The initiative began back in 2001, and takes place annually in the third week of October.

Organised by the diplomatic-consular network and the Italian Institutes of Culture (IIC), this year’s edition focuses on Dante Alighieri, in honour of the 700th anniversary of the Italian poet’s death.

One event taking place across five continents will unite the global celebrations.

‘Dante, 700 in the World’ is the final event of the week’s program, and will act as a prelude to the next global Italian event, Stati Generali della Lingua e della Creativita Italiane, which is scheduled for November 29.

A series of videoconferences organised by the IIC in Melbourne took place over the past week.

On October 18, philologist Roberto Rea presented an online lecture on the subject of ‘Love and Reason in The New Life’, demonstrating how Dante juxtaposed the concepts of love and reason in his autobiographical text, The New Life.

Another online seminar, entitled ‘The Invention of Interiority: The Lexicon of Stil Novo” was held on Tuesday, October 19, and focused on the renewal of the language of poetry, a movement instigated by Guido Cavalcanti and Dante Alighieri.

On October 22, writer and literary critic Bianca Garavelli will present on the topic of female figures in Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Garavelli will discuss the way in which Dante depicts female characters such as Francesca da Rimini, Pia da Siena and Piccarda Donati, who reference issues including femicide and gender-based violence.

Set to be a highlight of the week, the sixth National Conference for Teachers of Italian in Australia will take place online on Saturday, October 23.

Participants will be welcomed by Lillo Guarneri from the IIC in Sydney and Thomas Camporeale, the general manager of CO.AS.IT. in Sydney.

Ambassador of Italy to Australia Francesca Tardioli will give the opening address, and the conference will feature a range of talks exploring Dante and his works.