Segmento - Unapologetically Italian - Issue XXVIII

La Bellezza THE MANY SHAPES OF BEAUTY

Issue XXVIII, Sep-Nov 2022

Publishers Phil Peluso and Giovanni Butera segmento@segmento.com.au

Editor-in-Chief Nataša Ciabatti

natasa.segmento@nixoragroup.com.au

Managing Editor Antonina Petrolito Graphic Artist Aurora Delfino

Fashion stylist Lynette Pater Hair and makeup Iris Wieselmann Milliner Georgia Skelton

Cover Photographer An La Model Monika Ky Designer Alex Gibson

Contributors to the XXVIII Issue of Segmento Writers Photographers Peter Brodbeck Cristiano Capuano Keith John Costelo An La

Gabriel Arata Luca Calvanese Cristiano Capuano Raffaele Caputo Mia Catalano Nataša Ciabatti Ambra Dalmasso Agata Grimaldi Jenna Lo Bianco Bruno Mascitelli Martin Plowman Stefano Riela Annette Sanfilippo Carla Trigilia Isabella Vagnoni Angela Viora

Segmento acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which this publication was prepared and published. We pay our respects to Traditional Elders past and present. We pay respect to the age old traditions of all indigenous people.

aurora.delfino@gmail.com

Advertising on Segmento magazine and website www.segmento.com.au/advertising Ph +61 410 860 036

For features, articles and editorial submission natasa.segmento@nixoragroup.com.au

For general enquiries +61 410 860 036 segmento@segmento.com.au

Distribution AU Melbourne AU Sydney AU Perth AU Adelaide AU Brisbane AU ACT AU Cairns CN Beijing JP Tokyo NZ Auckland SIN Singapore

Subscription

www.segmento.com.au/signup-page segmento@segmento.com.au

Back Issues

segmento@segmento.com.au

Segmento Pty Ltd 203 Maribyrnong Road, Ascot Vale 3032 Victoria Australia

Institutional Partners

The UN Refugee Agency is dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.

For donations please contact partnershipssg@unhcr.org

EverGreening focuses on massive land restoration efforts to address food insecurity, rural poverty, climate change and land degradation.

For donations please visit www.donorbox.org/green-up-to-cool-down

Disclaimer: The Editorial Staff ensures that every details are correct at the time of printing, however the publisher accepts no responsability for errors or innaccuracies.

Segmento – Unapologetically Italian Issue XXVIII • September-November 2022

Tarantella Festival 19–20 November 2022

Edwardes Lake Park, Reservoir, Darebin City Council For more details, please visit Segmento.com.au/festivaltarantella

The photographs taken by the James Webb Space telescope prove that the universe is a truly dazzling marvel. Not that any confirmation was needed. Zoom in on our planet, and there is an equally mesmerizing beauty to be found. Are we grateful for it? Or are we going to exploit it until there is none left? Zoom in closer, and we get to a fragment of this planet – a peninsula boasting of beauty.

In this issue, we explore the beauty that sparked out of this geographical space: picture Italy, and soon your mind will be filled with images, all beautiful, all nostalgic perhaps, certainly all uniquely Italian. Images of our land, of our people, of our food, of our masterpieces. Like the works of art by Botticelli, who portrayed the heavenly Goddess of Beauty based on an earthly creature. Like the characters in operas, who sing moving arias, bringing people from all over the world to the theater. Like our most authentic and traditional foods, which make maintaining and safeguarding the integrity of agri-food products Made in Italy worth the fight of individuals and of institutions. Like the UNESCO sites that are scattered across Italy – more than any other country on Earth.

We also explore a different kind of beauty – in the same land, the same people, the

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Editorial

Is our world still beautiful?

same food, the same masterpieces. The disruptive beauty we speak of is found in the tough neighborhoods of Naples, colored by street art and by the wandering spirits of the dead. It is the cold and gray allure of raw concrete, heated by sunrays on a cold winter day in a social housing complex in Trieste. It is the poetry of ordinary people depicted in films that tell deeply unique, yet universal personal stories. It is the artfulness that fills the periphery of Rome in documentaries and graffiti.

We hope you find both the typical beauty of all things Italian, as well as the kind of beauty you’d encounter, unexpectedly, off the beaten track.

To conclude, we acknowledge our former Editor-in-Chief Teresa De Fazio, who left Segmento in a better shape and with increased readership. We are honored to have had her on board.

Buona lettura!

Nataša Ciabatti

7

CONTENTS

16

25 GLOBAL & SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT 7

Editorial

20 Viva Voce 53 A Tavola 67 Under the Cover 75 What’s On

ART & CULTURE

10 Italian Initiatives, Global Perspectives

23 The Birth of Venus

12 On a Mission Toward Mutual Enrichment

25 The Magic of Cinema

14 Beauty is in the Heart of the Beholder

28 The Intangible Beauty of Italian Opera Singing

by Jenna Lo Bianco

by Luca Calvanese

by Angela Viora

by Martin Plowman

by Carla Trigilia

by Nataša Ciabatti

16 Un’Ora per Abbracciarsi e poi Morire

by Gabriel Arata

77 The Unapologetics

30 La GRAnde Bellezza

by Angela Viora

FASHION & DESIGN

78 Alla Scoperta

33 Timeless Fashion

by Agata Grimaldi

23 8

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

36 Merging Architectural and Urban Dimensions

by Nataša Ciabatti

60

44 TOURISM & PLACES 41 A Whirl of Ghosts and Angels

by Cristiano Capuano

44 Stories and Journeys off the Beaten Track

by Jenna Lo Bianco

36

62

28

BUSINESS & INNOVATION 57 When Globalization Meets National Identities

by Stefano Riela

60 Business Opportunities for Italian Companies in Australia

by Raffaele Caputo

CUISINE & FOOD 49 Italian Cuisine Beyond Borders

by Ambra Dalmasso

51 Born to Cook

by Isabella Vagnoni

62 More than Trade

by Stefano Riela

64 Ukraine Membership in the European Union

by Bruno Mascitelli

51 Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

9

ITALIAN INITIATIVES, GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

by Jenna Lo Bianco | Images provided by City of Melbourne

Italian ingenuity, culture, creativity, and intellect are far-reaching and know no bounds.

Positioning Italian-driven initiatives in global markets and local governments across the globe is therefore as fascinating as it is overwhelming.

Using Melbourne as an example, can you explain the relationship between Italy and local governments?

Milan and Melbourne have been sister cities since 2004. We’ve shared a lot over the years, including fashion and design.

During COVID-19, the Honorable Giuseppe Sala (Mayor of Milan) led a group of mayors – nine of us – working on initiatives on climate action that we could implement during the pandemic.

We signed a covenant that really motivated some of our big programs, like Greening the City, which was delivered during COVID-19. We planted an enormous number of trees, shrubs, and grasses, and that was a major initiative.

What’s the current learning focus from Milan?

Our real focus is on learning from Milan on waste. Milan is recognized as leading the way on recycling, in particular. I know that doesn’t sound very glamorous, but it does give you a sense of the sort of detail we focus on in cities.

The Honorable Sally Capp

I

n order to learn more about Italy and the impact of Italians overseas, I spoke with the Honorable Sally Capp, Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne, Australia. Given her role, as Lord Mayor and using Melbourne as an example, she provides us with an interesting perspective on all things Italian.

10

GLOBAL & SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

What’s Milan doing that’s so innovative and effective?

It’s the way in which waste is separated, collected, and recycled, that we’re particularly interested in. There are technologies that are used in Milan that we don’t have here in Australia yet, particularly those for sorting waste and dealing more efficiently with recycling and avoiding landfill.

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

How does that mir ror Melbourne’s needs?

with

Milan is a dense city. Melbourne has 84% of our population living in apartments.

Milan also has a high proportion living in townhouses and apartments. We’re very interested in the ways that they have been able to collect waste, including food organic waste.

How do local governments, like the City of Melbourne, engage with the Italian community?

We really appreciate the leadership of the Consul General Hannah Pappalardo, across both cultural elements and commercial opportunities.

We also work very closely with the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Australia, in commercial opportunities particularly, but also in ways that we can enhance each other’s cultures, cities, development, and more modern manifestations of culture – such as ways to work, ways to live.

What’s special and unique about the cur rent Italian community in Melbourne?

I think that people appreciate that when you have a culture, like the Italian culture that’s been going for such a long time, there is that very strong sense of resilience.

There’s definitely an amazing work ethic that Italians bring to Melbourne, which is fantastic.

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

The Honorable Sally Capp with Consul General Hannah Pappalardo

How is Italian beauty reflected in cities outside of Italy, such as Melbourne?

The first thing I think of is still architecture: when I see some of our cobblestone streets, I think of Italy; when I see precincts, like Lygon Street, and the manifestation of Italian hospitality. It’s the infusion of the Italian culture.

I also think there’s something really engrained in Italians, in their appreciation of the finer things in life: valuing art, spending time together in discussion, coming together over food, and trying to produce the best of the best of their products – a sense of excellence.

Thank you, Lord Mayor. It has been so insightful to explore all things Italian through your lens. Thank you for unpacking the accords and agreements that exist, not only between Italy and other nations but also the political ties and cultural interests that link foreign cities with their Italian counterparts.

GLOBAL & SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

11

ON A MISSION TOWARD MUTUAL ENRICHMENT

by Luca Calvanese | Images provided by Nicolò Costantini

On the occasion of the launch of the Perth–Rome direct flight, Segmento meets Nicolò Costantini, Consul of Italy to Western Australia. from that country, capturing what that country has to offer and reporting back to Italy so that it develops opportunities for collaboration.

Nicolò Costantini. Photo by Matt Jelonek

T

he Italian Embassy in Canberra and the Consulate of Italy in Western Australia, in particular, have been active in assisting Qantas in launching their first nonstop flight from Perth to Rome. For now, the service is operating seasonally, from 25 June to 7 October, as the first objective of the airline is to provide opportunities for Italians living down under to reconnect with their families and for Italo-Australians to rediscover their homeland and visit their loved ones. Consul of Italy Nicolò Costantini considers it one of the most strategic achievements for Italy in Western Australia during his 3.5-year mandate, as it aligns with the way he conceives the role of embassies and consulates: They are like antennas, bidirectional antennas, emitting signals both from Italy to the country where they are located, explaining what Italy is about, but they also receive the signal

12

GLOBAL & SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

Costantini assures us he will continue his commitment under the guidance of the embassy in Canberra, so that this flight is successful and is extended to the rest of the year, especially around Christmas, to enable Europeans to escape winter and visit Australia. He considers it a game changer in the relations between our two countries and hopes that it will be popular not only among tourists but also promote exchanges of all sorts: political, business, research, artistic.

“It is significant that on the inaugural flight to Rome there were both the premier of Western Australia and the lord mayor of Perth who went on an official visit to Italy, to which the Consulate was glad to contribute,” says Costantini. “The premier visited not only Rome, but also Milan, where he gained an understanding of the business side of Italy, whereas the lord mayor visited both Rome and Vasto, which is a sister city of Perth. The fact that after 2 years of closed borders, the leaders of Western Australia and Perth chose Rome as their first destination overseas is a clear sign of the strength of our bilateral relationship.”

On his second diplomatic mission abroad, Costantini arrived in Perth on 27 February 2020, after a long experience in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Vietnam is a fascinating, millenary culture that is very attractive thanks to its differences with the European

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

one. And not only in terms of culture, history, society, but also as an approach to life. Many aspects are in common with its surrounding countries, Laos, Cambodia, China. And then, after such an enriching experience in a still exotic part of the world, I arrived in Western Australia, which in many ways is also very different from our culture.

As the borders of his state stayed shut during the pandemic, Costantini had the opportunity to travel through Western Australia extensively: “The landscapes here are wonderful, painted by incredible colors: the red of the earth against the deep blue of the ocean … I certainly missed going overseas or back to Italy, but I learned to love traveling across this state.

It offers fantastic memories, from the Kimberley to the Great South.”

Traveling and discovering the world, added to his early interest in international relations and politics, made the choice of this job a foregone conclusion. In particular, he is passionate about broadening the horizons of foreign partners who tend to focus on the beauty of Italy as a tourist destination only, with its culture, history, art, cities: And rightly so. We have 58 UNESCO sites – the highest number of UNESCO sites in one single country.

But Italy is not just a beautiful touristic destination: Italy is research, science, innovation. Italy was the third country to send a satellite in space.

We are world leaders for design, manufacturing, creativity, technology and environmental sustainability.

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

For example, it is worth mentioning that companies like ENI, ENEL, and Webuild successfully operate in Western Australia.

A lot of the efforts of embassies and consulates focus on righting the misconceptions people have of Italy: As our culture is so powerful and overwhelming, people tend to forget we are the eighth economy in the world, a founding member of the European Union, of NATO. We make the largest contribution in troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions among western countries.

That is why it is so important that institutions and the Italian community work together to raise awareness of what we are able to do.

At the end of his mandate, in a year, Costantini is due back in Rome, where he will reconnect with the country he represents and prepare once more to promote what Italy has to offer the world.

