Humanities and Social Sciences

Italian Studies Program

Vaccari Chair of Italian Studies

Italian has been taught at La Trobe University since 1974. The Vaccari Foundation, which had been established by the family of prominent Melbourne businessman Gualtiero Vaccari, endowed the Vaccari Chair of Italian Studies in 1981.

The first Vaccari Professor was Giovanni Carsaniga who held the position between 1982 and 1989. The present Vaccari Professor is John Gatt-Rutter.

Gualtiero Vaccari came to Melbourne from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy in 1912. During the Second World War, the Labor government of John Curtin appointed him as Italian Liaison Officer, in the absence of Italian diplomatic representatives. Apart from his success in various business ventures, he was also a significant figure in the establishment and development of Australia's post-war Italian immigration program, ably representing Italian migrants' interests to the Immigration Minister, Arthur Calwell. As well as endowing the La Trobe University Vaccari Chair in Italian Studies, the Vaccari Trust established by his family built two homes for the Italian aged in Melbourne and has also supported a wide range of academic and cultural activities.