of nickels and dimes given them as lunch money," Fiorello La Guardia, the first New York Mayor of Italian background, wrote in a Supreme Court

affidavit. In 1976, the New York City pinball ban was overturned. The coin-operated amusement lobby (which represented the pinball industry) eventually succeeded in earning a City Council hearing to re-examine the longstanding ban. Their strategy was to prove that pinball was a game of skill, not chance, and thus should be legal. To do this, they decided to call in the best player they could find, a 26-year-old young man named Roger Sharpe. Fearful that this hearing might be their only shot at overturning the ban, the industry brought in two machines, one to serve as a backup in case any problems arose with the primary machine. Suspicious that the pinball players had rigged the primary machine, one particularly antagonistic councilman told them that he wanted them to use the backup. This presented a problem. While Sharpe was intimately familiar with the first-choice game, he had never played the backup and as he played the game, surrounded by a huddle of journalists, cameras and councilmen, he did little to impress City Council's anti-pinball coalition. So he tried a make or brake final shot. He pulled back the plunger to launch a new ball, pointed at the middle lane at the top of the playing field, and boldly stated that, based only on his skill, he would get the ball to land through that middle lane. He let go of the plunger and it did what he said. Almost on the spot, the City Council voted to overturn the ban. In the digital era, pinball machines have become collectors' items but somehow they have managed to stand the test of time. One important development is the introduction of pinball simulations on home computers. Yet, while there are some good simulations, nothing beats the feel of having a full sized machine in front of you with real bells, buzzers and flippers.

WEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RE 360SOUTH. WE MAKE STUFF LOOK GOOD! Web. Virtual Tours. Graphics. Print. Photography. Video.

11 Moray Street, Southbank VIC 3006

03 9699 5110 H info@360south.com.au

22 REGULARS

www.360south.com.au

WORDS Elizabeth Wisser PHOTOGRAPHER DANIELE CURTO

AMALSA MAKES THE LAW WORK FOR YOU

Background to the student visa program [PART 2]

urther to our first section on Student Visa requirements, we will be continuing with the second part of the article in an attempt to simplify this area of Migration of Law so to enable a smooth process for Student Visa Applicants.

Genuine Temporary Entrant (GTE) requirement The GTE requirement was introduced on 5 November 2011 to enhance the integrity of the student visa program. The GTE requirement explicitly addresses whether the individual circumstances of an applicant indicate that their intention is for a temporary stay in Australia. Factors that the department may consider as part of the GTE requirement are set out in a Ministerial Direction available at www.immi.gov.au/ gateways/agents/pdf/direction-53-assessing-gte. pdf and include: · • circumstances in the applicant’s home country; ·

Family members

Assessment Levels

Students can apply to have partners and dependent children under the age of eighteen accompany them to Australia. These family members are known as secondary visa holders and are counted in student visa numbers. A parent or guardian seeking to accompany an international student to Australia may be eligible for a Student Guardian (subclass 580) visa.

There are three Assessment Levels in the student visa program. They serve to align student visa evidentiary requirements to the immigration risk posed by applicants from a particular country applying for a particular student visa. Assessment Level 1 represents the lowest immigration risk and Assessment Level 3 the highest. The higher the Assessment Level, the greater the evidence an applicant is required to demonstrate to support their claims for the grant of a student visa.

Course Packaging

Streamlined visa processing

Many international students choose to package their principal course with a foundation or ELICOS course. These students are granted a subclass of visa that relates to their principal course. Consequently, the visa grant data does not necessarily reflect the numbers of international students enrolled in these courses.

The department assesses student visa applicants who lodge their applications on or after 24 March 2012, with a Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE) from a participating higher education provider in Australia at Bachelor, Masters or Doctoral degree level as though they were a lower migration risk (similar to the current Assessment Level 1), regardless of their country of origin.

Ability to work

Financial requirements

Student visas include a visa condition that, once the course has commenced, allows most students to work for up to 40 hours per fortnight while their course is in session and for unlimited hours during course breaks. The limitation imposed by this visa condition reflects the purpose of a student visa; that it is to allow entry to Australia in order to study, not to work. Secondary visa holders are subject to a visa condition that limits them to 40 hours work per fortnight at any time. Higher degree by research students on a subclass 574 (Postgraduate Research Sector) student visa may work unlimited hours once their Masters* or PhD course has commenced. Dependents of students studying a Masters or PhD research course have no limitation on their work hours.

