Congratulations to Harshitha Chandra Kumar and Emerald Smith on reaching the finals of the prestigious Dante Alighieri Italian Poetry Competition. Of approximately 3000 Victorian participants, only 270 made it to the finals, so we are proud of Harshitha’s and Emerald’s achievement.
Dante Alighieri, the writer and poet after whom the competition is named, is also known as the father of the Italian language. Famous for having written his trilogy including the Inferno, The Purgatorio and The Paradiso, he has inspired the founding of several Dante Alighieri Societies around the world but only the Dante Alighieri Society in Melbourne runs a poetry competition of this nature, providing Italian students with opportunities to experience and enjoy poetry in another language and to develop their oral skills in Italian.