Where can I buy books in Italian?

The Language Book Centre carries a wide selection of books in Italian, spanning from the classics, to contemporary fiction by Italian authors; translations in Italian of popular non-Italian authors; childrens'  books; and a selection of non-fiction titles. The Language Book Centre also sells a number of Italian DVDs and a wide selection of Italian language textbooks, audio tape and Cd courses, and Italian dictionaries for those studying Italian. The Language Book Centre is Located on the first floor of Abbey’s Bookshop at 131 York Street, opposite the Queen Victoria Building. The cost is generally a little less than double the retail price in Italy. To visit their website - which allows you to actually browse through the complete list of titles in stock, and purchase on-line - click on the link: http://www.languagebooks.com.au/.

Shearer's Bookshop in Leichhardt (at 99 Norton Street; tel: 9572 7766) also carries a small selection of books in Italian.

Europress Distributors is a company which imports Italian magazines and books. Their shop is located in the Italian Forum in Leichhardt (Piazza Level, Italian Forum, 23 Norton Street; Tel: 9564 3712) and they offer by far the widest selection of Italian magazines in Sydney. However, their selection of Italian books is very small, but you can order books (and subscribe to magazines) through them from Italy. The cost is generally a little less than double the retail price in Italy, and, unless the book is in stock in their warehouse, the delivery can take up to 12 weeks.

Internet Bookshop Italia is an online Italian book, music, and DVD store. The site is in Italian and the selection of Items to choose from is unlimited - basically whatever is on offer in Italy, at Italian prices. The site and service, in our experience, has proven to be very reliable, and the shipment is by courier. The cost for delivery to Australia is a fixed Euro 12,90, plus 32% of the retail price. So, if you are buying for instance a paperback book, it's not convenient, but if you are buying several books, videos, CDs or DVDs, you'll find that it may be cheaper than buying them in Sydney. To visit their website, click on the link: http://www.internetbookshop.it/hme/hmepge.asp.

Scopo Italian Bookshop. If you happen to be in Melbourne, you must go to Lygon Street, turn into Faraday Street, sip a coffee and enjoy una sfogliata at the Caffè Brunetti (beware: it can get crowded, especially on Saturday mornings, and the ordering system can be confusing) and then you must absolutely visit Scopo Italian Bookshop, which is only a few hundred metres from Brunetti (265 Drummond Street, Carlton - between Faraday Street and Grattan Street). The bookshop sells exclusively books in Italian, and books on Italy, Italian language learning texts, italian books for children, and Italian magazines. The bookshop is a true labour of love and one could only wish there were a bookshop like this in Sydney.You can also order Italian books from il Signor Enzo Maselli (Tel: (03) 9347 9573; Fax: (03) 9348 2577; Email: scopobks@vicnet.net.au; Website: www.scopoitalianbooks.com).

Where can I borrow books in Italian?

Leichhardt Library: Piazza Level, Italian Forum, 23 Norton Street,Leichhardt; Tel: 9367 9266. Italian books, magazines, CDs and cassettes are available at the Leichhardt Library. Membership is free. For further details click visit the Leichhardt Municipal Council Library site: http://www.leichhardt.nsw.gov.au/Library.html.

The University of Sydney Library houses a very extensive collection of books in Italian, both fiction and non-fiction. The on-line catalogue is very easy to use and allows you to search for books from home. To borrow, unless you are a university student or accademic, you will need to obtain a Library Card from the University of Sydney Library. The fee for a "Community Borrower Aged 18+ Years" is $80 for 6 months membership or $160 for 12 months membership (for deatils click on the link: http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/borrowing/cards.html#community.

To visit the University of Sydney library homepage, click on the link:  

http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/Home.html. 

The Italian Institute of Culture: Level 45, Gateway building, Circular Quay; Tel: 93927939. The IIC houses a library of books, Videos, and DVDs in Italian. The library, as a reference library, is open to all. However, if you would like to borrow books, you need to be a member of the Institute. The 12 month membership costs $50.00.