Students and their families need to be aware of the costs involved in studying and living in Australia. In order to meet the financial requirements for the grant of a student visa, applicants must be able to demonstrate that they have access to sufficient funds to cover tuition fees, travel costs, educational costs for any accompanying school age children and living costs for the full study period.

Elizabeth Wisser LL.B, GDLP, Registered Migration Agent MARN: 0959122 enquiry@amalsa.com.au www.amalsa.com.au

The table below shows the processing time service standards for student visa applications. Visa Application Assessment Level

Students (Suclass570,571,572,573, 574,575,576)

Lodged in Australia

Lodged Outside Australia

Level 1 or 2

Level 3 or 4

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3 or 4

14 days

1 month

14 days

21 days

3 months

• the applicant’s potential circumstances in Australia; · • the applicant’s immigration history; · • the value of the course to the applicant’s future; and/or · • any other matter relevant to the applicant’s intention to stay temporarily.

Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) Overseas students must have health insurance for the duration of their stay in Australia. Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) is insurance to assist international students meet the costs of medical and hospital care that they may need while in Australia. Visa refusals: A decision to refuse a student visa application is made when the delegate of the Minister is not satisfied that the applicant meets the legal criteria for grant of a visa. When refusing a visa application, the department provides an applicant, or their agent, with a written decision record that sets out the reason for the decision. Reasons for refusal of student visa applications may include: · • failure to meet financial requirements; • failure to meet English language requirements; • fraudulent documentation present in the application; • failure to satisfy the department that the applicant is a genuine student; and/or • failure to meet GTE requirements.

Processing Standards The department gives priority to offshore applications to ensure that prospective students receive their visas in time to travel to Australia to commence their courses. Onshore students are granted bridging visas pending finalisation of their new student visa applications and can still commence their courses. Depending on the relevant assessment level the service standards are that 75% of offshore applications are finalized within 14 to 90 days and 75% of onshore applications are finalised within 14 to 30 days. It should be noted that approximately 80% of onshore applications are incomplete when lodged and this adds to processing times as officer’s request and then wait for applicants to provide required information. REGULARS 23

ilaria gianfagna

JUST AUSTRALIA The tough English language test that must be passed to live in Australia or to study in an Australian university

ELTS is an acronym that stands for International English Language Testing System and it certifies the eligibility for non-Australian citizens or residents to study in an Australian university or more importantly to apply for many resident visas. Every year more than 2.5 million of people from 140 different countries take the test. This number is impressive and it is destined to grow, seeing the increase of people who wants to study or live in Australia. There are 49 locations authorized to hold the test, 9 of which are in Victoria. The test requires the payment of a $330 fee and is divided in two categories - General and Academic - depending on the purpose of it. The first one is necessary to apply for some visas, while the latter, to obtain a registration in a professional association as well as to enrol in a university and some Tafe courses. The test duration is 2 hours and 40 minutes, plus

24 REGULARS

an interview. It is composed of 4 parts: listening, reading, writing and speaking. Normally Italian people face a big difficulty in the writing part because of the difference between the Australian and Italian way of writing an essay. Italians find that Australia has a more rigid structure, which includes an introduction to the topic, two paragraphs containing a strong argument and its explanation, and finally a pertinent conclusion. On the Internet there are hundreds of videos that can help pass the test and some programs where to practice online. However, the best way to pass it with a good score is to enrol in an IELTS preparation course. These courses run from 1 to 12 weeks and they are very useful since they are designed just for the IELTS students. The difference between an online program and an actual class is of course due to having a teacher. In many cases the teachers are specialized in IELTS preparation and are able to provide feedback to the students; correcting their essays, pronunciation, explaining how to read faster and how to develop listening skills. www.justaustralia.it

