Italian News

ITALIAN NEWS 

VCE Italian students, accompanied by their teacher Ms Cologni and staff member Peta Mackie, had the pleasure of immersing themselves in a multi-sensory Renaissance wonderland at the Leonardo da Vinci Lume Exhibition at the Melbourne Convention Centre on Friday 17th May.

This group of highly motivated and very respectful students embraced the interactive experiences on offer by taking up the chance to learn how to sketch da Vinci's famous Lady with an Ermine, had a digital portrait of themselves drawn in the style of La Scarpigliata (Lady with Dishevelled Hair), moved around the display of wondrous machines designed by the genius of Leonardo and learnt about proportions of the human body by listening to our very helpful guide Sam explain the Vitruvian Man. 

The highlight of the exhibition was being able to be in the same room as original pages from Leonardo's Codex Atlanticus, and being able to gaze upon intricate drawings and observe the polymath's recognisable mirror-style writing. Did you know that da Vinci was left-handed and that to avoid smudging ink, he'd write from right to left? 

After taking our time walking through the exhibition, we embarked on a passeggiata along the Yarra River all the way to the Degraves and Flinders Lane precinct, where students had a range of venues to choose from for lunch. Eventually, we all ended up at Italian pasticceria and ristorante Brunetti, with some students enjoying their very first Italian cioccolata calda (a very thick hot chocolate, topped with cream) or a flavoursome gelato. 

Those of us who had lunch there, tried some authentic Italian pizza (Gorgonzola cheese was a winner in the pizza ai quattro formaggi) and pasta, which was all quite a treat. 

The group couldn't have been better behaved and appreciative of the experience. The excursion was the culmination of a unit of study on famous contemporary and historical Italians, with the students learning about several figures who lived on the Italian peninsula or islands throughout the ages, ranging from Roman emperor Giulio Cesare, to astrophysicist Margherita Hack, pedagogue Maria Montessori, designer Donatella Versace, actress and model Monica Bellucci, medicine Nobel prize winner Rita Levi-Montalcini, astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, and plenty more. 

Throughout the unit, students were able to learn about the contribution of Italians to several disciplines, providing them with the option to investigate areas of personal interest ranging from science, social activism, history, design and technology, performing and visual arts, engineering and more.