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The Dante Cairns Management Committee is in the process of resuming activities following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. Please check your email and ensure that our recent newsletter has not been removed to your spam folder.

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Who we are

The Dante Alighieri Society Cairns Inc is the Italian Society of Cairns!

We promote the Italian language and culture across the Cairns area through language classes, cultural events and social activities.

Our members receive benefits like discounted event pricing and supporter business discounts - locally, nationally and internationally.

The Committee

Dante Cairns is coordinated by a Management Committee.

Committee members are elected annually, early in the new year, at the annual general meeting.

Committee members must be financial members.

The Management Committee meets monthly on the first Wednesday of the month or as per members availability.

Dante Cairns Committee Roles and Responsibilities

Our Positions & People

The 2020 Committee are:

• President:  Gary Montagner
• Vice president: Richard Mogorovich
• Treasurer:  Patty Poutanen
• Secretary: Juliet Marconi
• General Committee members: 
  ​Angelo Aurelio, Zenon Caravella, Gina Codotto, Frank Dangelico, Lui Garozzo
  

Annual general meeting

Our annual general meeting (AGM) is held within the first 3 months of the new calendar year, following completion of the previous year's financial audit.

The 2020 AGM was held Tuesday 28 January 2020 7.30 pm at the Cairns City Library Meeting Room, 151 Abbott Street, Cairns.  Thank you to everyone who attended.

Testimonials

Silkwood State School Certificate of appreciation 2019

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About Dante Cairns

​The Dante Alighieri Society Cairns Inc – Dante Cairns is a non-profit organisation managed by passionate volunteers. Dante Cairns was first established in 1985. We now have over 380 people on the mailing list and a growing number of supporters.

​We are a non-religious and non-political organisation. Our aim is to promote Italian language and culture throughout the Cairns region.  We welcome you to join us for language classes, film nights, cultural events, special celebrations and other social activities.

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About the Società Dante Alighieri

The head office of the Società Dante Alighieri, Dante Alighieri Society (DAS), in Rome was founded in 1889 and inspired by the great Nobel prize winning poet, Giosuè Carducci.

The mission of DAS is to "tutelare e diffondere la lingua e la cultura italiane nel mondo, ravvivando i legami spirituali dei connazionali all’estero con la madre patria e alimentando tra gli stranieri l’amore e il culto per la civiltà italiana" (protect and spread the Italian language and culture in the world, reviving the spiritual ties of compatriots abroad with the mother country and nurturing love and worship for Italian civilization among foreigners).

There are now over 450 branches of DAS worldwide, with DAS branches in many capital and regional Australian cities. To learn more about DAS see https://ladante.it

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Dante Alighieri (Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri) is considered the greatest Italian poet and writer.

He was born in 1265 (Florence, Italy) and died in 1321 (Ravenna, Italy). His most famous work is La divina commedia (The Divine Comedy). Other works also include La vita nuova; Convivio; De Monarchia; Di vulgari eloquentia.  Dante wrote The Divine Comedy in vernacular Italian rather than Latin, and consequently influenced the course of literary development in Italy. The Divine Comedy would later set the standard for literary Italian language.

In 2020, Dante Alighieri’s 700th death anniversary, the Italian government has established the National Dante Day, or Dantedì.
Dantedì will be observed annually on March 25.

Read more about Dante at:
Dante – Italian Poet (Encyclopaedia Britannica)  |  Dante Alighieri (Wikipedia)