BUSINESS & EXECUTIVE COACHING

WORDS Hayley J. Egan

Ten Years A Stranger Stories from a decadelong relationship with Italy

HOW AN UNINTELLIGIBLE AND BIZARRE CULTURE BECAME MY CONSTANT COMPANION I remember standing at Roma Termini with a printed bus ticket in my hand, watching a mother and daughter in skin- tight jeans and runners. They were speaking in husky voices and the sounds just washed over me. Later, when I got off the bus in Siena a group of girls from South America ran over to me and introduced themselves. They helped me with my luggage and showed me the way to my apartment. On the way they waved to people on the street who were hanging out of the shop doors, trying to escape from the heat of the August evening. They used greetings and phrases I’d heard before, but I the responses were just a collection of random syllables. When I think back now about my Italian story, that was probably the last time I recall the sensation of being a complete outsider, of listening to a code to which I had no key. My first teacher was a tiny woman named Sabrina who smoked cigarettes in the doorway and blasted Paolo Conte from a cassette player at the front of the room, occasionally repeating phrases she thought had grammatical significance. I met an Italian boy and spent a lot of time with him and his friends, as well as in his family home. Most of the other foreigners I met in Siena were Europeans, who of course already spoke a second language and were onto their third or fourth. I found it patronizing when people used English with me. I was determined to prove to everyone, and especially myself that although I was a native English speaker, I could learn a second language fluently. So within months my head was filled with Italian words. I began unwittingly aspirating my Cs in true Senese style (I thought you were supposed to). I soon learned that if someone interrupted me in the middle of a conversation to tell me how well I spoke Italian, it meant that I’d mispronounced or mis-gendered something; a reminder that I was still learning. Once the language was mine, it was like a veil had lifted on this incredibly bizarre and complex culture. I began to understand so many things about what is important in Italian society, how 26 REGULARS

Italian people think. It began with small but important cultural details. I grew up in northern NSW, so it really took me an unreasonably long time before learning that in Italy, one can be barefoot without invoking criticism or anxiety only in the seconds prior to some kind of bathing. Shoes are really required in nearly every situation. It was also some years before I came to regard the bidet with the Zen attitude of live and let exist. I eventually stopped shaking my head at its porcelain presence. I now simply step around it into what the rest of the world uses (the shower), with a simple shrug of my shoulders. Ten years and two small children later, I now use it to soak nappies or stand little people in to wash sandy feet. Every time I appreciate its existence I feel a little bit more Italian. For the last ten years my relationship with Italy has been complex, but now, it is my comfortable and constant companion. When I’m there, I am able to live life with the efficiency of a native. I don’t need to eat at 6pm at a lonely table in a Pizzeria. I know better than to put cheese with fish, or order a cappuccino after lunch. My understanding enables me to fit seamlessly into the lifestyle and enjoy Italy at its best. On the other hand, being a foreigner has so many advantages. I get away with using Tu to address nearly anyone. Many of my weird habits and unorthodox parenting styles have been shrugged off. I rarely need to visit an Italian post office, and, unlike my Italian peers, I don’t participate in the endless torture that is the attempt to enter the Italian workforce. After the summer is over I leave for wherever else I’m living, usually with a full belly and a small sigh of relief. The trouble is, though, there is always a part of me that is just waiting to go back. hayley.j.egan@gmail.com www.hayleyeganart.com

Marco Maria Cerbo (Consul General of Italy)

ROOTS&ROUTES

THE UNFORGoTTEn AND TRAGIC TRIBUTE ITALY PAID FOR ENTERING THE FIRST WORLD WAR 600,000 ITALIANS LOST THEIR LIVES FOR THE AMBITIOUS DREAM OF GAINING NEW TERRITORIES

hundred years ago, Italy entered the First World War. Having declared a policy of neutrality at the outset of the war on 2 August 1914, the Italian government was eventually persuaded to join the side of the Allies on the 24th of May, 1915. Italy’s decision to enter the war was largely driven by the terms of the secret 1915 Treaty of London under which she had been promised large territorial gains at the close of the war at Austria-Hungary’s expense. In the words of Antonio Salandra, then Prime Minister, who had severely condemned the aggression of Austria against Serbia when the horrible crime of Sarajevo was exploited as a pretext to wage war, “the whole Italian nation was joined in a wonderful moral union”, which would have proven a “greatest source of strength in the severe struggle facing Italy”, with the goal of “the accomplishment of the highest destinies of the country”. In May 2015, General Luigi Cadorna launched mass attacks on Austria-Hungary. The defending army quickly built trenches and the Italians suffered heavy casualties. Despite initial Italian successes, the Italian front quickly bogged down into a stalemate, which remained through most of 1916. Gains of a few miles for the cost of tens of thousands of lives in battles that lasted for days on end were common. In the first two weeks of the Isonzo Offensive, the Italian Army lost 60,000 men. By the time the attacks were called off that winter, Italian casualties had reached 300,000. Italian troops also served in the Balkans on the Salonika front and also against the Turks in Palestine. Many Italians also served on the Western front and many are buried in the German military cemetery at Douai. By late 1917, the Austro-German forces were gaining the upper hand and British, French and later American troops joined the Italian army. The fighting continued to be fierce among the mountain peaks of the Alps and along the Isonzo. The U.S. intervention and some significant successes of the allied forces begun to show their effects and by October 1918 the Austro-Hungarian government started peace talks. On November 3rd, Italian troops entered the city of Trento (Trent) and captured 300,000 Austrian soldiers, including the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Fighting ended on the Italian Front on 4th November 1918. By the end of the war in 1918, 600,000 Italians were dead, 950,000 were wounded and 250,000 were crippled for life. The war cost more than the government had spent in the previous 50 years – and Italy had only been in the war three years. By 1918, the country was hit by very high inflation and unemployment was high. Among the victims, there was my great-grandfather Angelo Cerbo, whose memory I would like to honor through these pages. We are marking the centenary of Italy’s entrance in the First World War to pay a tribute to those who served, to remember those who died and to ensure that the