Consul Costantini with Premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan and two Qantas flight attendants. Photo by Matt Jelonek

GLOBAL & SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

13

BEAUTY IS IN THE HEART OF THE BEHOLDER

by Angela Viora | Images provided by Carlo Corallo

Recently knighted in the Italian Order of the Star, architect Carlo Corallo speaks about family, architecture, and the importance of connecting to our past to design the future.

Carlo Corallo at the Festa della Repubblica, Melbourne, 2022

O

n the occasion of the Festa della Repubblica italiana (Republic Day) on June 2, Italo-Australian architect Carlo Corallo was awarded the title of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy. Once emphasizing postwar reconstruction merits, this reformed distinction is now conferred to honorable civilians who preserve and promote the Italian prestige abroad. The award acknowledges Carlo’s huge and constant work cultivating ties with Italy as well as fostering friendly relations and fruitful cooperation with other countries. He has been doing so by reclaiming and promoting his Sicilian heritage in Australia, and through his

14

GLOBAL & SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

internationally renowned projects of urban design.

Born in Australia, Carlo’s mother was originally from Padua, Veneto, and his father from Ragusa Ibla in Sicily. Both his parents migrated when they were still children: to other parts of Italy first, and then to the Italian colonies in Africa. The parents of this future knight met in Asmara in 1949. The place used to be called “Little Rome” due to Benito Mussolini’s ambition of making it the capital of his East African empire. Three years later, the couple arrived in Melbourne’s Little Italy, namely Carlton, where they used to live along with many other immigrants.

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Carlo’s connection to his maternal, Veneto side was strong as his mother arrived in Melbourne with all her siblings.

In contrast, the connection to his paternal, Sicilian side was hanging on by a very slim thread. With the passing of their father, Carlo’s sister Carmela commented: “Adesso che non c’é più papà, abbiamo perso la nostra sicilianità” – “Now that Dad is gone, we have lost our Sicilianness.” This inspired Carlo and a group of friends to establish the Sicilian Association of Australia as a means to reconnect with and maintain their Sicilian roots and heritage.

Connection to one's own past is important for Carlo. For this reason, the Committee of the Sicilian Association of Australia is working on a new project: producing a documentary about the last century’s Sicilian emigration to Australia so as to collect the many stories of everyday people which, in Carlo’s opinion, deserve to be heard and shared in a way that will ensure their legacy. Permanence is a concept that he feels is close to his mission, something that he discovered through architecture: when architects design, they know their projects will outlive them. Connection to others is just as important. One of Carlo’s fondest memories is of his father telling him, “we are so fortunate” – a phrase which he could not understand while growing up but of which he now realizes the deepest meaning. Having everything does not mean owning things, it means to have one another, to be connected to each other.

At the intersection between beauty and social responsibility, architecture seems the perfect fit for a man like Carlo, who

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

The Sicilian Association of Australia, Melbourne, 2022

conceives of beauty as the way a place makes you feel inside, rather than being about exterior appearance. Carlo credits his idea of bellezza to the family values passed onto him in conjunction with the influence of his Italian heritage. A perfect example of this is his mother’s home, which he considers to be the best accomplishment of his career, because this is where he saw her the happiest, looking after her garden and lounging in the afternoon sunlight. This “beauty of the emotions” applies to urban design as well: “put on your shoes, walk, and feel the spaces around you. This is how you know what urban design is,” Carlo tells us with a smile that really comes from within.

Places, therefore, are necessarily made by the people who design them and by those who live in them.

Once again, relationship is the key, those ties that, like roads on a map, connect our souls to that of others, shaping family and collective memories becoming one with the places hosting them. In Carlo’s view, Italy is considered “the beautiful country” primarily thanks to its inhabitants, whose generosity and hospitality make it a unique place celebrated all over the world.

GLOBAL & SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

15

"UN'ORA PER ABBRACCIARSI E POI MORIRE"

by Gabriel Arata | Images provided by Aaron Wilson

On the occasion of the Australian promotional tour of Little Tornadoes, Segmento meets director Aaron Wilson and actor Fabio Motta, who walk us through an intimate journey of filmmaking. but through its depiction, it soars to high peaks of introspection. Aaron’s camera is there, in the space of the frame, but it lets things happen naturally, it doesn’t seek obsessively. Life happens, emotions happen, and Aaron is there to film it. It is clear in the way Aaron depicts Leo’s search for comfort in his pain, and Mark Leonard Winter embodies the character to perfection; in the way he walks, talks, looks, and moves his body. Leo never leaves the body of the actor, who gifts us with one of the strongest performances seen in a long time.

Aaron Wilson, director

T

here are films that do not fit a category. Films like Little Tornadoes, which does not tick the box of ethnic or indigenous, of Australian history or war, of British colonization or Italian emigration, because it simply portrays Australia for what it is: a country where different worlds collide. A country where people from such different backgrounds and with different life trajectories meet and seek, struggle, and often succeed to find their place.

By pondering upon the sense of community, social interaction, the impact of outsiders on the small scale of a country town, director Aaron Wilson is able to explore compelling themes such as the social condition, masculinity, language barriers, cultural identity, and most importantly communication.

But Little Tornadoes goes beyond, it does not rest its eye on this microcosm of society,

16

GLOBAL & SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

Confirming the fact that Aaron allows his film to unfold is actor Fabio Motta, who plays Tony, a recent arrival and addition to the little town: “Aaron wanted me to play the mandolin, but I didn’t enjoy performing that scene. I felt like it was forced,” admits Fabio, who performed in the film at age 19, a dozen years after arriving in Australia from Italy. “Aaron wanted me and Silvia Colloca (as Maria) in his cast because we were both born in Italy, so we both lived the experience of migration first-hand and we both struggled to find a place here.” In fact, Little Tornadoes was filmed 13 years ago, when Fabio and Silvia were not famous, and Fabio had abandoned the idea that the film would one day be released: “A few years ago, I met Aaron in the [United States], and he told me: Little Tornadoes will be released soon. I had given up, but he always believed he would succeed.” But going back to the mandolin scene, Aaron ultimately did not include it in the movie, confirming Fabio’s concern: “because he wants to capture real moments.”

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Leo, played by Mark Leonard Winter

Maria, played by Silvia Colloca

Aaron adds: “The opening scene of Little Tornadoes required 23 takes to get right, and 3 consecutive days of work. In the end we found it, we captured beauty in that longawaited 23rd take, we just had to let it happen.” How did he know it was beauty then? He answers: “Because when you see it, it just feels right.” For Aaron, there is beauty in those little moments between the bigger events. There is beauty in the landscape and there is beauty in humanity.

There is beauty in Leo’s memories, shot in different aspect-ratio to convey an immediate sense of detachment. There is beauty in Leo’s wife and children picking a leaf from the tree’s canopy in the front yard. There is beauty in Maria’s cooking

and connection with the children. Beauty is simply in the details.

Writing a film is a bit like closing your eyes and taking a delving journey into yourself, diving headfirst, and once you are in the deep waters, you are no longer a slave of your own art, rather you become its ambassador, a genuine explorer of the universe you dwell in and you contain.

And this is what Aaron’s filmography does, from Canopy, his feature directorial debut, to Little Tornadoes, throughout all his short films. He is a rare author in these modern times. In Aaron’s work, we can perceive the influence, which he confirms, of directors such as Michelangelo Antonioni.

Scene from Little Tornadoes

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

GLOBAL & SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

17

Like Antonioni, Aaron really explores incommunicability, intimacy, connection.

While in Canopy, the first chapter of his trilogy, Aaron had used the gimmick of war to delve into the dark recesses of the human soul through through the terrifying silence of incommunicability, in Little Tornadoes, he tugs us into Maria’s and Leo’s world, making us empathize with their stories and the landscape they are in: if in the first part of Little Tornadoes, Leo clings to his long-gone wife, and Australia is deserted and dry, once Maria enters his life, the landscape turns into a brighter and brisker country.

Aaron exudes a profound intellectual honesty and sincere passion for the medium of cinema, and Little Tornadoes does nothing but confirm the talent of a young yet experienced director. Little Tornadoes is a piece of art, where everything – the script (Christos Tsiolkas), the music (Robert Mackenzie), the cinematography (Stefan Duscio), the production design (Tim Burgin), the editing (Cindy Clarkson), the costume design (Maria Tsoukas), and the sound design (Rodney Lowe) – contribute to the spectacle, in a remarkable feast for eyes and ears.

Leo, played by Mark Leonard Winter

There are films in the heterogenous and eclectic cinema universe, capable of transporting the audience into a timeless era. Aaron is certainly able to look beyond, to observe through the complex weaving of humanity, and to capture its essential beauty: there is beauty in the humanity he portrayed in Little Tornadoes, but there is beauty also in all those little moments that remind us life is worth living. As you watch Little Tornadoes, you cannot help but wonder how it is possible that such a poignant and intimate movie is not screened everywhere. And if not for the inherent beauty of the movie, shouldn’t it be at least recognized for its cultural significance?

Tony, played by Fabio Motta

18

GLOBAL & SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

LITTLE EUROPE IS A NEW AUSTRALIAN FILM ABOUT THE BONEGILLA MIGRANT TRAINING AND RECEPTION CENTER PRODUCERS WELCOME COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN A FILM ABOUT BONEGILLA’S HISTORY This year marks the 75th anniversary since the inception of Bonegilla Migrant Training and Reception Center.

T

he UNHCR’s most recent estimates show that there are 89.3 million forcibly displaced people and over 27.1 million refugees – a number which is probably due to rise considering the recent conflict in Ukraine. Little Europe tells the story of the Bonegilla Migrant Training and Reception Center, which, between 1947 and 1971, saw over 350,000 refugees passing through the camp. Today, one in 20 Australians have connections to Bonegilla.

Written by Jason Agius, whose grandfather’s experiences in the camp inspired elements of the story, and awardwinning filmmaker Franco Di Chiera, who will also direct, Little Europe is an UltrafilmsRealworld Pictures coproduction.

Remarkably, Ultrafilms’ Sabella Sugar’s Italian grandparents came as refugees in 1950 and were also processed there: Sadly, during this time, over 200 migrants committed suicide, giving this film a strong resonance with today’s asylum seekers in detention in Australia and around the world. With Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine, there is a new Cold War, and we want to tell this story, hopeful that perhaps society can do more to stop history repeating itself with the same lack of care for our fellow human beings.

Little Europe is a powerful Cold War spy drama with thriller and action elements, starring Vince Colosimo playing the role

of undercover police officer Constable Joe Rossi, Isabel Lucas as femme fatale Cynthia, the camp administrator, and former James Bond actor George Lazenby as director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization. The plot is based on true events that occurred at the center in a small country town on the border of Victoria, Australia. With the film set in 1952, Bonegilla resembles a concentration camp with ex-Nazis working there, and the dehumanizing conditions culminate in the infamous Bonegilla riots.

Vince Colosimo Isabelle Lucas George Lazenby

The producers welcome involvement from members of the Italian/European community.

If you are interested in supporting the venture in the form of company sponsorship, volunteering as an extra to spend a day on set filming the notorious Bonegilla riot scenes, or sharing your own family stories about Bonegilla, please email info@ultrafilms.com.au.

ADVERTORIAL

19

THE VOICES OF OUR READERS

20

Paolo Baracchi feels nostalgic about the beauty of his motherland-scape – Florence and the rolling hills of Tuscany.

When thinking about beauty in Italy, Lorenza’s mind goes to the Contemporary Art Museum Castello di Rivoli, in the heart of Piedmont.

Thinking of Italy, the idea of beauty immediately brings to mind the landscape of Tuscany, which I miss a lot: it is a natural landscape gently transformed over centuries and millennia by activities related to the human needs of production and habitation. The beauty of the fields, the houses, the villages is harmoniously grafted onto that of the natural landscape (valleys, hills, mountains, rivers), of which it represents, perhaps, a kind of evolution, of development. For me, the Tuscan countryside is, in general, a place whose particular beauty allows us to feel fully at home, reconciled with ourselves and the world.

A former residence of the Royal House of Savoy, just outside Turin, Piedmont, the Castello di Rivoli is my idea of beauty. Built in 1247, today it is home to the first museum devoted to contemporary art in Italy. Both inside and outside the castle, visitors see past eras and present times merging harmoniously before their eyes. Contemporary masterpieces by renowned international artists (Warhol, Cattelan, Hatoum) are displayed in historical rooms that are works of art themselves, still with original wallpapers, doors, chandeliers, and floors from the royal era. Whether you’re passionate about ancient times or more a fan of all things contemporary, Castello di Rivoli is the place to be.

VIVA VOCE

DR PAOLO BARACCHI

LORENZA BINI

CO.AS.IT. Cultural programs manager

Jewelry shop owner

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

VivaVoce

Viva Voce asks: Tell us, where does your mind wander in search of beauty?

Paolo Lolicata is inspired by the work of contemporary artists who highlight the timeless beauty of his ancient land.

