My Italian Notebook

An idiosyncratic tribute to all things Italian from Gough Whitlam. With his interest sparked as a boy by bedtime stories of Ancient Rome, Whitlam's later political career would reinforce his obsession. Seven decades on, he decided to collect everything his curiosity had uncovered.

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When Gough Whitlam was a small boy, his mother and father would read him the myths and legends of Ancient Rome as bedtime stories. These stories sparked in him a curiosity about Italy - its history, culture and its contribution to the rest of the world - which would endure for the rest of his life. When the newly-elected E.G. Whitlam, MP, took over the federal parliamentary seat of Werriwa, he knew his predecessor had been a prominent member of the Italo-Australian community. The connections and interests Gough inherited from Bert Lazzarini reinforced his enthusiasm for all things Italian. Seven crowded decades after that child heard the stirring stories of Roman gods and heroes, Gough Whitlam decided to gather everything his curiosity had uncovered and record it in a notebook. The result is this collection of the arcane, surprising, puzzling, bizarre and coincidental. It covers everything from architecture to royal genealogy to war-making. The book is a tour through an intriguing mind and a testament to a curiosity undimmed and an enthusiasm unslaked, a record of an all-consuming passion.