Italian Culture
Traditions
Italian traditions are highly affected by the religion Christianity. It is important to understand some aspects of Christianity to fully understand key italian traditions and festivals. Besides the well known celebrations of Christmas, Easter and La Befana there are many other traditional festivals that are not as well known:
Carnevale, has been celebrated for centuries throughout Italy and now the cultural festival has begun to make its way into Australia as well!
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The name is Carnevale is inspired by the words carne and vale, together meaning 'farewell to meat'.
Which explains the festival simply: an opportunity to indulge in meats and other things before fasting for Lent.
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Created in 1873, the Carnevale was originally intended to be a party/celebration for the richer class of Italy, filled with parades of floats adorned with flowers.
Once the local, poorer Italians saw this they revolted against the discrimination. They went as far as to hijacking the celebration by wearing crazy masks and taking to the streets to protest.
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The spirit of dissent and disobedience,is now the core of the Carnevale festival in modern days. It is a time for Italians to express themselves and to freely mock politicians while popular figures are celebrated, just like how they mocked the upper classes years before.
History in Australia
Hundreds of Italians were lured to Victoria by the 1850s gold rushes. When the gold ran out, many Italians left Victoria to work in other parts of Australia. Those who stayed established small, mainly agricultural communities in country Victoria.
The Italian cultural association – (the Dante Alighieri Society) – was established Melbourne in 1896, by then, around 1,500 Italians lived in Victoria and the number was growing rapidly.
Italians continued to settle in Victoria, many having traveled to escape from economic hardship in Italy. However, in 1925 Immigration Act created a quota system limiting people from selected countries including Italy. This caused a pause on the number of Italians in Australia.
However after World War II, Australia began reducing its strict regulations on migrants, allowing Italians to come to immigrate to Australia.
The number of Italians yet again begun to increased rapidly. In the 2016 census it was recorded that a total of 174,044 people were of Italian birth and had journeyed to Australian , while 1,000,013 people were Italian by ancestry.
Language
Here are some basic Italian phrases and words:
Mi chiamo… -- my name is..
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Ciao -- hi
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Si-- yes
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No - no
Arrivadieci -- goodbye
Grazie-- thank you
Come sta? -- how are you
Bene - good
Male- bad
Food
Cannoli consist of tube-shaped shells of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet, creamy filling usually consisting of ricotta or vanilla and chocolate custard.
Risotto is a common Italian dish consisting of a creamy rice base with mushrooms, peas and cheese.
Where they are majourly located around Melbourne
The heart of Melbourne's Italian community is Lygon Street in inner city Carlton. It is known for having amazing restaurants and Italian businesses.