From art and architecture to food, language and identity, the book uncovers the enduring connections between Italy and Australia and celebrates the often-overlooked contributions of Italian migrants to Australian society.
“Italo is a love letter.”
These are the first five words in Italo’s Introduction.
Cristian Bonetto’s new book is indeed an open love letter that recounts many intriguing details on a deeper interconnectedness between Australia and Italy than is often known.
Bonetto weaves a narrative around the intersectionality of art, science, craftsmanship and culinary artistry between Australia and Italy. The extent of the indelible shaping of Italianità Australian style is truly fascinating as Bonetto takes us on a tour through Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. As he moves about each city, Bonetto provides a plethora of details attesting to the complex richness and depth of connection between Australia and Italy since the 1800’s.
Bonetto is a writer who is constantly gathering inspiration from the world around him. With over 60 Lonely Planet publications, two books and various essays, he is both prolific and industrious.
Italo however is different. It is an array of socio-cultural “cicchetti” (Italian tapas) that must be savoured to appreciate the rich flavour of Italian-Australian interconnectedness.
As one example, the enduring influence of Carlo Catani’s engineering skills are detailed. Catani redesigned the St. Kilda foreshore into an “elegant, four-lane promenade with separate paths for pedestrians, cyclists, ponies and horse-drawn carriages.”
The Australian fascination with il Bel Paese is also documented as part of this transmarine narrative. For instance, through the recounting of the experiences of the first Australian painter to study abroad, Adelaide Ironside. She drew inspiration as she moved around Rome, Perugia and Florence. In fact, her painting The Pilgrim of Art, Crowned by the Genius of Art (1859) found its home in the Rome Court. For Australians wishing to view the artist’s works, the Art Gallery of NSW holds quite a collection.
Bonetto describes how the connection between celebrated Australian artist Albert Tucker and Italian art critic and writer, Gino Nibbi led to hosting an exhibition on Tucker in Nibbi’s Trastevere Gallery where Tucker was introduced to his Italian “hero”, de Chirico. Then, a year later, a joint exhibition which featured Sidney Nolan alongside the famous de Chirico in Rome in 1953 provides another layer to the cross-cultural exchange. This pivotal circle of encounters and exhibitions provided Italians with the opportunity to experience Australian modernism. And Australians to be enthralled by an array of works inspired by Italian experiences.
Another lesser-known detail is that an Italian, Charles (Carlo) Brentani went from arriving in Australia in shackles to crafting the first Flemington Cup in 1849.
The “cicchetti” offered by Bonetto in Italo are abundant and delicious!
He recounts the many Italophiles in Australia who were influenced by aspects of diaspora culture in Australia, and the rich culture experienced in Italy. Celebrity figures such as Barry Humphries and Dame Nella Melba.
Even former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, a self-described Italophile all drew inspiration from their experiences in Italy. In fact, Gough Whitlam penned “My Italian Notebook: The Story of an Enduring Love Affair”. Whilst Queensland’s first premier, Sir Samuel Griffith fascination was so strong that his studies of the language and culture led him to translate two of Dante Alighieiri’s famous works – La Divina Commedia (the Divine Comedy) and / (The New Life).
Italo is rich with fascinating details. Ludovico Einaudi’s nonno settled in Queensland, also a composer in his own right. Pietro Porcelli a sculptor of Puglian origins was known to cut a bella figura working in collar and tie on many works found across Fremantle and even the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. Fittingly Porcelli is now immortalised in in a statute by Greg James in Kings Square in Fremantle.
There are examples of the connection amongst our streets. For instance, the quiet statute of Il Porcellino which connects Florence and Sydney. Or, Brisbane’s City Hall clocktower, inspired by Venice’s Campanile in San Marco.
The book cover of Italo: Culture and Dining in Italian Australia by Cristian Bonetto
From fashion icons such as Carla Zampatti and Gesualdi, sculptor Achille Simonetti the list of cultural influencers is extensive and evidences the extent to which the two countries have an intersecting cultural link.
Italo has its geneses in the Covid-19 pandemic. During this period, Bonetto found his travel writing work suddenly halted, along with his long stays in Italy. He felt “increasingly detached” from his life in Italy. However, this sense of loss gave rise to an significant opportunity.
His nostalgia for Italy elicited a heightened awareness of the abundance of Italian influences about him – “old Italian shop signs, terrazzo floors, the very Italian arches of suburban Australian architecture” He began to be curious, and this led to wanting to capture this Italianità in Australia.
The motivation for writing Italo has many layers, “I felt an increasing nostalgia for the Italian Australia of my 80s childhood”. Bonetto’s view of his vita familiare (family life) is typical of the migrant experience. He and his family lived in a third space – separate from mainstream Australia, detached from life in Italy.
He recognises that whilst Italians go about quietly with little knowledge about the depth of Italian contribution to Australia, the new wave of more recent migrants have “helped revitalise Italian culture in Australia, bringing with them contemporary ideas, tastes and influences that are reshaping Italianità here”.
For Bonetto, this “evolution” of Italianness over decades has become a particular interest.
It is in discussion with Bonetto that he reveals the deeply personal motivational factor for writing this book. Herein lies the importance of the book to a broad readership.