lessons learnt live with us forever. During those terrible years, Italy, Europe and the world were engulfed by killing and destruction. In Europe, the transition from war to lasting peace has taken time and the peace that we enjoy together does not simply mean no more bloodshed – it means something deeper than that. The very existence of the European Union bears testimony to the power of reconciliation. Not only is war between European countries unthinkable, but former adversaries have worked together for three generations to spread and entrench democracy, prosperity and the rule of law across our continent, and to promote our shared values around the world. We will always remember the extraordinary sacrifice of the generation who fought in the First World War and we are all indebted to them because their most enduring legacy is our liberty. In conclusion, I would like to repeat the powerful verses of Giuseppe Ungaretti, who encapsulated in a few words the sadness of soldiers at the front. “Si sta come d’autunno sugli alberi le foglie” (We feel like leaves on a tree in Autumn).

Film: torneranno i prati by Ermanno Olmi Italian director Ermanno Olmi, eighty years of age, dedicates his latest film to the hundreds of thousands of Italians who have immolated themselves fighting in a war that proved it a sacrifice pointless and absurd. A poignant portrait of a group of soldiers locked in a trench from the huge snow avalanche and the temporary truce. A film of a memory that speaks to the heart.

REGULARS 27

Address 32 Gladstone Rd, Dandenong VIC 3175 Phone (03) 9794 9692

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Archimede Fusillo

A Future In Their Past (Part 3)

‘N

ella mia testa, io cammino per le strade d’Australia, perche’ me le ricordo tutte. Tutti i santi giorni...Io sto qua e la.’ (In my mind I walk the streets of Australia still, because I remember them. Every day. I am both here –in Italy-and there.) So starts Signora Giuseppina Sico, a wonderfully vivacious 66 years old native of Tramutola in the Basilicata region of Italy, whom I met in Villa D’Agri, as she reminisced about her time as a younger woman living in Australia in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Unlike many of the people I spoke with, Giuseppina didn’t leave her native country after being sponsored out, nor did she leave in search of work. Rather, Signora Sico left Italy to follow her new husband to a country he had already become familiar with after having lived there from 1961 to 1964. They had been school friends and were familiar with one another before her future husband’s decision to seek better work opportunities alongside his four brothers who were already settled Australia. His brief return to his village was time enough for the two to marry and then move on to start a new life on the other side of the world. ‘A quei tempi in campagna non c’era lavoro... Mio marito decise di andare in Australia, con una certa sicurezza perche’ aveva famiglia la’.’ (At that time there was little work outside of the land...My husband chose to go to Australia because he felt some certainty because he had family members already there.) By the time they both migrated to Australia, Giuseppina knew that her husband was already confident of having work, of having some grasp of the foreign culture, and more significantly, in helping her transit from life in a small southern Italian village, to one in what was then a very English-style city like Melbourne. Possibly because of her youth, possibly because she had a desire to learn, Signora Sico managed to learn English fairly quickly, taking great pride in telling me that she used television as a means to acquaint herself with the language, and how the good nature of their Australian neighbours helped her navigate the early difficulties. She fell in love with what she said were the quaint nature of the little wooden houses that lined the streets, and the general openness of the vistas. Tellingly though Signora Sico had no direct relatives of her own in Australia, yet she spoke with enthusiasm of the fulfilment she felt at being able to find work as a seamstress, of how her work was appreciated by Italians and non-Italians alike. She was made to feel valued and her work important. One of her fondest memories of Australia oddly

ABOVE LEFT Giuseppina Sico. ABOVE RIGHT Archimede Fusillo.

