The Dante Alighieri Poetry Recital Competition was a fantastic opportunity for me to take pride in both my Italian speaking skills and heritage.

I recited select verses from Dante Alighieri’s soulful Divine Comedy, with its difficult and older language pushing me to master my pronunciation and understanding of the poem’s narrative.

We had the first round of recitals at Melbourne University in June, with over 2000 students being whittled down to a group of around 200 for the finals. From that already small group, the top participants were chosen to recite their poems for a spot on the podium! While I unfortunately did not make it to that stage, the experience of learning, memorising and then delivering Dante’s work helped me conquer a rite of passage in the language learning process: having the confidence to actually speak the language.

My mum was with me in the memorisation process and recalls how the competition bolstered my motivation to learn Italian.

'It was great to see Orlando put his passion into learning the poem. It allowed him to really embrace his heritage.' 

Year 11 Orlando Pettinella T07

Dante Alighieri Poetry Competition Results

Finalista

• Jarvis Kavanagh Year 10 T01
• Thomas Calafiore Year 11 B08
• Orlando Pettinella Year 11 T07
• Sebastian Di Valentino Year 9 N14
• Billy French Year 9 H18
• Akitha Sooriyage Year 9 N14

Lode

• Adam Colarusso Year 10 H01
• Riccardo Colosimo Year 10 B08
• Valentino Scaffidi Year 10 T09
• Leroy Angley Year 9 N12
• Lucas Butera Year 9 B13
• Luca Carbone Year 9 T14
• Max Rossi Year 9 T17
• Gabriel Russo Year 9 B19
• Harvey Bye Year 9 T18
• Logan Giosis Year 9 T18
• Will Mitchell Year 9 L13

Pregio

• Nicholas Cicero Year 10 L02
• Mateo Dalley Year 10 H06
• Alessandro Fato Year 10 N03
• Matthew Fittipaldi Year 10 L06
• Dylan Milanese Year 10 H06
• Marucs Perri Year 10 T09
• Alessandro Tarantelli Year 10 B08
• Benedict Raphael Glow Year 10 B09
• Oscar Ivanovski Year 10 T08
• Joshua Bonacci Year 9 H14
• Harrison Calcagno Year 9 H16
• Mattia Codini Year 9 B13
• Orlando Costenaro Year 9 N18
• James D'Antonio Year 9 N17
• Leonardo DI Fabio Year 9 L13
• Nathan Drazic Year 9 L16
• Fabien Habboush Year 9 H14
• Maynard Lackovic Year 9 T14
• Alfie Leonardi Year 9 B12
• Marcel Mortellaro Year 9 T11
• Maximilian Pachioli Year 9 B19
• Luca Pasceri Year 9 N11
• Minuka Boteju Year 9 B18
• Liam Coleman Year 9 L16
• Viman Fernando Year 9 L14
• Mitchell Lowe Year 9 N14
• Kartik Sibby Year 9 L12
• Mahiru Tennekoon Year 9 H17
• James Thompson Year 9 N17
• Mark Trbic Year 9 L15
• Dylan Williams Year 9 L15
• Harry Wooster Year 9 T17

Merito

• Salvatore Falcone Year 10 L05
• Julien Grassa Year 9 H15
• Nicholas Grillo Year 9 N16

Partecipazione

• Christian Gill Year 9 H18
• Adrian Polazzon Year 9 B17
• Jordan Rigoni year 9 B18
• Lachlan Speranza Year 9 N15
• Syrus Vitale Year 9 B12
• Alexander Lawson Year 9 H16
• Arthur Liu Year 9 T17
• Kenul Nissanka Year 9 H13
• Ryan Tran Year 9 H17