Madeleine thinks beauty in Italy is the way everyday people ooze Italian style in the most effortless manner.

I came across Ligama’s work during a road trip in Sicily. His work, Uncommissioned landscapes manipulation, reinstates beauty to the Sicilian rural landscape and its complex culture, which today struggles to survive. His work pushes people to notice and appreciate the beauty of the natural landscape around his intervention.

Ligama manipulates the landscape, shifting our attention to the ruins of homes and sheds, which acquire new information. An algorithm provides the colors of the painting, elaborating the data of an audio recording. The pixels generated by artificial intelligence harmonize with the surrounding nature. In this way, this artist gives life back to abandoned buildings and to the nature around them.

In terms of la bella Italia, beauty can be found as I turn any street corner whilst going on a passeggiata along the cobblestone streets of Rome. It is in the smell of my espresso in the morning at the local bar. It is the sensation of the Mediterranean sea breeze through my hair, as I sit on an Italian beach sipping a lemon granita. It is not only found on the catwalks of Milan but also in the smallest village, where the sound of children playing soccer fills the air. It is the warm and welcoming embrace of my family each time I visit. Italy has a way of making everyone feel beautiful regardless of age and looks. So, beauty is also found within yourself when you are there.

Beauty in Italy is timeless.

PAOLO LOLICATA

MADELEINE CERAVOLO

Curator

Teacher of Italian

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

VIVA VOCE

21

“

We do what we do best:

“

we care for our community

CO.AS.IT. Italian Assistance Association

AGED CARE SERVICES • ITALIAN CLASSES • CULTURAL EVENTS RESOURCE CENTRE • ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY • MUSEO ITALIANO

22

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

SECTION

189 Faraday Street, Carlton 3053 VIC

03 9349 9000

coasit.com.au

coasit@coasit.com.au

THE BIRTH OF VENUS

THE OTHERWORLDLY BEAUTY OF SIMONETTA VESPUCCI

by Martin Plowman

Two of the most famous paintings from the Italian Renaissance feature women. One of them is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci. The other is The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, currently held in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

W

hile the identity of the sitter for the Mona Lisa was only verified by art historians at Heidelberg University in 2005, the model for The Birth of Venus was famous in her own lifetime.

Her name was Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci, and over 500 years after her death, she is still held up as a paragon of beauty. But how well do we really know La Bella Simonetta?

According to the Uffizi Gallery’s notes and Ronald Lightbown’s 1989 book on Botticelli, Simonetta Cattaneo was born in Genoa in 1453. At 16, she married Marco Vespucci, and the newlywed couple moved to Florence, where Simonetta

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

The Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli. Photo by Canbedone

quickly became a 15th-century It Girl.

The men of the ruling Medici family fell at her feet. In 1475, Giuliano Medici, brother of Lorenzo Il Magnifico, held a jousting tournament in which he carried a banner bearing her likeness, painted by Botticelli. By the time of her death at age 22, Simonetta Vespucci was widely held to be the physical embodiment of feminine beauty as viewed through the Neoplatonic lens of courtly love.

Botticelli was commissioned to paint The Birth of Venus in around 1485. The painting shows the goddess Venus riding a scallop shell to shore while one of the Graces of Spring waits for her with a

ART & CULTURE

23

at Botticelli’s canvas, I recall thinking that if this Simonetta Vespucci had been a real person, she must’ve truly been an extraordinary individual. Of course, I already knew her face from countless art posters, calendars, advertisements, and even postage stamps. But still, I was struck by how highly stylized this painting was.

This Simonetta/Venus was otherworldly, her torso and limbs disproportionately elongated as if she came from a planet with lower gravity than Earth. Even her stance was impossible; as observed by the critic Kenneth Clark in 1956, she is leaning too far to the left, so that either she is in mid-stumble or is in fact floating in the air.

La Primavera, Sandro Botticelli. Photo by JulieK2

cloak decorated with flowers. According to art historians Leopold Ettlinger and Helen Ettlinger, it may have been the first life-size female nude depicted in Western art since Christianity.

Simonetta reputedly appears in other works by Botticelli, most notably his Primavera (1482) and his portraits of young women. For centuries, the accepted wisdom was that the woman in all these paintings is the same person. But how can we be sure? All of Botticelli’s representations of Simonetta were completed after her death – in the case of The Birth of Venus, 10 years after. Some of the portraits are probably not even Botticelli’s, but were executed by his workshop.

I remember the first time I saw the painting in real life. I was 25 years old and backpacking across Europe. Italy was the centerpiece of my trip; finally, I was in the country of my mother’s birth. Gazing

24

ART & CULTURE

Perhaps Simonetta was the inspiration, but this imagined woman is the collective creation of her many male admirers. She is a composite, based on the ideals of courtly love which, though sounding thoroughly romantic, in reality, trapped women in cages of unassailable and impossible virtue. It’s instructive to recognize that all of Simonetta’s portraitists were male.

Nothing from her own voice or experience survives today.

It would be easy to say that was standard for the times in which Simonetta Vespucci lived. But why should we accept those standards now? We don’t, of course. Ideals are not perfect, nor are they timeless.

When we look at The Birth of Venus today, I don’t think we should be looking for timeless beauty. Let’s reflect instead on what beauty means today. Rather than fixed, dated, and prescribed, let’s see beauty as innate, multitudinous, and selfdetermined. The woman who inspired The Birth of Venus may inspire beauty, but she is not it, itself.

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

THE MAGIC OF CINEMA

“I CAN DO EVERYTHING, AND I CAN BE ANYONE”

by Carla Trigilia | Images provided by Lia Grieco

Lia Grieco, a young, beautiful, and talented Italian actress, is about to become a star in the firmament of Italian cinema and certainly an icon of contemporary Italian beauty.

We talk with Lia about her career and beauty in all its nuances.

A

t only 25 years old, Lia starred in the Netflix television series Luna Park; recently, she acted in Claudia Gerini's film Tapirulàn where she played a girl who had problems with selfacceptance.

Now aged 27, Lia has filmed a television crime series that will be aired on the Italian national network RAI in the next autumn, and by the end of the year we will see her again on the big screen in Paola Randi's film Beata te (Blessed are you).

How did your acting career begin?

It was a special journey, started when I was a child. At the age of 6, I was an amateur performer and at the age of 9 I joined the opera house, where I was a dancer and consequently graduated from the National Dance Academy.

At 21, I decided to quit my job as a dancer because I was physically and psychologically exhausted, and I wondered what I could do, what the right job was that would appeal professionally and at the same time bring me peace. So, I thought back to the acting that I had started as a child and entered one of the most important film schools in Italy, the Gian Maria Volontè, and that's where it all started.

Lia Grieco. Photo by Johnny Carrano

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

ART & CULTURE

25

is taking care of myself, my home, and garden, and reading lots of books. I am an avid reader of physics books. For me, that world is the highest point of beauty, the beauty of the unknown and mystery related to the meaning of life.

Do you think there is enough beauty in the world?

Lia Grieco as Rosa, Luna Park

In the Netflix TV series Luna Park, you played Rosa. How was that experience?

It was stunning! I think for an actor to play in a period drama is an absolute privilege, and it is always interesting to build a character in a noncontemporary era.

I enjoyed playing a very young woman in such a difficult social context and with so much machismo and sexism.

I think there is a lot of beauty in the world, but often we are not used to seeing it and enhancing it, and that is why it seems less than it actually is. We are stimulated by superficial beauty. We let so many other deeper forms and shades of beauty escape us. We should go beyond that.

What is beauty to you?

For me, beauty is a spark. Something that catches me and surprises me, that comes out of the monotony or flattening of ordinary things. In my daily life, I am an extreme person of great joys and great sorrows, so I try to strive every day to remember how much beauty there is in the ordinary. It is not always easy for me, and it is not immediate!

How do you find the beauty of little things?

As I said, being attracted to big emotions, I often find it difficult to catch beauty in the ordinary. In my daily life, I think beauty Lia Grieco. Photo by Francesca Marino

26

ART & CULTURE

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Which ordinary beauty have you appreciated during the pandemic?

At that time, I was sharing an apartment with flatmates, and I didn't pay attention to the details that make a house welcoming.

I considered it a temporary house. At one point during the lockdown, I decided to spend hours painting all the doors red.

From that moment on, I realized that life can never be taken for granted, and that from one day to the next one everything might change, that it's necessary to focus and pay attention to the path rather than the goal itself.

Lia Grieco as Rosa, with the main male characters from Luna Park

Cinema, theatre, dance, and music.

What is the most beautiful art for you?

I grew up with a brother who was a pianist and a sister who was a dancer. I was inextricably linked to music and dance.

Then, I embraced the cinema. I think it's really the art of cinema that can bring together all the other ones. I like singing, dancing, and acting. With cinema, I can do everything, and I can be anyone. I can capture a thousand different lives and represent them in any context.

Lia Grieco. Photo by Johnny Carrano

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

One of my greatest ambitions is to play a real-life singer or character who is part of the music world. It would be a dream to play the Italian singer Mina.

ART & CULTURE

27

Karah Son performs Butterfly, Ente Concerti Marialisa de Carolis, Sassari, 2021

THE INTANGIBLE BEAUTY OF ITALIAN OPERA SINGING

by Nataša Ciabatti

Korean soprano Karah Son shares her infatuation with Italian opera, which led her to conquer the stages of many opera houses around the world.

E

very year, UNESCO receives submissions from all over the world about potential additions of cultural practices and expressions to its Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Earlier this year, Italy nominated “The Art of the Italian Opera Singing” to be included in light of the fact that opera originated in the Italian peninsula. From there, it quickly crossed borders and spread to Europe and then to all the other continents. Today, opera is a global phenomenon, and futuristic opera houses continue being built in every corner of the planet, from Oslo to Dubai, from Valencia to Beijing.

28

ART & CULTURE

While we wait to discover whether UNESCO will accept Italy’s submission, we meet soprano Karah Son, who has just returned to Seoul after a long tourneé that took her from Australia to France.

In Sydney, she performed as Turandot in Puccini’s eponymous opera and as Desdemona in Othello, while in France she interpreted Madame Butterfly, one of the roles she gets assigned most frequently because her looks match the part. Karah’s favorite character, though, is Floria Tosca, the famous Italian opera singer who “lived of art and love.” Karah loves this opera

by Puccini because of its arias, its historic

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

background, and the drama that unfolds, and because, of course, she can naturally identify with Tosca. Natural is also her relationship with the Italian language, which she calls her “second mother tongue.”

When she was only 14 years old, Karah went to see her first opera and she was “struck by a lightning.” Watching Puccini’s Manon Lescaut that night, Karah decided that she would pursue that dream life of being on stage and singing. In particular, she made two resolutions: that one day she would move to the country where opera was born and that she would become an acclaimed opera singer. And she achieved both. After graduating from Yonsei University (Seoul) and learning Italian for 4 years, Karah moved to Italy, where she studied at the Vivaldi Music Conservatory in Novara. Her dream of becoming an opera singer, however, endured some challenges, and she often doubted her own abilities and whether she could work in Italy as a Korean opera singer.

After giving birth to her son and on the point of abandoning hope of becoming a famous soprano, she met internationally renowned soprano Mirella Freni, who “rescued” her from quitting.

She then won a generous scholarship from the Italian government to attend the Accademia di Bel Canto in Modena under the guidance of Mirella Freni for 3 years. Karah lived in Milan and also in Berlin for many years, but she has made Seoul her permanent home, even though she continues traveling and often misses home. In fact, the aria she prefers singing is “O cieli azzurri” from Verdi’s opera Aida, because not only is it technically the one that she feels she can interpret best but also because she loves the lyrics:

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Karah Son as Desdemona, Sydney Opera House, Australia, 2022

Karah identifies with Aida’s fears that she will never see her homeland again.

But Karah does not intend to stop, and her dream today is to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House of New York.

Next year, she is going to perform in San Francisco to celebrate the centennial of its opera house, bringing her one step closer to becoming “the Madama Butterfly of the century.”

Interestingly, although there are many beautiful operas in various languages, Karah prefers to sing in Italian, first of all because she speaks it fluently, and second – of course – because its vowels and syllables make it the best language for music. Moreover, her favorite place to perform remains Italy. According to Karah, Italian audiences are the hardest to please, mainly because people who go to the opera understand the lyrics, and she becomes very self-conscious about making pronunciation errors. At the same time, she loves performing in Italy, because the audiences are the most passionate and when she performs well, it is there that she receives the greatest applause.

Karah Son

ART & CULTURE

29

LA GRANDE BELLEZZA

THE GREAT, LESS-KNOWN BEAUTY SURROUNDING ROME

by Mia Catalano & Angela Viora | Images provided by Diavù - Davide Vecchiato

Join us on a tour of the capital’s secluded periphery through art from the bottom up.

Camilla Falsini (Italia) for GRAArt, La Vita e la Morte, 2016

B

rimming with a history spanning 28 centuries, from the Colosseum to Fontana di Trevi to the divine Sistine Chapel, it’s no wonder Rome still goes by the name of the “Eternal City.”