enough though, was of the night she and her husband arrived by ship at Princess Pier, caught a taxi and presented themselves to her husband’s relatives unannounced. The audacity of such an act is difficult to comprehend in these days of Facebook, smart phones and satellite navigation. But in the mid-1960’s, it was a measure of the determination and compelling desire to overcome and move forward inherent in the spirit of people like Signora Sico and her late husband Vittorio. Insightfully, Signora Sico makes a distinction few others I interviewed made so candidly; Being a tourist in a country and being prepared to live in that country are very different things to get one’s head around. To decide to migrate involves being prepared to make sacrifices that themselves are not knowable until the move has been made. ‘Il distacco dalla famiglia e’ una cosa triste,’ she said with a slow nod and a heavy sigh. (Leaving family behind is a very difficult undertaking.) She added though, that ‘Quando a una persona una cosa piace, si adatta a tutto.’ In essence she was adamant that it is so much easier to adapt to a new land when one likes it there, and she loved Australia. If not for her husband’s failing health, and the advice of a doctor that he would be better off back in Italy, and if not for the practical calculation that their income would not be improving with her alone working, then perhaps Signora Sico would not have been back in the Basilicata region to see out her life. But as I was to discover time and time again, these were nothing if not practical people, accustomed to making practical, even if not the most desired, decisions, predicated on the need to both support and raise their families in the very best way they could. And this Signora Sico did, returning to Italy in 1974 with a daughter born in Australia and tied by tradition and heritage to the land of her parents, thus bringing the circle round to close where it had started, but as Signora Sico put it, enriched by having lived in a country as bountiful as Australia. As we were saying farewell, Signora Sico added that she and her husband Vittorio had often talked about perhaps returning to Australia, but ultimately her husband maintained that he could not bear to be buried in a cemetery so far from ‘home’. As the son of migrants it was a refrain I had heard before, and one I realised only those who have left their ‘other’ lives behind can fully understand and appreciate. REGULARS 29

WORDS DANIELE CURTO PHOTOGRAPHER Paco Matteo Li Calzi

WHEN ARTIFICIAL BECOMES AN ETHICAL CHOICE A FORMER INVESTMENT BANKER DECLARES WAR ON CONFLICT MINERALS It has been said that a jewel is an extension of the personality of whom it is worn by. This could explain why many women are so charmed and abducted by the beauty and value of jewellery. One of the most famous jewels of the last decade is the gift that Richard Burton gave to Elizabeth Taylor in 1968: a 33-carat diamond engagement ring - one of the purest in the world. Valued at $300.000 at the time. Back in the sixties the value of a gem was exclusively dictated by the degree of rarity of the precious stone. Nowadays the global ecological problems, the exploitation of the planet and the marked disparity among developed countries and the third world have awakened the consciences of many people and raise questions on the sustainability of our purchases. Over the years, along with furs, diamonds has become synonymous of superficial and harmful glamour. Maxy Eppel, a former Investment Banker, who holds this cause very close to her heart is, on a parallel plane, also a great admirer and passionate about jewellery. She has brightly intuited the need to reconcile two interests apparently discrepant. English born Venezuelan, Maxy has, in fact, crowned both the dream and the ethical conundrum of many Australian women of wearing a precious stone to consecrate their beauty. At the same time, she reassured numerous men not necessarily affluent and their wallets. Maxy recently you have become the Moro&Ognissanti distributor for Australia. How has this company won your heart? “For the last decade I have followed the work of Moro&Ognissanti (M&O) and the development of their beautiful eco friendly collections, that followed not just my ethical beliefs but that also showed how the Made in Italy could still be affordable. The idea was to be able to wear ecological stones without the fear of having contributed to child labour and the unlawful exploitation of women and men. Moro&Ognissanti Travel Jewellery manufacture mainly pieces with lab grown stones, although we also produce pieces with semi precious stones and 18kt rose, yellow or white gold. Our natural stones range from Cubic Zirconia, light blue Topaz, London Blue (is a topaz that has undergone a chemical process to intensify the colour) Amethyst, Peridot, Rubies (we have 3 different colours of different intensities) Rhodolite, etc. On the Man made side we have Emeralds, Sapphires, white Diamonds, Aquamarine, Tanzanite, smoky Quartz, Rubies, Prasiolite, blue Topaz, Peridot – these stones chemical composition is the same as that of a 30 DESIGN

Maxy Eppel

Actress, Nathalie Saleeba, from the Channel 9 network’s “House Husbands”, wore Moro&Ognissanti jewellery to the 2015 Logies award ceremony. M&O is also soon to be stocked in the boutique “Stephanie Brown”, on High Street Armadale and “Azzaro” in South Melbourne.

