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Dante Alighieri Society Melbourne and CO.AS.IT. presentCelebrating 200 Years of Carlo Collodi: Food, Culture and Identity in His Stories. A Talk with Dr Andrea Pagani (Monash University)
Part of the Program for the XI edition of the Week of Italian Cuisine in the World, coordinated by the Consulate general of Italy in Melbourne and the Italian Cultural Institute of Melbourne
Tuesday 17 November 2026, 6:30-8pm at CO.AS.IT., 199 Faraday Street, Carlton
Free event. Registration essential here: https://www.coasit.com.au/200-years-collodi
To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Carlo Collodi (1826–1890), the Dante Alighieri Society Melbourne and CO.AS.IT. propose an evening exploring the relationship between literature, food and Italian identity, with a particular focus on Collodi’s schoolbook Il viaggio per l’Italia di Giannettino. The event will open with a short introduction to Carlo Collodi and his place in Italian literature and culture, before Andrea Pagani presents his research on the role of food in Collodi’s writing. Drawing on his 2024 article “Food and identity in Carlo Collodi’s Il viaggio per l’Italia di Giannettino”, Pagani will examine how local foods, food traditions and convivial practices become markers of regional and community identity, and how Collodi uses them to present Italian identity as a diverse and multicultural whole.
The evening will be moderated by Benedetta Ferrara, journalist and editor at Il Globo and Committee member of the Dante Alighieri Society Melbourne.
Andrea Pagani is an Assistant Lecturer in European Studies at Monash University and a journalist for the Australian public broadcaster SBS. His research interests lie primarily in Food Studies and Children’s Literature, with a particular focus on the intersections between culture, migration, identity, and representation. In 2024, he published Beyond Pinocchio: Political and Cultural Dissonance in Carlo Collodi’s Primers (1877–1890) with Bloomsbury. His second book, Terra! Italians Reshaping Rural Victoria, 2000– 2025, co-authored with Dr Luigi Gussago, is forthcoming.
Image (cropped): Cover image of Andrea Pagani’s book "Beyond Pinocchio" Image courtesy Fabio Leonardi.
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Event venue
199 Faraday Street, Carlton, VIC, Australia, Victoria 3053, Museo Italiano, 199 Faraday St, Carlton VIC 3053, Australia, Melbourne
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