Cinema, fashion, and contemporary art have also fed the myth of Rome as a unique exemplar of beauty, creativity, and lifestyle. Think of the Spanish Steps staging fashion shows by luxury brands like Valentino, or MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo (National Museum of 21st Century Art), the first Italian public museum devoted to contemporary art and architecture, and of course, la dolce vita!

But is that all? What is Rome like beyond the glamorous inner city we all know?

Many areas around the world deal with divided cities, and Rome is no exception.

According to the Italian National Institute

of Statistics, Rome is not Italy’s capital and most populous comune (municipality), but also ranks third in the European Union in terms of its population.

While the urban centers are usually popular and well-served touristic destinations, the outskirts of big cities are often neglected, problematic, and not considered worth visiting. Infamous among the Romans yet unknown to tourists is the GRA (Grande Raccordo Anulare), the ring road highway encircling Rome for nearly 70 kilometers, separating the inner city from the outskirts.

With a notable absence of “iconic” Roman monuments, the GRA offers a nondescript scenario that some artists have employed as a blank canvas on which to inscribe a new kind of beauty. These are works springing from “the street,” made by (extra)ordinary people for improving the life of their communities. The works

Camilla Falsini. Photo by Giorgio Silvestrelli

30

ART & CULTURE

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

present problems and solutions at once, offering a deeper understanding of Rome (and modern society) as opposed to just a touristic glance.

La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2013. The film is a portrait of the world-known, breathtaking beauty of the Roman landscape that, nonetheless, reveals a decadent humanity characterized by vice, corruption, and extreme loneliness despite wealth and popularity. In the same year, another Italian director, Gianfranco Rosi, won the Golden Lion at the 70th Venice International Film Festival for Sacro GRA, the first documentary ever to achieve this.

Almost in counterpoint with Sorrentino’s, Rosi’s work focuses on the anonymous lives of the marginalized people who call the GRA home, among concrete, dirt, and lack of services: prostitutes living in a campervan, an eel farmer, construction workers reburying bodies ... Rosi offers an unflattering depiction of the difficulties of peripheral urban life where, in spite of hardship, a warm, welcoming, and colorful humanity emerges. A pun on the Holy Grail, sacro meaning holy, Sacro GRA is an unclichéd celebration of the beguiling beauty of ordinary life.

as La Lupa (she-wolf) and the Emperor Nero on the walls of the GRA, giving identity to desolate areas neglected until then. The murals also portray forgotten myths and legends linked to the memories of specific areas of the city, becoming contemporary symbols of past eras. Visitors embark upon a cultural and artistic journey through impressive large-scale works of art, powerfully communicating the message “Welcome to Rome … as you’ve never seen it!”

An exemplary model of the bottomup power of culture, creativity, and teamwork, GRAArt was commissioned

by ANAS, the Italian motorways and highways corporation, sponsored by the Italian Ministry for Art, Culture, and Tourism, and is now presented in international embassies and art academies.

Unconventional and authentic, Sacro GRA and GRAArt make us wonder, “Do I really know Rome?” – and what about the city we live in? Revealing a kind of beauty far from commonplaces and closer to the people, these artworks show that Italian creativity and allure aren’t just stereotypes, and our excellence shines through, well beyond glamorous images on a postcard.

A local response to this urban alienation is GRAArt by artist and curator Diavù. This is a street art project using parts of the ring road as a canvas to “heal the cultural rift that exists between the capital’s monumental historical center and its outskirts.” As in Sacro GRA, the audience here discovers a hidden Italian reality that is unknown in popularized perceptions of Rome. Working closely with local councils, the inhabitants, museums, and historians, renowned international street artists have drawn Rome’s myths and characters such Chekos Ventrem Feri Imperium (Italia) for GRAArt, 2016

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

ART & CULTURE

31

TIMELESS FASHION

by Agata Grimaldi | Images provided by Azzurra La Mantia

Walking around Joo Chiat Road, one of the most charming roads in Singapore, with pastelcolored shophouses and rich heritage, I spotted A Vintage Tale, owned by Azzurra La Mantia.

A

Vintage Tale is the most colorful and stylish boutique on the road, with a collection of clothing and accessories from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Can you tell us about you and your background and what brought you here?

I am Italian, 38 years old, with a background in luxury fashion. I have always been involved in retail and visual merchandising. I moved to Singapore in 2018 to follow my husband.

What led you to the name A Vintage Tale?

It was in 2016, when I was still living between Milan and Bahrain, from my great passion for vintage and my dream of collecting unique and timeless clothing and accessories that reflected my taste in the hope that anyone could find inspiration from the collection.

How do you choose the items for your boutique?

My selection is personal. It represents me. I always choose garments that I would wear and that I would like to have in my closet. I really love 1970s patterns, so I often select from colors and prints, but shapes are also important. I find the 1980s very fun and revolutionary … and, of course, the 1960s!

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Azzurra La Mantia

What does beauty mean to you?

Beauty is everything that gives me a feeling of harmony and balance as well as a sense of well-being and order.

Is there any designer in particular you like?

I'm very proud of Made in Italy and Italian designers. In particular, I love the synthesis of Prada and the lightheartedness of Miu Miu, but also Gucci; and if I look at the past, without a doubt, Franco Moschino and Valentino.

FASHION & DESIGN

33

How did you develop a passion for vintage?

I grew up in a family of merchants. In the 1980s, my maternal grandmother owned a women's clothing store and worked with Max Mara. I would visit her boutique and dream, unaware I would make that dream a reality 30 years later.

Why should we buy vintage clothing?

By buying vintage, we contribute to a circular economy that I hope will, in the coming years, take over from that economy of waste representative (but not only) of the fast fashion industry.

We think more about quantity than

34

FASHION & DESIGN

quality, without considering the impact this has on the environment as well as on society.

Does owning a vintage boutique make you feel like an eco-warrior?

Behind my choices, there is a story, which also reflects what I have learned during my years of studying and building my career. Having opened a vintage store identifies me in the circle of that entrepreneurship that to this day tries to get out of a big system and invests in research, in the preciousness of materials and in uniqueness. Our future probably lies in reuse. Embracing vintage could reduce the effects of climate change.

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

What is your perception of millennials toward vintage? Does your clientele include youth? Do you see an opportunity for fast fashion to slow down to reduce climate change?

Millennials are passionate about vintage and curious to rediscover their grandmothers’ trunks, where they often find real treasures. A Vintage Tale includes a very diverse clientele, both young people in their early 20s and even older people, all united in the search for the unique, special, original item.

There is an opportunity, or perhaps more than one: some companies have already taken steps in this regard, using

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

recycled fibers and materials; others collect used items and in return issue a voucher to spend later.

In any case, there is still a long way to go for fast fashion companies, as often the same dress produced by two different labels can be found online. This means that the turnover is immense, and kilometers of fabric are used to cover the demand for those products.

The real revolution should start with us, the private consumers, changing our habits and consumption, which will in turn change the manufacturers' offerings.

FASHION & DESIGN

35

MERGING ARCHITECTURAL AND URBAN DIMENSIONS AN EXPERIMENT IN SOCIAL HOUSING

by Nataša Ciabatti | Photography by Cristiano Capuano

Some places question and disrupt long-held concepts of beauty.

H

ow may one define beauty?

As with many other abstract concepts we humans alone seem to be concerned about, beauty exists only in our imagination, and there could never be, nor there should be, a universal definition for what is beautiful. Let’s take a beautiful building, for example. What features does it need to possess to be considered aesthetically pleasing? Different people will have different ideas, but larger groups tend to share similar views … Why? Because we tend to agree with others. And that is where our imagination is stifled.

Occasionally, a few are able to trespass the borders we collectively set. A few, like the architects who radically altered the appearance of buildings, experimenting not only with shapes and materials but, most importantly, with our very idea of home. Their aspiration, in fact, was to revolutionize the way we live thanks to the inexpensiveness and speed of construction afforded by concrete, the material that the dream of 20th century mass housing was made of. More than that, this social utopia would also create interconnected spaces where a sense of community could be formed. A break away from the bourgeois aspiration of owning a detached house in a residential suburb, where one would spend the day protected from the look of others. A movement born to provide everyone with the opportunity for housing,

36

FASHION & DESIGN

while also offering shared living spaces to develop strong human bonds. A house turned into a city. A city turned into a house.

It is a frosty morning when we climb up the hills where one of such experiments was made. Suddenly interrupting the view of bare winter vegetation, the even more gelid, even more desolate façade of the austere building complex known as the quadrilatero (quadrangle) of Rozzol Melara appears in front of our eyes. Two L-shaped elements, one twice the height of the other, form the shape of a square, evoking the idea of a city, as does the cross of streets running through the central space, conceived indeed to reproduce a central city’s square. The complex, covering an area of 89,000 square meters, was originally designed to accommodate 2,500 inhabitants living in 648 apartments. Built in the 1980s, decades after the completion of Le Corbusier’s Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, and after the brutalist movement that characterized the 1960s in the United Kingdom, this complex is a project of the local Autonomous Council Housing Institute (an organization overseeing social housing), which commissioned its design to architect Carlo Celli.

We enter the labyrinth of galleries to meet our tour guide, Claudio Calabrese, one of the first residents to move into this giant

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

37

dwelling (or small town) in the 1980s, whose life has been dedicated to maintaining the original spirit of this place. He walks us through stairwells, garages, collective facilities, and a promenade along the entire perimeter of the roofs with breathtaking views, overlooking the city and the Gulf of Trieste, in northeastern Italy, as well as the Slovenian coast. From here, his love for this city-house appears more solid than these rugged pillars. He is proud of living in a community with everything at its fingertips: a post office, a civic and social center, health facilities, a supermarket, an elementary and a middle school, a church.

And he is proud of being neighbor to people from all sorts of backgrounds; nobody is rejected here, whoever meets the criteria for social housing will find a home. Claudio’s devotion counteracts the stigma around this and other places like this. Recently, more projects have

38

FASHION & DESIGN

been introduced to restore deteriorating facilities and improve social cohesion. The latest, called Prius Melara, involves the residents in co-designing sociocultural activities and in taking collective care for the most degraded parts of the quadrangle.

Reviving the original utopia of sharing for better living, projects like these provide opportunities for maintenance work and for jobs in community development for the residents.

Geographically and ideally separated from that city, this city-house stands tall, ignoring the question we ask. While some find this mass of concrete inhuman and terrifying, others make pilgrimage to witness the disruptive beauty of brutalist architecture. The dilemma of beauty is not solved. Daunting yet fascinating, il quadrilatero continues to attract and repel.

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

COSENZA - ITALY MELBOURNE- AUSTRALIA

40

SECTION

www.stevenshats.com | Australia Ph: 0410 860 036 Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022 Segmento eMail: info@stevenshats.com stevenshats@gmail.com

A WHIRL OF GHOSTS AND ANGELS NAPLES’ RIONE SANITÀ IN MURALS

by Cristiano Capuano | Photography by Cristiano Capuano

Rione Sanità is one of the most ancient and notorious areas of Naples’ city center. Rich in culture and contradictions, the neighborhood has become home to a large piece of the city’s street art heritage, which has played a major role in urban renewal and social inclusion.

N

estled in a valley between the two hills of Capodimonte and Arenella, Naples’ central district of Rione Sanità takes shape in a maze of narrow streets governed by a sense of overwhelming frenzy.

Entering the lower part of the neighborhood, known as Borgo Vergini, visitors are welcomed by a large mural painting whose caption exhorts the viewer not to confuse ghosts with angels (Nu ‘mmescà ‘e fantasme cu ll’angiule). Loosely based on the figure of the local Madonna from the Basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità, the mural was painted by Collettivo

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Nu ‘mmescà ‘e fantasme cu ll’angiule, Collettivo FX

FX and represents a virgin holding a curlyhaired child Jesus removing a demon (or a ghost) from the head of a baby angel.

Rione Sanità epitomizes the deeply contradictory relationship that we Neapolitans have with religion and death: one of awe and respect, as much as of irreverence and denial. Although the actual district was only established in the 16th century under the Spanish Viceroyalty, the area’s history dates to the Hellenistic and Roman era, when it was an extra moenia (outside the walls) section of Neapolis, mainly serving as a burial ground.

TOURISM & PLACES

41

Speranza Nascosta, Francisco Bosoletti

Luce, Tono Cruz

Nowadays, the ghosts haunting this rough yet fascinating part of the city are poverty, unemployment, and the constant threat of organized crime, the latter allowed to flourish in recent decades due to the lack of opportunities for local youth. As widely reported in the Italian media, one of them, 17-year-old Genny Cesarano, tragically died in September 2015 after being mistakenly shot by Camorra hitmen in Piazza Sanità, the main square of the district.

42

for tourism and cultural heritage, it is a former ossuary housed in a tuff cave, containing the remains of almost 40,000 victims of the 1656 plague and of the 1837 cholera epidemics. The cemetery hosts one of the most notorious death cults in Neapolitan folklore: the rite of the anime pezzentelle (derelict souls), whereby a skull is “adopted” and taken care of by a worshipper in exchange for earthly rewards.