The Co.As.It Italian Multimedia Resource Centre offers an extensive Italian language and culture collection available to the general public in New South Wales. It includes texts, teacher resources, posters, audio/video, and CD-Roms. Costumes, masks and flags are available for hire. Membership is open to all residents of New South Wales and costs $70.00 per annum ($40.00 per annum for persons over 60 years of age, Co.As.lt. teachers, primary, secondary and tertiary students enrolled in full year courses). The centre is located at Casa d'ltalia, Renata Salteri Library Hall, 67 Norton Street, Leichhardt. Tel: 9564 0755.

Where can I buy Italian CDs and DVDs?

Casa del Disco: 550 Parramatta Road, Petersham - approx. 800 meteres further up from the corner of Parramatta Road and Norton Street, on the left hand side of Parramatta Road if you are heading towards Haberfield or Ashfield. Casa del Disco is truely an institution in Sydney. The owners are lovely, their selection of Italian music is very extensive, the prices are very reasonable and they can order Cds and DVDs from Italy for you. Casa del Disco also offers a selection of Italian videos and DVDs. (Tel: 9569 6697).

JB HiFi and Borders also stock a limited selection of Italian music titles in their "World Music" sections and a wide selection of Italian movies on DVD with English subtitles..

Italian Newspapers in Sydney

La Fiamma  - first published in 1947, in Sydney, has maintained a central role in the Italian community. Being the only source of news for an entire generation of Italo-Australians for many years. La Fiamma, today remains at the heart of the Italian community in NSW, ACT and Queensland. La Fiamma, published daily from Monday to Friday, is availble at most newsagencies. To visit the La Fiamma site click here: http://www.italianmedia.com.au/pub.....lic_html/.

Il Corriere della Sera - one of Italy's most prestigious daily newspapers (a daily paper in Italian is called a quotidiano) is actually published from Tuesday to Saturday, in Sydney by the Fairfax Group together with il Corriere dello Sport (the latter is not printed however, as in Italy, on pink paper). You'll find Il Corriere della Sera together with La Gazzetta dello Sport (both at $1.50) in major newsagencies.

Italian Newsapers on the Net      

Il Corriere della Sera - the Corriere's website is fantastic! Not only the latest news from Italy and the world, but interesting columns like Beppe Severgnini's "Italians"  (http://www.corriere.it/solferino/severgnini/), or Giorgio De Rienzo's "Scioglilingua"  (http://www.corriere.it/Rubriche/Scioglilingua/), both of which are particularly useful for students of Italian at an upper Intermediate - Advanced level. The Corriere della Sera's homepage is at http://www.corriere.it/.

La Repubblica - an excellent site for the latest news from Italia and the world from one of Italy's most prestigious newspapers: http://www.repubblica.it/.

Italian Magazines in Sydney

Europress Distributors is a company which imports Italian magazines and books. Their shop is located in the Italian Forum in Leichhardt (Piazza Level, Italian Forum, 23 Norton Street; Tel: 9564 3712) and they offer by far the widest selection of Italian magazines in Sydney: from Panorama and L'Espresso (two of Italy's most popular and prestigious current affairs weeklys; sold in Australia minus the popular allegati - books, DVDs, or videos which come with the magazines at a small extra price), to Oggi, Gente, Donna Moderna, Cucina Italiana, Medioevo, Focus, Topolino, La Settimana Enigmistica, Bell'Italia, Traveller, ecc...

There are a host of newsagencies which sell Italian magazines. The ones we are most familiar with, are those in the city, amongst which:

Centrepoint Newsagency (Shop C53; Centrepoint Shopping Centre, corner of Castlereagh and Market Streets; Tel: 92322952).

QVB Newsagency (Shops 84-88; Queen Victoria Building; Tel: 92612985 - located at the entrance to the QVB from Town Hall Station exit, Lower Ground 1 Level).

Newslink Wynyard Station (Tel: 92626752). 

