On November 26 in Brisbane, 5 Australian students were awarded the StuditaliA Prize, the twenty-seven years old program for Year 12 students of Italian in Queensland. The awards ceremony took place at the Queensland Department of Education in the presence of the Queensland Minister of Education and Industrial Relations, Cav. OMRI Grace Grace and the Consul of Italy in Brisbane, Dr. Salvatore Napolitano.
StuditaliA’s main focus this year was on the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, also commemorated through an exhibition conceived by the Italian Cultural Institute of Sydney. The winning students carried out a project research on the characters of the Divine Comedy during the selection process, and received a scholarship for an educational experience in Italy by 2025. Anna Tafani, student of the fourth year of the Queensland Conservatory, delighted the guests with a performance of Puccini’s “Storiella d’Amore” based on a text by Ghislanzoni, and inspired by Dante’s story about Paolo and Francesca.
“Studitalia is undoubtedly the flagship program of cooperation between Italy and Queensland, founded on solid foundations and projected towards a bright future, which is the bright future of all the students who have participated in Studitalia over the course of these 27 years” declared the Consul Salvatore Napolitano, who added: “The interest in studying and learning the Italian language in Queensland continues to grow, thanks to an effective action by the Italian government, which has recently arranged funding for Italian professorships in the schools of Cairns, Stanthorpe and also in Darwin in the Northern Territory ”. The Consul also thanked the Head of Italian courses at Griffith University, Sara Visocnik, for having worked closely with the Consulate to maintain teaching Italian at the University. Griffith University takes its name from Sir Samuel Griffith, great Queensland statesman and jurist who was the first Australian translator of the “Divine Comedy”.
StuditaliA is based on the collaboration between the Consulate of Italy, Brisbane and the Queensland Department of Education and it is supported by the voluntary contributions of institutions and the associations of the Italian community. The Organising Committee comprises Comites Queensland and Northern Territory, COASIT Brisbane/ Italian Language Center (ILC), Dante Alighieri Brisbane, Griffith University.