It is to all these children of the Rione that Spanish artist Tono Cruz has dedicated a mural on the façade of a building in Piazza Sanità: his work depicts the smiling faces of a few young participants in a workshop that took place in the local branch of Save the Children and represents the brightness of their hope for a better future.

On the way to the Fontanelle Cemetery lies a very peculiar mural by Argentinian-born artist Francisco Bosoletti titled Speranza Nascosta (Hidden Hope). Painted on the façade of a refuge that accommodates homeless people, it represents an old woman’s face painted in negative, thus distinctively visible only through inverting tones and luminance.

From here, Via Sanità unfurls deeper into the district, leading to one of its spiritual staples: the Fontanelle Cemetery.

As described by the region’s agency

Another South American artist, Brazilian Alex Senna, has pasted several stencils around the district: one of these, characterized by a melancholic and

TOURISM & PLACES

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Untitled, Alex Senna

gloomy undertone, features the members of a stylized black-and-white family who embrace one another in mourning.

Aside from the pieces produced by artists or groups of artists, the district hosts many murals that are anonymous or works of collectives, such as those by football fans of SSC Napoli. On match days, the Rione Sanità ultras congregate in the Curva A stand of the Diego Maradona Stadium, and – just like any other group supporting the local football team – they assert their presence by making a mark in the streets through a wide variety of murals and stencils. One of the most visible examples of the widespread diffusion of the ultras’ subculture in the district is featured on the pillar of the notorious Ponte della Sanità, the bridge overlooking the district.

Just behind the bridge, the local Basilica di Santa Maria della Sanità hosts the crypt that gives access to the San Gaudioso Catacombs, which – alongside the San

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Rione Sanità Ultras

Gennaro Catacombs and the Basilica of San Severo fuori le mura (outside the walls) – testify to the ongoing connection of the district to burial practices that, throughout the centuries, have shifted from pagan to Christian liturgies.

The profound involvement of Rione Sanità with religious death cults has remained unceasing over the centuries.

The ghosts of the past have found some rest through rites such as the one of the anime pezzentelle, whereas the demons of contemporary social issues are exorcised by the grassroots work of local social aid associations, which have often overseen the creation of these murals as part of an ongoing commitment to promoting different forms of social inclusion; to continually remind residents and visitors alike that ghosts ought not to be mixed with angels, in a place where life speaks of death, and death speaks of life.

TOURISM & PLACES

43

STORIES AND JOURNEYS OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

by Jenna Lo Bianco | Images provided by Dario Castaldo

He stands for almost 2 hours as he recounts his escapades, and I am entranced. I can’t look away. He’s got me. This is Dario Castaldo.

I travel to certain places because I like the dynamics and the relationships I can experience with the locals of nonWestern and non-tourist countries.

It satisfies my spirit and my view of things. I find it educational and formative from cultural and human perspectives, and therefore it fills and excites me. That enthusiasm is probably contagious.

Pakistan

D

espite knowing him for years, there’s always something inexplicably disconcerting about listening to him in the flesh. Perhaps it’s his voice, with its Roman lilt and famed brio, heard most days on the SBS Italian radio program. No longer disembodied, this voice recalls the same passion and verve in person, fortified by his enthusiastic gestures.

I’m convinced that there’s a softness and humility that derives from extensive soulsearching travel; and Dario embodies both in spades. I’m referring to the kind of travel that changes you, opens your heart and mind, and binds you deeply and profoundly to other worlds and cultures.

This is how Dario travels, and it’s well off the beaten track:

44

TOURISM & PLACES

Dario is a traveler, having journeyed across 153 countries, and counting. There’s no one better equipped, or more eloquent, to engage in a conversation about the beauty of travel. There’s a difference, he tells me, between traveling and being on holiday. It’s about the mindset you bring to the experience, as well as the level of immersion you allow yourself in a place.

There, is when you travel.

While Dario’s own personal brand of travel often involves showering with his passport and picking scorpions from his reading material in the dark, he wouldn’t have it any other way. “Off the beaten track there’s no tourism industry,” he says.

“Nobody awaits your arrival. No one arranges the parameters, or the mental and social mechanics required that render you a tourist. You are simply a person.”

Considering some of the countries on Dario’s list, most recently being Iraq, I can’t help but wonder if his is a love for being off the beaten track, or for life lived on the edge. I refer to his encounters with nature and wildlife – the Komodo dragons in Indonesia which left him wounded and

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

England

Albania

risking amputation, whale sharks in the Philippines, penguins in the Galapagos, mountain gorillas in Uganda, rattlesnakes in Brazil, rhinoceroses in South Africa, hippopotamuses in Zambia, hyenas in Ethiopia, not to mention tigers in Nepal, and lions in Botswana. He casually adds:

Dario prefers to travel alone, as this solitude leaves him open to a wider range of experiences, despite the issues of personal security this can exacerbate. He contemplated this in Iraq and believes his enthusiasm the key to establishing trust in unfamiliar situations. “Locals appreciate those who show more interest than fear, the desire to join in rather than to remain separate, observing from a distance, protected by one’s comfort zone,” he says.

Of his personal safety, he adds, “We have to walk on the edge of paranoia. It’s a balancing act, but it's the only way. Over time, you refine your sense of intuition and you understand how far you can go, who is trustworthy, and whom to be wary of.”

Along with the time when police broke down my hotel room door while I was sleeping in Lahore, Pakistan.

Or when two Israeli jets bombed the Lebanese village I was in. Or when the Serbian police stopped me during the Balkan war.

My heart is racing, yet there’s an unsettling calmness that comes with the power of hindsight as he continues. “In the moment, the air is sucked from your lungs and you can’t feel the Earth under your feet, but in retrospect, it’s all beautiful – even when they tell you that you have been traveling the world for 13 months with an invalid passport.”

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

I asked Dario what beauty in travel means to him. “It’s everywhere, but in my opinion, in people, in their stories,” he answers.

This doesn’t surprise me. His passion and natural aptitude for photography

TOURISM & PLACES

45

46

Venezuela

Vietnam

attest to his ability to respectfully capture individuals who enter his life, even for a few moments. “Often you realize that you’re the only foreigner locals will see that week, or that month. Locals represent a discovery for you as much as you represent a discovery for them. In this way, a relationship of mutual interest and attraction is created.” The shared smiles and fixed stares in his photos embody this exchange of worlds.

having seen what he’s seen and having been where he’s been – he concludes:

With his usual considered and sensitive humility – which can only derive from

Dario, keep telling your stories. You will always have an audience in me.

Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan

Yemen

TOURISM & PLACES

Beauty lies in discovery. When you travel you rediscover yourself ignorant every day, because wherever you are it’s likely that you’re the person who knows the least about that particular place. For me, there’s nothing more beautiful than finding an answer to a question that – until the day before – you did not know you had.

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

SECTION

47

48

SECTION

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

ITALIAN CUISINE BEYOND BORDERS

HOW MADE IN ITALY HAS CONQUERED THE INTERNATIONAL CULINARY SCENE

by Ambra Dalmasso | Images provided by Luca Ciano

Gastronomic Italianness is safeguarded by international and national organizations as well as new-generation chefs such as Michelin-starred and multi-award winner Luca Ciano.

W

hen you hear “Made in Italy,” you probably think of fashion and cars, but the number 1 most counterfeit Italian product around the world is actually parmigiano reggiano, usually sold as parmesan. Many other Italian foods, such as prosciutto di Parma, are so famous that when we go shopping to buy some cheese to grate on our pasta dishes or some prosciutto to add to our aperitivo plate, we risk buying products that have little to do with the authentic ones, in the same way we risk buying a fake Gucci scarf or Prada handbag.

denomination,” were introduced by the European Union to safeguard the products and their producers from unfair competition and to ensure their survival.

In terms of these denominations, Italy holds the record in Europe: according to ISTAT reports in 2019, the European Union recognizes 300 quality seals to Italian products, and the number keeps on increasing every year.

While ham made with legs that are not from a certain species of pig, nor

As a food enthusiast, whether cooking for his family, his friends, or his restaurants, chef Luca Ciano is always searching for the best ingredients, whether they are from Italy or not, whether they are certified or not. Going to the local farmers’ markets in Sydney’s outer suburbs or buying mountain cheese from a small producer on the Italian Alps are experiences he cherishes as much as supporting famous Italian brands.

Such famous brands often carry labels such as DOC, DOP, IGP, which guarantee that the products are made according to tradition, location, and quality. Considering the increasing popularity of “Italian cuisine” abroad, Italian producers felt the pressing need to protect the local culinary reputation, fighting the circulation of counterfeit products and empowering the consumers with a meaningful gastronomic education. In fact, these labels of “origin Luca Ciano

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

CUISINE & FOOD

49

and working with local producers, both in Italy and in Australia. “Keep it simple, fresh and especially seasonal,” is his motto and it clearly represents his ethos.

In particular, he notices that his customers in Australia greatly value the logo “Made in Australia,” even though this only certifies that the product originates somewhere undefined in the country, while the European and Italian systems of quality control are much more specific, and European and Italian customers are more accustomed to reading this kind of labels. curated in a particular manner, does not necessarily mean that the product will be of low quality, it certainly cannot be called prosciutto di Parma, in the same way that a parmesan cheese made with milk from other regions or countries and aged in different ways might be very tasty, but cannot be considered parmigiano reggiano.

Similarly, tomatoes can grow in greenhouses everywhere and all year round, but the pomodoro di San Marzano gained its reputation because of its deliciousness, which is granted by the soil, the climate, and other factors that are typical only of that geographical area.

One of the limits is that obtaining such seals entails a cost that not all Italian producers can afford to pay; therefore, it is important that customers do not dismiss Italian products that are not officially recognized as inauthentic or not delicious.

This message is very important to Luca, who spends a lot of time getting to know

50

CUISINE & FOOD

Although these certifications provide little help in choosing a good product, the food industry is difficult to navigate: Luca’s mission is to divulge reliable information to importers, wholesalers, retailers, and private clients alike, so that food that is made in Italy can be appreciated in its original taste, and not through other versions, which nonetheless might be equally legitimate and delicious.

What has been a mission for international organizations (such as the European Union), national organizations (such as the Italian Trade Agency), and events like Fine Food, together with farmers and growers, is reflected in the food panorama today: the new-generation Italian restaurants and chefs, like Luca Ciano, have an important role in presenting a modern authentic Italianness that never ceases to amaze even the connoisseurs and play an active and educated role in the culinary and gastronomical scene and food selection process.

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

BORN TO COOK

A MELTING POT OF MEDITERRANEAN EXPERTISE

by Isabella Vagnoni | Images provided by Naomi Crisante

No one loves exploring and celebrating Italian and Greek cuisines better than Naomi Crisante.

She confesses: “Before I have finished eating a meal, I’m already thinking of the next one.”

B

orn to cook, Naomi comes from a melting pot of Mediterranean heritage. Her mum was born in northern Greece but grew up in Romania, her dad was born in Egypt, her paternal grandfather was from Cyprus, and her paternal grandmother was a mix of Greek, French, and Armenian.

Naomi’s husband is of Italian heritage, from Abruzzo. Naomi’s mother-inlaw generously shared with Naomi how to cook their traditional Italian family favorites, including hand-made pasta.

Naomi’s children have also been raised on a blend of Italian and Greek cuisines.

Lucky them!

Naomi explains that within the Mediterranean region, “there are core, crossover ingredients between Greek and Italian food, such as olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, onion, and spinach.” This is something she has learned from cooking with her Mediterranean family.

Naomi spent her childhood learning how to cook by her mother’s side. Naomi would pick spinach for the spanakopita and walnuts for the baklava. By the time she was a teenager, her skills were such that she was trusted to cook the family dinner.

Cooking for them brought Naomi a deep sense of pride.

Naomi explains that, as she’s married to an abruzzese, her family participates in many cooking traditions. They produce passata once a year together, and her father-in-law makes Italian sausages. Naomi describes the importance of making staple foods like passata or Italian sausages that will

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Naomi Crisante. Photo by Joshua Lynott

last a long time: “These things are rooted in cucina povera, trying to make the best of what you had when it was bountiful and preserve it for the rest of the year. Its origins are rooted in necessity.”

Naomi’s mother-in-law makes pasta by hand, and her son also re-make’s his nonna’s lasagna recipe. Naomi relays: “We use the best produce and quality ingredients” – an important concept in Italian cooking.

CUISINE & FOOD

51

When I asked Naomi her favorite dish to cook, she replied with, “I hate it when people ask me this question, because I love to cook so many different things! It really depends on the moment and who I’m cooking for, even the season, which dictates the ingredients at hand.”

Photo by Joshua Lynott

Naomi goes on to explain: “In the winter, I may decide to cook a slowly simmered Italian sausage ragù. Because the weather is cold, I’m inspired to cook something warming. If I have the afternoon to myself, I like to recreate something tactile, like making gnocchi from scratch.”