For those at an Intermediate or Advanced level who want to practise their Italian we would reccomend a magazine called "Donna Moderna": it's relatively easy to read, the articles are relatively short and span all sorts of topics (from fashion, to food, to travel suggestions, exhibitions, book reviews, and, often very amusing, letters from readers asking for advice - great for practising your Italian), there are lots of pictures, and it costs only about $6. The internet site is also very good (check the "Forum e Sondaggi" section): http://www.donnamoderna.com/home/index.jsp.  

Italian Magazines on the Net

L'Espresso and Panorama: L'Espresso and Panorama are Italy's most popular and prestigious current affairs magazines (despite the covers which often feature semi-naked women). L'Espresso is very critical of Berlusconi and Co., whereas Panorama is a lot less critical of il Presidente del Consiglio (probably because it is owned by Berlusconi himself). Particularly interesting for advanced level students are the weekly columns for L'Espresso by Umberto Eco, the scathing Giorgio Bocca, and Enzo Biagi (click on "LE OPINIONI" in the top menu bar).

Panorama's site - putting aside political affiliations for a moment - definitely has something for everyone: apart from the news, there's an excellent travel section ("Viaggi & weekend"); a good cultural section ("Mostre & Cultura"); science pages; pages dedicated to shopping ideas ("Piaceri & shopping"); and there is even a "Sesso & erotismo" section (a case of panem, sexus, et circensis?). For L'Espresso online click on the link http://www.espressonline.it/; for Panorama, click here: http://www.panorama.it/.

Focus - the popular science magazine aimed at - as the magazine's slogan says - "capire e scoprire il mondo", is also on the web. It's not as interesting and as rich in content as the printed version (which you can buy in Sydney - see "Italian magazines in Sydney" above), but there are intersting articles. Click on "Tutte le notizie" to access these. To reach the site, click on the link http://www.focus.it/. 

Italian Television in Australia

RAI International (Italian Television Channel)  - If you have Foxtel you can sunscribe to RAI International (the Italian channel) for an extra $19.95. A word of warning however: it's definitely not for the faint-hearted!!! RAI International purportedly screens, and I'm quoting from their site, "the best programmes of Raiuno, Raidue, Raitre", which are the three state-run television stations in Italy, and "RAI International original programmes". More often than not one wonders what RAI International's definition of "best programmes" is; the programme times often defy logic, when they are respected in the first place; and the so called "RAI International original programmes" are most often than not totally unwatchable yet placed in peak-hour time slots!!! Just to give a recent example for those familiar with Italian programmes: at 9.00pm RAI International would screen il TG2 from Italy, followed by Ballarò, Anno Zero or Porta a Porta, which was excellent. Now, all of a sudden, at 9.00pm ci dobbiamo sorbire (we have to put up with) an hour of Italia News, a RAI International "original programme", and wait until 10.00pm for the interesting programmes. Another example (of many): Raitre produces a marvelous 20 minute weekly cultural programme called Bell'Italia which looks at le meraviglie del nostro paese (the marvels of Italy). You would think that RAI International would be able to find a regular 20 minute weekly time slot to screen this fantastic programme - when it used to be screened it was often a "time-filler" or, if it appeared in the on-line television guide, more often than not it wouldn't be screened at all!!! Insomma, It seems that no one at RAI International has caught onto the fact, despite years of complaints, that we are not interested in so called "original programmes" and we would actually very very much like to watch the best programmes of Raiuno, Raidue and Raitre!!!      

Italian Radio in Sydney

SBS Radio - there are two daily Italian radio programmes on SBS radio: the first from 8 to 9am, and the second from 6 to 7pm, seven days a week. The frequency for Sydney is 97.7 FM. However, you can also listen to the daily programmes whenever you like on your computer. Just go the the SBS radio homepage (http://www.radio.sbs.com.au/language.php?language=Italian), and click on "Listen to the latest broadcast" or "Listen to the second daily broadcast" and, providing you have RealOne Player installed on your computer, in a matter of seconds you'll be able to listen to the selected program. To obtain the free basic RealOne Player visit http://www.real.com/player/?lang=en&loc=au&src=intl_au-home, and click on "Free RealOne Player" on the top right hand corner of the page. The site also offers a podcasting service. As you would expect, the Italian programme on SBS radio can at times be very interesting, other times it can be rather dull. It depends on your interests.

