Dante’s Sicilian Connections –
Mythology, geography, history, and literature in the Divine Comedy and popular culture
by Franco Arcidiacono
Saturday 24 August, 2.30pm
St Anne’s Hall, 127 Nelson St, Kalinga
Entry $20 ($10 concession) includes afternoon tea
Please let us know if you’re coming: 0401 927 967 or info@dante-alighieri.com.au
Franco’s presentation will be in English.
ALL WELCOME!
Synopsis: Dante’s profound connection to Sicily, along with his prodigious knowledge of those aspects numerated in the title of this presentation, led one Dante scholar to propose that within the Commedia there appears to be no region in all of Italy, “more rich with memories, more fertile in associations, more full of interest, than la Sicilia” (Edward Moore, 1890).
Nor should Sicily’s special importance to Dante be any wonder, for it was there that the wars waged, alliances made and intrigues plotted by the protagonists profoundly influenced Dante’s own misfortunes, hopes, and aspirations – as reflected by their placement in his Christian conception of an afterlife. As for the Sicilians themselves, they were never passive victims of their subjugation, and they had long memories both good and bad.
Franco Arcidiacono, educator, artist and history enthusiast, is well known to many Dante members as the creator of the first Italian Immersion programme in Queensland, at Stanthorpe State High School. His achievements in languages education, and in service to the community more broadly, led not only to Franco’s receiving both State and National Excellence in Teaching awards, but also to the conferral of an Ordine della Stella d’Italia – Order of the Star of Italy – by the Italian government in 2021. These honours recognise his work in setting up Stanthorpe’s Italian Australian Welfare Association and the local DAS committee in the 1990s, as well as his research, along with his wife Morwenna Arcidiacono, on the history of Italians in the Granite Belt region to produce the book Echoes of Italian Voices (2009). Since retirement, he has taken up painting and drawing as well as the study of art history.
Following exhibitions of his work in Stanthorpe and Brisbane, he was commissioned to paint murals along the main street in Stanthorpe, reflecting local history. Franco is a longstanding friend and supporter of the Brisbane Dante and in 1998 he was awarded the Certificato di Benemerenza (with silver medal) from the Dante Alighieri Society in Rome. For all the above reasons we are delighted that Franco accepted our invitation to present this lecture.