Past Events › Past Events

Pianist Elisa Berti talked about Arturo Toscanini, one of the greatest conductors the world has ever seen, with the aid of rare original audio and video documents. This talk was held to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Toscanini's birth.

Dr. Marco Abbondanza, an ophthalmic surgeon with more than 30 years' experience, talked about the most recent advances in ophthalmology at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), discussing the latest research dealing with refractive errors, keratoconus, glaucoma, retinopathies and cataracts, with the aid of data, pictures and videos from his own surgical experience. Ophthalmologists, academics, orthoptists, biostatisticians, journalists and university students attended Dr. Abbondanza's conference at UTS, contributing to a long and pleasant Q&A session. Dr. Abbondanza's website is www.abbondanza.org.

The ARA PACIS is a monumental altar located in Rome and dedicated to Pax, the Roman goddess of Peace, built in 13 B.C. to honour the return of Emperor Augustus to Rome.

Join us for a fun evening with live entertainment by well known singer songwriter Carlotta Centanni.

A talk by Australian economist and author Bruce Bland on celebrated architect Francesco Borromini, a leading figure in the emergence of Baroque architecture and a legendary rival of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was notoriously fascinated with Italy and set several of his plays there. Some even claim he lived in Italy and was an Italian himself. Poet Mark O’Connor brings several of these strands together in a rare public address on this topic. Mark O’Connor is a very well known Australian poet, Shakespeare and English poetry scholar, and environmentalist.

Literary historian Susannah Fullerton delighted us in August with a talk on why Italy has been such a magnet to writers over the centuries.