Naomi’s cooking has been inspired during numerous family trips to Europe. She was fortunate enough to travel to Italy several times across different seasons. Culinary highlights include having her first taste of squid ink pasta in Venice, bollito misto in Parma, and caprese salad on the island of Capri, and making the perfect cacio e pepe in Rome.

As a recipe developer, Naomi likes to adapt and re-create recipes in new and exciting ways. She has adapted her mother-inlaw’s traditional gnocchi recipe to include a wild porcini and thyme sauce. Putting her own spin on a recipe, is where the real joy in cooking comes from.

Naomi is currently writing a cookbook full of Mediterranean inspired dishes – a 30year culmination of her favorite Greek, Italian, French, Spanish, Moroccan, and Middle Eastern dishes with her signature twist, scheduled to be released later this year.

Some of her Italian recipes will include cannellini crostini; rigatoni with Italian sausage ragù; home-made gnocchi with a wild mushroom sauce; pistachio-crumbed olives with basil aioli, saffron fritto misto with a capsicum sauce; eggplant involtini with tomato capsicum sauce; and prawn, pea, and pistachio linguine.

Naomi offers both virtual and in-person cooking classes, great for individuals, groups of friends, or corporate parties wanting to bond. Information on her cooking classes, as well as her extensive recipe collection, can be found at www.foodcentric.com.au.

52

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

THE RECIPES OF OUR CHEFS

SPAGHETTI ALLA CHITARRA

Spaghetti with prosciutto di Parma, burrata, chili & basil pangrattato, basil oil Recipe by Luca Ciano | Image provided by Luca Ciano

PREPARATION TIME: 5 minutes COOKING TIME: 5 minutes INGREDIENTS 300 g fresh egg spaghetti chitarra or 400 g dry pasta of your choice 100 g prosciutto di Parma, thinly sliced 4 burrata, 70–80 g each 60 g breadcrumbs 2 garlic cloves, crushed ½ teaspoon chili flakes 10 basil leaves, roughly chopped 1 bunch of basil, leaves only 40 ml extra virgin olive oil 100 ml olive oil (for basil oil) Salt & pepper

To make the chili basil pangrattato, heat 20 ml of extra virgin olive in a frying pan. When hot add garlic and breadcrumbs, keep stirring till golden in color. Add seasoning, chopped basil and chili flakes and remove from heat. Keep tossing for a few minutes, then set aside.

To make the basil oil, add basil and 100 ml of olive oil in a small pot and bring almost to a simmer, remove from heat and allow to cool. Use a hand blender to mix and leave to infuse for at least 2 hours. Strain the oil through a fine cloth.

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Bring plenty of salted water to the boil.

Meanwhile, add 20 ml of oil into a large frying pan, when hot add prosciutto and cook for 2 minutes.

Drop pasta in the water, stir well and cook as per packet instructions.

Drain al dente pasta and toss with prosciutto. Add 1/3 cup of cooking water and toss well for 1 minute.

BUON APPETITO!

METHOD

A Tavola

SERVES 4

Serve pasta in a large bowl, place a burrata on top of the pasta and garnish with pangrattato and basil oil.

53

GNOCCHI AI FUNGHI SELVATICI

Home made gnocchi with wild mushroom sauce Recipe by Naomi Crisante | Image provided by Naomi Crisante

Making your own gnocchi is a wonderful, tactile experience, and when you add a rich wild mushroom sauce it is definitely worth the effort.

SERVES 6 AS MAIN, 8 AS AN ENTREE PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 kg potatoes*, unpeeled, scrubbed sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 1 large egg 200–300 g plain flour, as needed 30 g dried wild mushrooms (chanterelle, porcini or forest mushrooms) 50 g butter 4 spring onions, chopped 4 cloves garlic, crushed 400 g button Swiss mushrooms, sliced 1 cup dry white wine fresh thyme 300 ml pure cream 1⁄2 cup grated parmesan

METHOD Gnocchi Boil unpeeled potatoes whole in a large pot of salted water until very soft in the centre when tested with a skewer. Press warm potatoes through a gnocchi ricer onto a floured bench top, discarding the skins (or peel and mash well with a fork). Make a well in the centre of the potato, add the egg and mix in with your

fingers. Slowly mix in just enough flour to make a soft dough, kneading very gently, until the mixture comes together and is smooth. There should be a slight springiness to the dough, but not as elastic as a bread dough. Divide dough into 6 pieces and roll each into a long rope, 2cm thick. Cut into 3 cm pieces and using your finger tip, gently roll each piece to dimple it. Arrange on a large floured tray as you roll the gnocchi, flouring lightly. Cook gnocchi in a large pot of boiling salted water until all the gnocchi rise to the surface.

Drain and cover to keep warm while making sauce.

Wild mushroom sauce Cover dried mushrooms with 1 cup boiling water and allow to stand.

Chop any large pieces with scissors.

Melt butter in the pot and sauté spring onions, garlic and button mushrooms until softened. Add wine, soaked mushrooms and their liquid and a few sprigs of fresh thyme.

Bring to the boil and simmer until reduced by 1/3. Add cream and simmer until reduced to a sauce consistency. Stir in grated parmesan and season to taste.

To serve Stir gnocchi into the hot sauce until well coated. Serve in bowls, garnished with extra thyme and a sprinkling of pepper. Serve with extra parmesan.

TIPS

*It's best to use old potatoes (I like Royal Blue, Sebago and Desiree varieties) as they tend to be more floury rather than waxy, creating lighter gnocchi.

Rolled gnocchi can be frozen, before or after cooking, so it's worth making a double batch.

Photo by Joshua Lynott

54

A TAVOLA

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Award winning cheese!

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

thatsamorecheese.com.au @thatsamorecheese

SECTION

55

WHEN GLOBALIZATION MEETS NATIONAL IDENTITIES DOING BUSINESS IN ITALY

by Stefano Riela | Image provided by Maura Di Mauro

Closing a business deal is as much about figures as it is about negotiation and behavioral skills. Maura Di Mauro has been researching and consulting with small and large firms in how to succeed with intercultural skills and a global mindset.

I

f you walk down the main street of almost any modern city, you will see people everywhere wearing the same brands and using the same apps on their smartphone as everyone else. This cultural homogenization, mainly pushed by consumerism, is turning our habitat into almost indistinguishable “non-places” (as named by the French anthropologist Marc Augé) designed according to Western standards. However, the loss of local identity is only partial since cultural roots are still defining the “doing business” in different parts of the world. This is the origin of glocalization – to indicate that the growing importance of continental and global levels is occurring together with the increasing salience of local and regional levels.

To understand more about Italian business culture, we meet Maura Di Mauro, lecturer in Intercultural Business Management at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (in Milan and Piacenza) and expert intercultural trainer and consultant.

Maura explains that when we talk about a country's business culture, we refer to how business is done in that specific country or geographical area: a set of practices, behavioral norms, and rules of morality – often underlying, unspoken, and unwritten – guided by a system of shared values, beliefs, and assumptions.

Maura Di Mauro

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

BUSINESS & INNOVATION

57

Maura outlines the key elements that define Italian business culture:

PRESENTATION OR INTRODUCTION Being presented or introduced in certain contexts by the right person – someone powerful and trustworthy – is worth more than many phone calls, emails, and self-introductions.

TIMING To obtain positive outcomes from negotiations, you must be patient with long and frequent meetings – even those outside typical working hours – and delays due to the redundant bureaucratic procedures.

RELATIONAL CREDIBILITY Who you know, how many people you know, the authority and power of influence of the people you know, but also the power of exchange and reciprocal favors are relational elements that allow relationships of trust to be built.

Relational credibility and trust are also built by showing respect for authority as well as relational bonds.

WARM RELATIONAL MODES Face-to-face meetings or phone calls are still preferred to keep professional relations even though emails and video-calls are more and more used. Italians like to get to know their clients and business partners around the table, during lunches or dinners, not on quick occasions, such as breakfasts (as is more typical in the United States of America) and during conferences.

58

BUSINESS & INNOVATION

ELEGANCE AND STYLE Look and appearance play an important role for Italians. Therefore, dress code choices, ways of welcoming and of being hospitable determine how one is perceived and judged by others. But corporate visual communication – logos, layout, images, merchandising, and so on – also need to show elegance and style. And last and but not least, the use of titles enables differences and conflicts to be resolved in a diplomatic way.

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Intercultural skills are relational competences that manifest themselves in a high degree of awareness of how our own and other people's cultures influence managerial and personal behaviors and the ability to adapt to and communicate and work with people from different cultural backgrounds. Often, the tendency to think “business is business ... and in the end we understand each other all over the world” prevails; believing that simply being able to speak Global English as a second language makes it possible to carry out one's role effectively at an international level. But that is not necessarily the case.

According to Maura, the most difficult gaps or cultural differences to manage or adapt to are: • “relationship orientation” (which prevails, for example, in Italy) versus “task orientation” (which prevails in Northern Europe) • “high context communication style” (indirect and anecdotal, which prevails, for example, in Italy) versus “low-context communication style” (or direct and oriented to numbers and facts, which prevails in Northern Europe) • “polychronic” time (or circular, lived in a more flexible way, which prevails, for example, in Italy) versus the concept of “monochronic” time (or linear, planned, and used efficiently, which prevails in, for example, Northern Europe).

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Maura points out that as firms internationalize they often underestimate intercultural skills as necessary soft skills.

This is especially evident in small and medium firms, as they are made up of people who lack not only international experience but, above all, a global mindset. Paying attention to the business culture of the country we are targeting is vital as simple misunderstandings can be deal breakers.

From the conversation with Maura, I learned the importance of preparing to be challenged, being curious and openminded, continuing to learn about other languages and cultures, being flexible, and understanding and accepting – but not necessarily agreeing with – different ways of living.

BUSINESS & INNOVATION

59

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR ITALIAN COMPANIES IN AUSTRALIA

by Raffaele Caputo | Images provided by Paola De Faveri

Segmento farewells Trade Commissioner Paola De Faveri, whose 4-year posting at the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) in Sydney comes to an end this November. We talked to her about the role of ITA and the importance of the Made in Italy brand.

Agenzia ICE has headquarters in Rome and Milan and about 80 offices around the world, supporting Italian companies wishing to enter foreign markets. But, as Paola De Faveri explains, these offices also promote and safeguard the quality and distinctive characteristics of Made in Italy products:

ITA delegation at Fine Food

T

he Italian Trade Agency is the governmental agency that promotes Made in Italy throughout the world, supporting the growth of Italian companies, and contributing to the attraction of foreign investments to Italy. The origin of the ITA goes back to the mid-1920s with the establishment of Istituto Nazionale per le Esportazioni, which then became Istituto nazionale per il Commercio Estero (ICE). Today, ITA is called Agenzia ICE, but despite the difference in name, ICE and ITA are one and the same – with ITA being the name by which Agenzia ICE is known outside of Italy.

60

BUSINESS & INNOVATION

ITA’s promotion of the Made in Italy brand is via concerted media campaigns, participation in major exhibitions and trade fairs, and the coordination of training classes, seminars, and demonstrations. These activities are carried out in close collaboration with Italian diplomatic offices all around the world and with the various actors of what we call Sistema Italia, with includes the Italian cultural institutes, ENIT (Italian Tourism Governmental Office), and the chambers of commerce.

ITA office in Sydney oversees all industry sectors, with jurisdiction over Australia and New Zealand.

When promoting the Made in Italy brand for Italy’s agri-food export, an important topic is to safeguard the geographical indications of origin (GIs).

In Europe, geographical indications are meant to safeguard the authenticity and quality standards of food products.

Italy ranks high among European countries with the largest number

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

of agri-food products with protected designations of origin recognized by the European Union: more than 300 agri-food products and more than 500 wines.

Unfortunately, GIs are not protected by the Australian regulatory system to the same extent as they are in Europe. A consequence of the insufficient protection is the spread of the phenomenon of Italiansounding products, often coming with misleading information: when local products evoke the names, colors, and symbols of Italy, it causes damage to many Italian companies by forcing them to face unfair competition.

The protection of geographical indications is of interest to all European countries exporting to Australia and therefore this is an important subject of the negotiations conducted by the EU Delegation and aimed at signing a free trade agreement between Australia and the European Union.

Another important matter are the strict phytosanitary Australian procedures, which become a barrier to market entry for some typical products of Italian agri-food exports. The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment defines and administers biosecurity conditions for the importation of certain categories of products, including animal-derived products.

Recent initiatives by ITA to communicate the unique characteristics of authentic Italian products include the Prosciutto di Parma Promotional Campaign and the Italian Cheese Promotion Project:

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Both of these initiatives involve chefs, media, and food bloggers in communication campaigns, and included trade fair and in-store demonstrations, all with the common goal of spreading correct information about the traditional characteristics, quality, and uniqueness of Italian products with respect to their marks of origin – in other words, the excellence of the Made in Italy brand.

A major upcoming event for the food sector is Fine Food Australia, which this year will take place in Melbourne between 5 and 8 September. We participate every year with an Italian Pavilion, this time including 16 Italian companies and a consortium.

