Italian Dance Party

Chamber Members Alfio and Emanuele bring you another Italian Dance Party – this time to celebrate La Festa della Repubblica, Italy’s national day.

The fun starts at 8pm on Thursday 28th May at the Khuja Lounge, Queen Street, Auckland with an Italian band and DJ. Entry $10 (includes nibbles).

La Festa della Repubblica

La Festa della Repubblica is celebrated in Italy on the second of June each year.

The day commemorates the institutional referendum held by universal suffrage in 1946, in which the Italian people were called to the polls to decide on the form of government, following the Second World War and the fall of Fascism. With 12,717,923 votes for a republic and 10,719,284 for the monarchy, the male descendants of the House of Savoy were sent into exile.

To commemorate it, a grand military parade is held in central Rome, presided by the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, in the role of Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. The Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and other authorities attend too. Prior to the foundation of the Republic, the Italian national day was the first Sunday in June, anniversary of the granting of the Statuto Albertino.

In 1997, on the bicentenary of the adoption of the first Italian tricolour, 7 January was declared Festa del Tricolore; it is intended as a celebration, though not a public holiday.

Embassy Reception for Hon. Adolfo Urso

Italian Ambassador to New Zealand, HE Gioacchino Trizzino graciously hosted a reception in honour of the visit of Deputy Minister for Economic Development Adolfo Urso and delegation to Wellington.

The evening was very successful with attendance by the NZ cabinet minister, Hon. Dr Richard Worth and the Hon. Steven Joyce MP.

ICCNZ board member Antonio Cacace of La Bella Italia kindly provided the excellent catering for the event, which was very well received.

Welcome New Members!

It is our pleasure to welcome to the Chamber and introduce to our membership the following new members:

• Patricia’s Opera Tours (Wellington),


• Holiday Inn and


• Stamford Plaza Hotel (Auckland).

All contact information for these members can be found on the Members’ List page.

Aperitivo Italiano

On the 1st of April, an Aperitivo Italiano was organized by the Società Dante in collaboration with ICCNZ, ItaliaNZ (Emanuele Barbieri and Alfio Leotta) and Khuja Lounge.

A successful event attended by 65 people. All parties did their best to promote the “Made in Italy” brand along with the screening of an episode from the popular Italian TV Series, “Gli arancini di Montalbano” – an intriguing detective story set in the backdrop of the glorious Sicilian landscape.

Khuja Lounge has also announced that they will be holding an Italian dance party at the Lounge on Thursday, 28th of June. More details to follow.

L to R: DJ Luca Napolitano, Alfio Leotta (organiser), Sergio Guida, the owner of Khuja lounge, ICCNZ member Emanuele Barbieri (organiser)

The Annual Festival Italia

On Sunday, 22nd of March, the ICCNZ attended, as a stall holder, the annual Festival Italia held at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Wellington. Board members Sonja Cabrera, Owen McKernon, Fiona Birkbeck and President, Mario Leonti manned the stall throughout the day and distributed large amounts of brochures and advertising material belonging to Chamber members to the visiting public.

The Festival was attended by huge crowds of Wellingtonians and, this year, ICCNZ also held a Business Card Draw with the prizes being bottles of Nero D’Avola, an excellent red wine from Sicily. The winners were: Sue O’Shea, Ross Fenton, Val Parsons, Julene Hope, Barry Ellis and Estelle Cook. Congratulations!

Annual General Meeting 2009

On Tuesday, 24th of February 2009, the Annual General Meeting of the Chamber was held at La Bella Italia on The Terrace, Wellington.

The Councillors for 2009 were elected as follows: Mario Leonti (President), Liz Maxwell (Co-Vice President), Antonio Cacace (Co-Vice President), Fiona Birkbeck (Treasurer), Sonja Cabrera, Michael Stephens, Owen McKernon, Annette Scullion, Carol Wisker and John Dennett.

Ambassador Trizzino spoke about opportunities for the Chamber to be involved with an upcoming Ministerial visit in April and the stand that the Embassy have taken at the Fieldays in Hamilton, which the Chamber is welcome to have a presence on.

We would like to thank ICCNZ Councillor Antonio Cacace (La Bella Italia) for kindly hosting our AGM at his Café/Ristorante in Wellington.