Cartolina 1 & 4 November 1 Decemberr 2015

4 November: in the last programme about the Milan World Expo, Denis Walker talks of one of the collateral exhibitions that he visited in Rome, and that were possibly more intriguing and more focused than the main one, on the theme: “feeding the planet”. This exhibition is located at the Ara Pacis.

18 November: PNRA’s Gianluca Bianchi Fasano (expedition head) and Giuseppe De Rossi (works director) are in Christchurch, on their way to the Italian Station in Antarctica. They talk about this year’s projects, many of which will be part of international cooperation

1 December: Crossing Rachmaninoff, with Italian pianist Flavio Villani and film director New Zealander Rebecca Tansley. The documentary of this title was screened at the International Film Festival this year. It follows the preparation and the presentation of Rachmaninoff’s celebrated and difficult concert held in Calabria, as well as telling Flavio’s personal and professional story.

Cartolina : 7 & 21 October 2015

7 October: Viviana Zanetti moved to New Zealand from Ferrara two years ago. She’s been blogging her family about her new life, and she’s been answering FB questions from other Italians recently arrived, or thinking of the big move. Realizing how important it was to learn about the experiences of others, she established, with help from other friends, a website and FB page titled: “Leaving Italy, Living New Zealand”. Rich of comments and people’s stories, all well told and often humorous, with interviews and side-by-side video sparring, this website is a trove of information and entertainment alike: http://leavingitalylivingnewzealand.weebly.com/

21 October: When talking in a previous programme about the EXPO in Milan, Denis Walker mentioned that there were some 400 exhibitions throughout Italy related to the same theme, ‘Nourishing the Planet’. In this programme he talks of two of them, both in Rome. One is: ‘The Elegance of Food’ at the Mercati di Traiano, that explores the links between food and fashion. His favourite however was: ‘Food: from Spoon to the World’, set in the MAXXI, the National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, itself well worth a visit. It was designed by London-Iraqui architect Zaha Hadid, and acclaimed by The Guardian as "her finest built work to date”.

Cartolina 9 & 23 September 2015

9 September: Festival Italiano in Auckland has become a great yearly appointment for lovers of anything Italian, spilling from a school playground onto roads around, and including events and concerts. Festival Director Alessandra Zecchini tells how the Festival was started, and what will be this year’s highlights.

23 September Milan World Fair : Recently returned from his Italian holiday, Cartolina co-producer Denis Walker talks about visiting the Milan World Fair, and some connected events throughout Italy. With the theme “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”, it certainly has inspired this foodie’s thoughts

Cartolina 12 & 26 August 2015

12 August: Pellegrino Artusi, accountant by trade, creator of the “Italian” cuisine. Denis and Wilma talk about the genesis of his seminal book L’arte in cucina e la scienza del mangiar bene (The art in the kitchen and the science of eating well), that for the first time collected regional recipes from all over Italy, meant not for restaurants, but for the Italian households. Interestingly, the book contains in a few chapters everything that now fills bookshops’ shelves in terms of health, hygiene and happiness!

26 August: Karen Price and Karen Stade have co-authored the book Pasta, Prayer & Promise – The story of Nelson’s Italian community, 1860-2014. At 450 pages, with an incredible wealth of documents (some de-classified for the occasion), this is the ultimate compilation of the stories of those families, contributing so much to the New Zealand history, and to the alternate fortunes of the relationship between the two Countries. It’s also a visual feast, presenting photos from sepia to full colour. We talk with the authors, on the day of the Christchurch book launch, organized by the Dante Society.

Cartolina 1, 15 & 29 July 2015

1 July: Beniamino Petrosino talks about his book “The passage of the frog and the wild strawberries of 1942”, and about a project dear to him: the Aninz, Associazione Nonni Italiani in NZ. We play Il vecchio e il bambino, by Francesco Guccini. Beniamino can be contacted through the FB page Italiani a Christchurch.

15 July: Francesco Pasqualetti is the Italian conductor directing the coming season of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at the Isaac Theatre Royal from the 23rd of July. This is the second time Pasqualetti directs opera in New Zeland. We talk with him about the present production.

29 July: Mulino Bianco is one of the most loved brands in Italy, maker of fine biscuits of all kinds. It’s also a story of clever marketing, in which reality had to adapt to fantasy!

Cartolina 3 & 17 June 2015

Christian Leotta

3 June: an interview with pianist Christian Leotta, on the eve of his recital in Christchurch, a free event organized by the Italian Ambassador to celebrate Italy’s Republic Day, with the support of Societa` Dante Alighieri of Christchurch. Maestro Leotta is a native of Catania, and now lives in Como. He’s hailed as one of the major Beethoven soloists of our time, and has recorded the entire corpus of Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas.

17 June: Nutella! You can find it in every corner of the world. But do you know it’s an Italian invention? Possibly the most successful product of the Ferrero brand. We tell the story of the popular spread, and play some songs that you can’t miss, like “La Nutella di tua sorella” We also discuss how to make the perfect

Crostata di Nutellla

Cartolina 6 & 20 May 2015

Radio Cartolina 6 and 20 May

Radio Cartolina 6 and 20 May: two programmes on Pino Daniele, the Italian singer-song writer who died recently. Daniele Ronci ed Erica Bellettini discuss (in Italian) his unique style of Neapolitan rock, and introduce his best songs.

Cartonlina 8 & 22 April 2015

8 April: Simon Ogden and Enrica 
Sciarrino discuss Sicily, the inspiration
 of Ogden’s photographic travels. His
 photos are vignettes that defy the 
images of Sicily that one can find in
 postcards, travel guides and magazines, by erasing the
 picturesque and the monumental in order to make room for alternative forms of encounter, and capturing unmistakably Sicilian colours and textures (from E.S.’s introduction). His exhibition, “love, lust & life -hands, hearts & minds, opened in Wellington in February under the auspices of the Italian Embassy, and is coming to Christchurch at Papergraphica, 192 Bealey Av, on the 13^th of April. 

                     22 April: Cartolina producers Wilma Laryn and Denis Walker talk about their favourite songs.

Cartolina 11 & 25 March 2015

11 March: Francesco Ventriglia has taken up his appointment as the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Artistic Director in November. He talks about his career from dance to choreography and artistic direction, from La Scala to the Bolshoi and Maggio Danza in Florence. The NZRB is presenting its season of Don Quixote at the Isaac Theatre Royal, 11 to 14 March, with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. It’s a good occasion to check the dome canvas painting, restored by Carolina Izzo and her Italian team

25 March: Andrea di Robilant, a Rome-based writer and researcher who gave a talk in Christchurch on 25 February about the Venetian brothers and navigators Nicolo & Antonio Zen who discovered America before Columbus, tells about his life and his books, based on authentic documents, that take the readers from a love affair in Baroque Venice to the search for a mysterious rose, plus a musical spin-off.

Cartolina 14,28 January & 11,25 February 2015

Our traditional summer compilation is this year dedicated to Mina. The iconic Italian singer is 74, and going from strength to strength. She releases new compilations regularly, to great acclaim, so we are now catching up with her production. This 4-programme series is realized thanks to Mina-ologue extraordinaire Luca Manghi. Luca released a summer series on Mina almost 10 years ago, so there’s a lot to talk about on more recent events and songs. The programmes are aired on: 14 January, 28 January, 11 February and 25 February. For details on the single programmes check the Dante Christchurch Facebook page… or just listen and enjoy!