Italo is a dialogue he never had the chance to have when growing up, and, is still missing from the narrative on Italian migration. Bonetto proposes that this dialogue on Italianita` in Australia was formulated for migrants – for him, his parents and other migrants by mainstream Australian society, rather than by them as Italians with lived experience. The connection between the two countries was, and remains, a conversation dictated by non-Europeans who came before, rather than Italians themselves.
Bonetto explains, that growing up “I often felt excluded from my own city’s early European narrative. Italians were mainly seen as a post-war addition, a group usually associated with the domestic sphere: Italians brought the pasta, the pizza, the espresso culture.”
He feels that the minimising of migrants through stereotyping have resulted in perceiving Italians as “other, as somehow less than”. Italians just had to live with their typecasting and get on with creating some sort of life in Australia as best they could.
However, Italo is Bonetto’s opportunity to challenge the superficial, stereotypical understandings of Italian cultural influence. Through revealing the significance of the cultural exchange between the two countries, Italy and Australia, Bonetto successfully provides a well-documented and crafted counter-argument to the typecast notions of Italians.
Italo redefines the elaborate and vibrant culinary richness of Italian cuisine and food traditions. The text lists various café’s, high-class restaurants, artisanal style trattorie, specialist supermarkets, butchers and providers of all things delizioso.
Il Porcellino, Sydney. (Photo: Cristian Bonetto)
Bonetto provides an extensive overview of offerings found in each corner of each city. Sardinian porceduu and seadas at Pilloni, or the range of artisanal cheese by Casa Motta both found in Brisbane. In Adelaide, Etica, the first pizzeria accredited by the Associazione Verace Pizza Neopolitana serves a range of pizzas, including a “proper marinara”.
And the MacLaren Vale Mitolo Wines, bringing the “Abruzzese ethos of forte e gentile (strong and gentle) to its blends of wines. Sydney’s The Restaurant Pendolino or I Maccheroni each of which provides an array of dishes from across the Italian peninsula to delight the palate. Also, Bar Idda’s Sicilian home comfort meals, Cavallaro’s delectable cannoli to Gigi’s award-winning gelato in Melbourne.
The culinary artistry of the many must-try eateries provides a sense of the complexity of Italian food tradition.
Bonetto reflects on the damaging rhetoric that has shaped his parents’ experiences. Their experiences are common to many Italian migrants, that of being typecast in roles which always ensure that the italiano is just too different to acculturate into mainstream society.
He challenges the pervasive general view of Italians being foreign with funny ways, of being untrustworthy, even instinctively criminal and violent. In short, “somehow lesser” and, as a result, marginalised from full and respectful societal participation – “my parents just closed in within themselves and their families. The got on with their lives in Australia, quietly.”
Italo reclaims the Italian voice and presence in Australia. It reveals how this presence has been integral to the shaping of our cities, and our deeply connected modern cultural foundations.
My approach was to look beyond the idea of Italian-Australian culture as something belonging solely to the Italian diaspora. What fascinated me was how deeply Italian people and influences have permeated Australian life more broadly, from the familiar, such as coffee, food and wine, to less obvious areas like skyscraper design and modern art.
Bonetto’s literary skill is fascinating in itself. His writing style is warm, expressive and deeply clever. His choice of words, turn of phrases is always considered. In reading Italo, it is clear to understand why the fast-paced script writing cycle for Home & Away and Neighbours was not something he pursued early in his career.
Bonetto’s childhood ambition of becoming a writer is a success story. Since submitting his sample chapter to Lonely Planet focussing on the Stockholm neighbourhood of Södermalm, his passion for writing has only increased. And his success was evident at the recent Melbourne launch of Italo.
Glancing over at Cristian’s parents at Bonetto’s Melbourne book launch, it was easy to notice a complexity of glowing pride, parental wonderment, and, that unmistakable Italian migrant humility as his parents listened to their son discuss Italo. Bonetto paid tribute to his own parents’ experiences in shaping his core motivation for the book.
Bonetto explained how his parents developed the key to understanding culture – an insistence on becoming proficient in the Italian language;
“Like food, language isn’t just sustenance – it’s identity. It doesn’t merely communicate; it transmits who we are, where we come from and where we feel we belong.”
Bonetto’s subtle theme of belonging has an added fascinating layer. Whilst born of Italian parents – his mother was born in Alexandria in Egypt and lived there happily until the government decided foreigners should leave. Antonietta did leave but brought with her an array of language skills – French, Italian, Arabic. She added English to her repertoire when she settled in Australia. The lessico familiare of the Bonetto household reflecting a plurilingual – and pluricultural experience across the generations.
It is no surprise to hear that Bonetto is already considering his next literary piece:
Only so much information and so many stories could make it into ITALO. I have so much great material that didn’t make it into the book, so I’m certainly not short of inspiration. For now though, I’m enjoying seeing ITALO out in the world and hearing from readers about the stories and connections that resonate with them
Italo will no doubt shape the walking tours of many readers, as well as inspire a few well-chosen eating experiences. Having a bit of time before Bonetto’s next publication may indeed be a very good thing.
Cristian Bonetto will present his new book at the Institute of Italian Culture in Sydney on Thursday 15th October at 6pm.