Paola De Faveri

De Faveri believes Australia represents a wealth of opportunity for Italian businesses, not only in the agri-food industry: Italian companies show a growing interest in the Australian market.

Some of them are already present and operational in Australia, especially in some key sectors as infrastructure and energy. Further bilateral cooperation opportunities need to be pursued in sectors with high added value, as our companies can provide state-of-the-art technologies and consolidated knowhow. This is the case, for example, of the space sector and renewable energy.

In fact, the strength of our country is above all in its manufacturing industry, including innovative, emerging, and high technology.

Simona Bernardini will take on the role of trade commissioner when Paola De Faveri departs in November.

BUSINESS & INNOVATION

61

MORE THAN TRADE

THE EUROPEAN UNION–NEW ZEALAND DEAL

by Stefano Riela

The European Union and New Zealand are miles apart, but they have been relatively quick in concluding negotiations for a trade agreement to boost economic relations. Thought small in absolute terms, the agreement carries a political significance in times of trade disruptions and in a scenario dominated by geopolitical rivalries.

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister (left) and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission (right). Photo by Alexandros Michailidis

A

s outlined in a press report by the European Commission on 30 June 2022, the European Union (EU) and New Zealand (NZ) reached a deal on a bilateral trade agreement, only 4 years since the opening of the negotiations.

The aim of the agreement is to open economic opportunities for firms and consumers on both sides. The agreement goes beyond traditional rules for import and export since it encompasses norms about investment, intellectual property rights, data flow, public procurement, Māori trade, respect for the Paris Climate Agreement, and core labor rights.

According to the NZ Government, with a focus on trade, the agreement will remove the duties on 97% of NZ’s current export

62

BUSINESS & INNOVATION

to the EU; eliminate tariffs on foodstuffs as well manufactured goods; and result in larger quotas for annual export of dairy and red meat. In addition, the agreement will allow “NZ service providers to access EU market on an equivalent basis to local and foreign service providers in a range of sectors including education.” According to the European Commission, once the agreement enters into force, NZ removes duties on a range of EU products, such as clothing, cars, machinery, and pharmaceuticals.

Moreover, according to figures from CIRCABC, the agreement will protect geographical indications. Of the 2,146 European geographical indications protected by the agreement, 30% are

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Italian products such as valpolicella, chianti, grappa, asiago, prosciutto di San Daniele, and prosciutto di Parma. The agreement foresees special rules for nero d'Avola, gorgonzola, grappa, and prosecco. To reduce the risk of Italian-sounding products – that is, giving an Italian image to a quality food product that is not actually Italian, there must be a legible and visible indication of the geographical origin of the product concerned. The agreement will also protect 23 NZ wines and spirits.

In my opinion, the expected impact of the agreement, once in force, will hardly be a game changer under the economic point of view. This is mainly due to the structural conditions of the partners and the content of the agreement itself.

NZ is the 50th largest trading partner in goods of the EU and makes up just 0.2% of its trade. The EU is the 4th largest trading partner in goods of NZ after China, Australia, and the United States of America. This comes with no surprise if we consider the gravitational model of trade according to which the size of trade between two countries is a function of their size and the distance between them.

Moreover, according to Hugh Dixon, data manager at Business and Economic Research Ltd, due to the small size of the NZ economy and the type of export (mainly primary goods), the expected effect of a drop in tariffs will generate trade diversion – NZ exporters move exports from lower revenue generating countries to the EU.

sector that, during the negotiations, the European Dairy Association declared that granting NZ further access to the EU market would bring “fatal consequences” for the European dairy sector, and the European Commission stated that “increased market access for primary agriculture may negatively affect the standard of living and traditional lifestyle of small farmers in the EU.” The gravitational model and the relevance of farming industry for both parties make this agreement small in absolute terms.

However, the parties made this agreement a priority as shown by the commitment to keep to the schedule of negotiating rounds overcoming the obstacles posed by Brexit, COVID-19 restrictions, and national interests. In announcing the agreement, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, provided a clear explanation for that commitment: “This new agreement between the EU and NZ comes at an important geopolitical moment. Democracies – like ours – work together and deliver for people.”

The call to strengthen ties among likeminded countries is urgent, and trade agreements carry a political value that goes beyond the mere reductions in tariffs.

The agreement won’t fully open trade in sectors that are economically relevant for the NZ and politically sensitive for the EU: agriculture. The dairy industry, for example, accounts for around 3% of NZ’s gross domestic product and 20% of its total exports. NZ is so efficient in this

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

BUSINESS & INNOVATION

63

UKRAINE MEMBERSHIP IN THE EUROPEAN UNION WHAT ARE THE LIKELY CONSEQUENCES?

by Bruno Mascitelli

As reported widely, shortly after the invasion by Russia, Ukraine requested to join the European Union. How do we make sense of this complex situation? What are the likely consequences if Ukraine’s request for membership is granted?

T

he Ukraine crisis has highlighted a side of the European Union (EU) not often seen. The Ursula Von der Leyen leadership of the European Commission is the most aggressive seen within the EU in years. This approach by Von der Leyen has the qualities of making up for the institutional inadequacies of the EU and equally important of a compliant group of European leaders.

With the exception of Victor Orban from Hungary, most of Ursula Von der Leyens’s calls for opposition to Russia’s invasion and the approach to take toward support for Ukraine have been accepted by the European member states, and only nuances of differences have been heard for the moment.

On 28 February 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion, Ukraine applied for membership of the EU. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky requested admission under a “new special procedure,” and the eight members from the EU heads of states called for an accelerated accession process. In their bid to show support for Ukraine, and as a way to annoy Russian attempts at destroying Ukraine, Ursula Von der Leyen indicated that the EU had open arms toward Ukraine’s membership and projected a fast-track option. This openness toward Ukraine was further supported by the June 2022 EU Council meeting involving the 27 heads of states discussing the question of Ukraine membership of the EU, as

64

BUSINESS & INNOVATION

well as that of Georgia and Moldova. At the end of the meeting, a media release declared “the European Council has decided to grant the status of candidate country to Ukraine and to the Republic of Moldova.” It further stipulated that “the progress of each country toward the EU will depend on its own merit in meeting the Copenhagen criteria, taking into consideration the EU’s capacity to absorb new members.”

This dual standard for membership, while expedient for a show of support for Ukraine by the EU Commission, simultaneously upset those in the membership “waiting room.” This included the Western Balkans nations – Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Albania. Turkey, which is a long-standing potential candidate for EU membership, is an even more complex scenario not possible to address in this short article but nonetheless very distant from membership of the EU. The approach toward Ukraine raised questions for the candidate countries (all in the Western Balkans), who were adhering to the due process of reforms and compliance of EU membership protocols.

On the other hand, fast-tracking Ukraine may allow for a faster tracking of Western Balkan nations for EU membership.

The EU enlargement policy is deeply challenged by these events throwing the cat among the pigeons. The EU has traditionally tackled enlargement through a step-by-step procedural approach

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

ensuring that new member states are EU ready. While talks with Albania and North Macedonia for membership have not even started, due to a Bulgarian veto, negotiations with Serbia and Montenegro are at a standstill ever since they became candidates. Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina have not officially achieved their candidate status.

As the war in Ukraine drags on, some reflection on these events within wider Europe is beginning to happen. Recent research from the European Council on Foreign Relations asserts that: While Europeans feel great solidarity with Ukraine and support sanctions against Russia, they are split about the long-term goals. They divide between a “Peace” camp (35 per cent of people) that wants the war to end as soon as possible, and a “Justice” camp that believes the more pressing goal is to punish Russia (25 per cent of people).

Equally, the effects of the Ukraine crisis are beginning to be felt in some of the member states. In Italy, the largest party within the Mario Draghi coalition government, the 5 Star Movement, recently split on the question of arming Ukraine. The former Foreign Affairs Minister De Maio attacked his own party, the 5 Star Movement, for undermining the Draghi government in its efforts to support Ukraine. The leader of the 5 Star Movement and former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, reluctantly, backed the government’s decision to send arms to Ukraine, but as the fighting continued, he has increased his opposition to supplying Ukraine with weapons,

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

indicating that the weapons were fueling a prolonged war and preferring a dialogue with Russia instead.

While decision-making of the EU is normally more pedestrian and in accordance with its carefully crafted institutional norms, the events in Ukraine have raised the stakes. Some of this more decisive leadership can be put down to some of the new personalities in the EU that have emerged, such as Ursula Von der Leyen. But the Ukraine crisis provides the perfect occasion for this decisiveness to be addressed. Whether this united front by Europe and the United States of America against Russia lasts is difficult to predict.

The effects of this conflict will certainly endure for decades, and the Ukrainian people will continue to be impacted.

Nonetheless, the EU (and NATO for that matter) continues the path of expansion toward the East. While many will argue that this is a choice for each nation concerned, it is also a dangerous option and will make Europe even more uncertain than it was.

BUSINESS & INNOVATION

65

We partner with Industry Leading Technology Providers to create Innovative Solutions

Nixora Group supports Banks and Financial Institutions with improving and excelling in data management, business and risk analytics, and compliance reporting

AUTHORISED IMPLEMENTATION PARTNER OF

www.nixoragroup.com.au contact@nixoragroup.com.au

LA BELLEZZA

THE MANY SHAPES OF BEAUTY

W

by Peter Brodbeck | Photography by An La

hy did we choose a black and white photograph for this issue’s cover? Because, in our view, black and white better represent la bellezza and the many shapes of beauty.

The use of two elements – white representing light, and black representing total darkness – and the way these elements interact in creating an image is emblematic of life itself.

“Black & white photography has that distinctive touch of romanticism and nostalgia that makes them basically timeless. Usually, colours in photos match your character, and your character changes with new life experiences.

Black & white images will always reflect your personality,” noted Carnelos. It's distraction-free.

simply too much going on with so many colours. Black and white images can also seem refreshingly simple and it's often easier to see and interpret the main focus of the picture. Also, … black and white photography is naturally emotive. When you strip away colour from an image, it automatically has a more timeless and nostalgic feeling and can transport you back in time to days long ago.” (source: Techshift.net) While it is uncommon to represent fashion in black and white, contemplating an image in black and white provides deep emotions, which is necessarily different from contemplating a fashion masterpiece where color, instead of distracting, adds to and refines the subjective idea of beauty.

“Busy, colour-saturated pictures can confuse the eye as sometimes there's

Sources: https://atomicdigital.com.au/black-and-white-portrait/ | https://carnelos-photography.com/the-timeless-beauty-of-black-white-photography/ https://techshift.net/what-does-it-mean-when-someone-posts-a-black-and-white-photo/

68

UNDER THE COVER

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

A FASHION HUB FOR CREATIVITY

by Annette Sanfilippo | Photography by An La and Keith John Costelo

Undercover

EMBRACING TALENT

When a fashion designer creates a masterpiece, it is only natural that they draw on their subjective idea of beauty, which can take many shapes. And of course, why not aspire to have it appreciated and acknowledged in some form?

Designer, consultant, academic, and mentor Todd Anthony leads fashion and costume at LCI Melbourne, immerses himself in teaching, and works to inspire these future fashion makers in an arena that is competitive, ever-changing, and technically progressive. In this challenging role, Todd facilitates and enables students to reach their potential for success within the fashion and costume industries.

M

elbourne is fortunate to have a dedicated space at LCI Melbourne to harness creativity and allow dreams to come to fruition. This institute is a global design powerhouse, with 25 campuses across five continents.

LCI Melbourne embraces inclusivity and diversity across its entire network.

Melbourne’s relationship with Milan as her sister city makes it easy for many students to dream of showcasing their work at Milan Fashion Week. Known for its abbraccio (embrace) attitude, it is a fabulous enabler for global recognition.

Lead by the respected dean and principal Karen Webster, students are nurtured, guided, and included in a positive community. Here, they are encouraged to establish themselves locally and globally as they work toward achieving a Bachelor of Design Arts.

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

LCI Melbourne has produced many successes and is at the forefront of design education. Vogue magazine editor Anna Wintour herself awarded LCI mentor Blair Archibald with the title of Woolmark’s Emerging Designer of the Year. Blair, Todd, and Karen together cultivate these up-and-coming designers to understand relevance, repurposing, construction, and the future of textile technologies.

UNDER THE COVER

the

69

Credits Fashion stylist: Lynette Pater Photography: An La Keith John Costelo Models: Eryn Saunders Monika Ky Hair and makeup: Iris Wieselmann Milliner: Georgia Skelton JWLmillinery Designers: Nikki Edgar Alex Gibson Mark Reid Lowdon

Student Nikki Edgars reimagined a second-hand wedding dress; the outcome shown here is one look from her More to a Woman collection. By deconstructing and upcycling a wedding dress, worn only once, Nikki focuses on combating unsustainable practices through reimagining with the use of contrasting fabrics, giving it new life.