IVANO ERCOLE

AUSTRALIAN DIARY natural stone and requires more than an experts eye to spot the difference. M&O has existed for 10 years and was created by two Sicilian women, Manola Ognissanti and Giuliana Moro. I instantaneously fell in love with their creations and I was keen to expand their brand here in Australia. We sat down to have a coffee and four hours later our long-term working relationship began.” Why it is called “Travel Jewellery”? “Manola and Giuliana always travelled a lot for work and they were constantly worried that they’d get robbed or misplace something of value. So their idea was to create something less expensive but still maintain beautiful Italian manufacturing. Something with which you can still travel with and not necessarily be worried that you are going to lose a piece worth thousands of dollars.” The convenience of buying an artificial stone is not only economic but involves virtuous and moral choices. “Although at Moro&Ognissanti we stock both collections, (natural stones, apart from diamonds, and manufactured stones), the idea of buying and wearing stones that are lab grown involves ethical, environmental and sustainable principals. And it is really changing the mindset of people.” Can you explain in detail why jewels that are lab grown are defined as “Ethical Stones”? “We support a charity called “War Child” based in the UK; they look at supporting communities in which non-ethical stones are mined. We call these stones “conflict minerals”. A lot of people know about conflict diamonds, but a very few have ever heard of “conflict minerals”. These minerals are mined in areas of war involving exploitation of children and adult slavery. People who are working in these mines have no other option; they have to work there. These mines are not even the mines that are looked after by multinationals; they are man-made mines with no infrastructure and are very unsafe. The great majority of people who are working in them are women and children. It is about providing support for these communities and giving them another outlet without resorting to slavery. It is clear that by buying stones artificially manufactured, it is possible to help resolve tragedies of this kind. For these reasons we like to call them “Ethical Stones”. Moro&Ognissanti is a brand that can communicate a very important message to the public, which is an alternative way to purchase, in a more ecological and ethical way and is in all its aspects sustainable.”

The overlooked affinities between Australia and Italy

taly and Australia have many things in common that many people, including government representatives, are unaware of. To begin with, they are together with Canada, the youngest nations of the western world. Italy became a sovereign state in 1861 and Australia in 1901. One might argue that Australia belongs geographically and economically to the East but, from all other angles - language, culture, education, political system, etc.- is decidedly a western nation. Italy, of course, has a much longer past, but like Australia, before becoming a nation, it was a colony: a foreign dynasty governed the South, the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied the North and the Roman Church ruled the Centre. The difference is that Italy had to go to war to free itself from the colonial powers while Australia did it peacefully by means of diplomacy, yet it had to pay with blood its sense of nationhood. Getting its independence diplomatically in 1901 was not enough. It took the massacre of over 8,000 Australian soldiers at Gallipoli in Turkey, fifteen years later, to break its psychological dependence from the United Kingdom that had masterminded the attack. As a matter of fact, Anzac Day is one of the most important Australian national festivity which is celebrated annually on the 25th of April, the anniversary of the onset of the tragic military operation. The 25th of April is a major festivity in Italy as well, the so-called Liberation Day, commemorating the end of the German occupation of the country. In the same way as on Anzac Day in Australia, marches and parades take place throughout Italy to commemorate those who fought to restore dignity to a nation that had been an ally of Nazi Germany. This year both anniversaries marked a special recurrence: the 70th in Italy and the 100th in Australia. Another singular coincidence refers to two exceptional racehorses that in times of hardship became an emblem of national pride and recovery for the two countries. Phar Lap captured the imagination of the Australian people during the years of the Great Depression and Ribot did the same in Italy twenty years later when the country was still in ruins after the Second World War. Phar Lap lived just six years that was enough to consign him to the realm of legend. He dominated Australian racing winning a Melbourne Cup and every other competition, and he then won the Agua Caliente Handicap in Tijuana, Mexico in track-record time in his final race. Phar Lap died in mysterious circumstances in 1932 when he was one of the highest stake-winner in the world. Ribot went further. Undefeated in sixteen races, he won over all distances and on all types of track conditions. He was the best Italian two-year-old in 1954 and won his first four races in 1955 in Italy before being sent to France where he won the prestigious Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. In the following year he excelled, recording wide-margin victories in both the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in England and winning once again the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in France. REGULARS 31

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