Rete Italia - broadcasts in Italian 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The frequency for Sydney listeners is 1539 AM. Generally the radio programs from 7am to 10pm (except for several news broadcasts, Il Mischione - Antologia programmi RAI dalle 19.30 alle 21.15, and le radiocronache delle partite di calcio) are produced by Rete Italia in Australia. From 10pm to 7am, the programs are direct from Italy. Again, as mentioned with regards to the Italian programme on SBS Radio, Rete Italia can at times be very interesting, other times it can be rather dull and you might feel like strangling whoever is talking, often it's fantastico!!! Highlights include the excellent daily half hour Italian news from Italy at 8am; a programme called Il ruggito del coniglio ("the roar of the rabbit" - the title says it all); Viva Radio 2 with the inimitable Fiorello; anything presented by Paolo Rajo and Pino Lamberti (I loooooove his programme Canzoni d'altri tempi in which he plays songs from the 30's and 40's - way before my time but the songs are incantevoli!!!); Antonio Mucci's weekly update on the Formula 1; Il mercatino delle pulci (the flea market), on Saturday morning; Musica Giovane, on Saturday afternoon, for the latest Italian hits (presented by the truly dedicated Nick Lavermicocca who has a real passion  for Italian pop music); an Italian production called Cantanti e Cantautori, which generally presents an Italian singer or songs dealing with certain themes; and the assolutamente fantastico In direzione ostinata e contraria with Riccardo Schirru and Renzo Sabatini (in onda - on the waves - at 10.00am on Saturday morning). To visit the Rete Italia website and consult La guida ai programmi, click here.

Movimento FM - is a bi-lingual radio programme produced and managed by a dedicated team of young Italo-Australian volunteers aimed at both the Italian community and non-Italians who share a love for Italian music and culture. It plays Italian contemporary music and provides information on sport, cultural, local and international news, and information on activities within the local Italian community. Tune in to Movimento FM at 98.5 FM on Wednesdays at 5.00pm and on Saturdays at 6.00pm. To visit the Movimento FM website click here.

Italian Radio stations in Italy

If you want to know what Italians are listening to at the moment, here are the sites of the most popular radio stations in Italy. Most of these would have a 'Real Audio" link if you want to listen to the station live.

Radio Deeyjay - Pop/Rock station with an international flavour. This one of the most popular private radio stations in Italy. You can listen to it (click on "Ascolta Radio Deejay", on the top left hand corner of the home page), or read news or use their chat line (http://www.deejay.it/dj/home). 

Radio 101 - Rock station, again playing music from artists from Italy and from the English speaking world (http://www.r101.it/). 

Radio Dimensione Suono - Similar format to the above. Tends to play slightly more Italian music (http://www.rds.it/home).

Radio Italia - Excellent station playing only Italian music. Contains latest Italian charts, and links to singers who have personal websites (http://www.radioitalia.it/).

Radio Rai - RAI is the government owned broadcasting service (like the ABC). There are three main Rai radio channels, all excellent, appropriately named: Radio 1, Radio 2, and Radio 3.  To access all three stations click here http://www.radio.rai.it/.

Italian, Italian-English and English-Italian dictionary on-line

For a truly truly truly fantastic online Italian only, or English-Italian, or Italian-English dictionary visit the Garzanti Linguistica site at http://www.garzantilinguistica.it/. To access the Italian only dictionary or the English-Italian and Italian-English dictionaries you will need to register. To register all you will need is an email address, and your own password. Being Italian teachers this is the sort of site we find davvero fantastico!!!