The editorial imagery supporting this article is the result of a recent shoot at the LCI Melbourne Campus in Collingwood, typifying the ethos of the institute, which is to encourage collaboration between education and industry. Photographers, stylist’s milliners, and makeup artists joined forces to produce some breathtaking interpretations of the students’ work, taking away a renewed inspiration for their own creativity.

As Todd continues to reinforce his passionate beliefs about what is needed for the innovation of the fashion industry, his mantra to inspire and motivate his students is “Emerging designers need to respond to the times they are living in.”

Pertinent words, and after visiting LCI Melbourne and talking to students, it is more than apparent that this state-ofthe-art space in the heart of Melbourne will keep the heart of the creative world beating. No one will be left behind here,

70

UNDER THE COVER

and we will see many future protégés reaching the world stage.

Representing the Australian press and LCI Melbourne, speaking at international conferences and attending fashion weeks including Milano, Todd brings international experience to LCI. In previous years, LCI has traveled with students to Milan for Design Week to experience the relationship between these two design capitals. Todd and the team at LCI Melbourne are working with students toward showcasing their designs during the iconic Milan week in Italy.

THE 2022 ST.ALI ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL RETURNS IN SPRING! Images provided by St.Ali Italian Film Festival

Highlights include opening night feature Belli Ciao – an a retrospective of iconic Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini.

The 2022 Festival opens with Italian box office hit BELLI CIAO, starring comedic duo Pio and Amedeo. It follows two formerly inseparable friends who reunite in their hometown in Puglia after years apart, resulting in an entertaining north versus south culture clash. Opening Night receptions will include delicious Italian antipasti, Santa Margherita Prosecco and more.

Direct from the Cannes Film Festival is this year's Festival Centrepiece NOSTALGIA, directed by Mario Martone and winner of Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor at the 2022 Nastri D’Argento Awards. An atmospheric urban drama starring the superb Pierfrancesco Favino, it follows a man returning to his hometown of Naples after 40 years and rediscovering the city, its codes and rules, and facing a past that has haunted him.

One of Italy’s most significant filmmakers, Pier Paolo Pasolini, will be the focus of a retrospective celebrating the centenary of his birth. The Festival is thrilled to present three of his iconic film adaptions of literary works: THE CANTERBURY TALES on its 50th anniversary, ARABIAN NIGHTS and THE DECAMERON.

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

71

New Italian Cinema highlights include BREAKING UP IN ROME (Lasciarsi un giorno a Roma), an homage to the Italian capital. This heartfelt romantic comedy directed by and starring Edoardo Leo delves into the difficulties a couple faces when they separate after many years living together.

Romance is a key ingredient of the suspenseful and delicious comedy THE PERFECT DINNER (La cena perfetta) which sees a Neapolitan mafioso who is sent to Rome to launder money through a restaurant crossing paths with a chef who dreams of winning a Michelin star.

THE SHADOW OF THE DAY (L'ombra del giorno) features brilliant performances from a smouldering Riccardo Scamarcio and rising star Benedetta Porcaroli.

Following the declaration of racial laws in Fascist Italy, a restaurateur’s life changes when a girl with a dangerous secret starts to work at his restaurant in this dramatic love story.

For families comes the prequel to the hugely successful THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS WITCH (IFF19) called THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS WITCH 2 – THE ORIGINS (La Befana vien di notte 2: Le origini), featuring an excellent ensemble cast including Monica Bellucci. Set in the 18th Century, the comedy explores the origins of the Befana.

L I V E L A D O L C E V I TA

SYDNEY MELBOURNE CANBERRA ADELAIDE BRISBANE PERTH BYRON BAY

13 SEPT - 12 OCT 14 SEPT - 12 OCT 15 SEPT - 12 OCT 21 SEPT - 16 OCT 21 SEPT - 16 OCT 22 SEPT - 16 OCT 23 SEPT - 9 OCT

ItalianFilmFestival.com.au

Open your franchise

74

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

Cammeray NSW

Across Australia!

Palace Cinema

ST. ALI ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2022 The 2022 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival presented by Palace returns to cinemas nationally in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, and Byron Bay from 13 September, whisking audiences straight to Italy with a selection celebrating the country’s filmmaking tradition. From contemporary drama, comedy, and documentaries to a retrospective honouring one of Italy’s greatest filmmakers, this year’s rich program will transport audiences with a cinematic escape to la bella Italia!

Sydney, 13 September – 12 October: Palace Central, Palace Norton St, Palace Verona, Chauvel Cinema Canberra, 14 September – 12 October: Palace Electric Cinema Melbourne, 15 September – 12 October: Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, The Kino, Pentridge Cinema, The Astor, Cinema Nova Brisbane, 21 September – 16 October: Palace Barracks, Palace James Street Adelaide, 21 September – 16 October: Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas Perth: 22 September – 16 October: Palace Raine Square, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX, Windsor Cinema Byron Bay: 23 September – 9 October: Palace Byron Bay Information http://italianfilmfestival.com.au/

Direct from Italy, the Italian tenors Evans Tonon, Sabino Gaita, and Luca Sala will be returning in 2022 for their fourth Australia tour. A worldwide popopera phenomenon, their show cannot be missed by those who love the arias of Puccini and Verdi, the Neapolitan songs of Caruso and Mario Merola, and the hits of Sanremo.

3 September 2022, 8:00 p.m.

Auditorium, North Sydney Leagues Club, 12 Abbott Street, Cammeray, NSW 2062

Sydney NSW

The Italian Cultural Institute in Sydney & the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre ITALIAN CONTEMPORARY CINEMA This series of feature films provide a vision of Italy at the dawn of the second decade of this third millennium: • 7 October: A Special Day by Francesca Comencini • 4 November: The Complexity of Happiness

by Gianni Zanasi Free admission Bookings essential https://www.casulapowerhouse.com/visit/ italian-film-series

Sydney NSW

The Italian Cultural Institute in Sydney MULTI-ETHNIC ITALY: THE NEW ITALIANS This series of screenings is dedicated to some of the most significant contemporary cultural and social aspects of Italian life as well as representative figures of Italian cinema.

19 October at 7 p.m: The Vice of Hope 16 November at 7 p.m: Tigers Tickets for sale at http://www.palacecinemas.com.au/

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

What’s on

THE ITALIAN TENORS 2022

Melbourne VIC

Melbourne VIC

ROMANCE AND GLAMOUR, MIGRANTS AND MAVERICKS: EXPLORE THE HISTORY OF ITALIAN FOOD ON A WALK AROUND MELBOURNE WITH DR TANIA CAMMARANO

DANTE'S DIVINE COMEDY 2022 INFERNO AND PURGATORIO

17 September 2022, 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Registration essential Cost: $70.00 (includes coffee, biscuits, a glass of wine and antipasto) Walk length: 3 kilometres; terrain: generally flat; max: 15 participants.

To register https://www.coasit.com.au/

POLITICA, POTERE E PRINCIPI: IL PRINCIPE DI MACHIAVELLI Course in Italian presented by Dante Alighieri Giovani, with Nicholas SgroTraikovski Starting early 2023 Information: dante.alighieri.melbourne@gmail.com

CO.AS.IT

Melbourne VIC CO.AS.IT

IN PARALLEL In Parallel features new works by artists Liliana Barbieri, Anna Caione, Sarina Lirosi and Wilma Tabacco that respond to the ideas and artefacts of selected Italian designers – Bruno Munari, Gaetano Pesce, Alessandro Mendini and Giò Pomodoro – and to their own works first exhibited in Parallel Visions at CO.AS.IT. in 2020-2021. These further extend their creative practice in light of their Italian cultural heritage. A catalogue that reproduces works from both exhibitions is available at CO.AS.IT.

CO.AS.IT

Melbourne VIC

Monash University

10 weeks reading course in English presented by Dr Simon West September/October 2022

Melbourne VIC CO.AS.IT

CHIACCHIERATE CONCERTANTI: MUSIC AND CONVERSATIONS ON THE GREAT ITALIAN TRADITION Friday evenings with Ilaria Crociani and Mirko Guerrini.

• Luigi Tenco: When words overtake music 9 September, 6.30 p. m. – 8 p.m.

• Ennio Morricone: Not just cinema: absolute songs (Special guest: Darrin Archer) 7 October, 6.30 p. m. – 8 p.m.

• Lelio Luttazzi and Bruno Martino: Jazz songs made in Italy (Special guest: James Sherlock) 11 November, 6.30-8pm.

• Songwriters behind the scenes: Giorgio Gaber, Ivan Fossati, Cristina Donà (Special guest: Ryan Griffith)

5 August – 28 September 2022 Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 5pm Saturday from 1pm to 5pm Free entry Floor talks 2 p.m. to 3 p.m, on Saturday 3 September and Saturday 24 September

Free events Registration essential: https://www.coasit.com.au/

189-199 Faraday St, Carlton VIC 3053

189-199 Faraday St, Carlton VIC 3053

LANGUAGES WEEK This September, Monash Arts invites you to join a series of events celebrating languages and multilingualism. Monash Italian studies in collaboration with Monash Italian Club run by students will organize the following events, both on campus and online: • Nutella Bomboloni 5 September, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

• “Parliamo!” language convo + pop-quizzes or trivia 7 September, 2 p.m. -3 p.m.

• Online cooking session - Torta al limone (Italian-style lemon cake) 7 September, 6 p.m. - 7 p.m.

• Italian Ball 9 September, from 7 p.m. onwards For more information, please contact Lucien.Brown@monash.edu

Melbourne VIC Fine Food Australia 2022 ITALIAN PAVILION Fine Food Australia is the leading trade event for the food industry.

Running for 38 years, the event has welcomed hundreds of food industry professionals from Australasia and beyond, through our show doors.

5–8 September 2022 Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country 1 Convention Centre Place / 2 Clarendon Street, South Wharf, Victoria 3006

Across New Zealand ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL Dates and locations • Matakana 6–14 September • Taupo 15–22 September

76

WHAT'S ON

• Arrowtown 22–28 September • Tauranga 14–28 October

• Whakatane 20–27 October • Wellington 2–17 November

• Christchurch 9–25 November • Nelson 9–27 November • Waiheke 5–11 January 2023

All programs can be downloaded from: https://www.italianfilmfestivalnz.com/ Book your tickets on https://www.italianfilmfestivalnz.com/booking

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

CARLA TRIGILIA

Cari lettori,

napologetics

FEATURING

Meet our Team

IN EACH ISSUE, WE INTRODUCE ONE OF OUR TEAM MEMBERS

I am Carla Trigilia and I joined Segmento team at the end of 2021.

I was born and raised in Syracuse, a lovely town in the southeast of Sicily.

I went on to study in Rome earning a Master in Corporate Communication and then I moved to Milan, where I worked in external and internal communications dealing with national and international clients for over 15 years.

Having made the decision to move to Melbourne to follow my husband’s career opportunity, I arrived in 2017 and started working as a teacher of the Italian language. I have been managing the Centre of Italian Studies, a wellestablished Italian school in Melbourne, since 2019.

I am passionate about Italian culture, and I love writing about Italian movies, books, and travel. In 2017, I was shortlisted in the Melbourne Writers Festival in the My Place in Melbourne storytelling competition.

Carla with Aristotle.

Photo by Kyle Behrend, Edgar's Mission

Carla Trigilia

Segmento Issue XXVIII • Sep-Nov 2022

I am a very spontaneous person and a cat lady. I have always been a huge animal lover and I have been volunteering for Edgar’s Mission, a nonprofit animal sanctuary in Lancefield (about 70 kilometers north of Melbourne), which seeks to create a humane and just world for all. I call Edgar’s Mission my second home and I am always there when I am not teaching or writing an article for Segmento!

the

77

Scoperta

DISCOVER MORE ABOUT ITALY AND ALL THINGS ITALIAN

Alla

Nostalgia

by Ermanno Rea

Nostalgia, published by Feltrinelli, is the last of a trilogy. Conceived as a collective novel, it narrates the community of a Neapolitan neighborhood through individual stories set against the backdrop of centuries of history.

We recommend it because …

In this issue, we are taking you to the same Neapolitan neighborhood, and the craving to know more about it will either put you on a plane or direct you to a bookshop!

La Traviata

La Traviata is about the most romantic kind of love – impossible love. Opera Australia is staging the world's most-performed opera in Sydney this October.

To find out more, visit https://opera.org.au/ We recommend it because …

If you are thinking of going to the opera for the very first time, this masterpiece by Verdi will ensure you never stop going back!

Luna Park

Two sisters try to unravel the mystery of their separation from each other in childhood.

Set in an amusement park, the story portrays the differences in upbringing and lifestyles of two very different families. Luna Park is now showing on Netflix.

We recommend it because …

Suitable for all ages, this light TV series also provides a credible portrait of various aspects of Italy in the 1960s.

78

ALLA SCOPERTA

Segmento Issue XXV • Mar-May 2022

For lovers of all things Italian New year, new friends.

VISIT US ONLINE TO SUBSCRIBE www.segmento.com.au/signup-page EMAIL segmento@segmento.com.au | PHONE +61 410 860 036