September 17, 2011 marks ten years since the formal opening of the Monash University Prato Center, Monash University's teaching and research hub in Europe. The Center is located in the heart of Tuscany and the dynamic city of Prato, in a landmark 18th-century mansion, the Palazzo Vaj. Reflecting on the collaborative ethos that made the Center's establishment possible, this book is the result of collaboration between writer and editor Cynthia Troup, and photomedia artist Jo-Anne Duggan, the Center's first artist in residence. A Site of Convergence highlights the Center's vitality as a place where knowledge is shared and deepened - across the world's hemispheres, across generations, and across a wide spectrum of disciplines and areas of research. Rich in images throughout, the book draws attention to the elegant spaces of the Palazzo Vaj as the context for exhilarating encounters with: the city and people of Prato, art and artists, researchers and experts, teachers and students from around the world. Examples of such encounters are personalized in vignettes contributed by individuals involved in the Center's establishment. Designed as a tribute to the humanist vision that shaped the development of the Center, and as a fitting marker of the commencement of the its Artist in Residence program announced in 2010, A Site of Convergence includes the late Jo-Anne Duggan's account of her association with the Center, and its profound effect on her creative vision and practice.

Long before the advent of modern tourism, Australians have travelled to live in Italy, or have undertaken extensive visits there. Indeed they continue to do so in increasing numbers, as women and men find Italian partners; as business people with European interests settle there; as retirees in their thousands seek 'the good life' that Italy in Ros Pesman's words, this 'culturally endowed place of rebirth' seems to promise. While many are familiar with celebrated expatriates such as Germaine Greer, Jeffrey Smart, Peter Robb and David Malouf, hundreds of other artists, writers, musicians and intellectuals have made and continue to make a notable contribution to the cultural and intellectual life of both countries. Whilst Australian studies flourishes in Italian universities, Australian academics write distinguished accounts of Italian history covering various eras. Despite this sustained activity, the scholarly and cultural engagement of Australians with Italy is not a well known story. This collection seeks to map the past and present of the Australian love affair with Italy, yielding rich insights into its causes, motivations and transformations. Contributors include former Australian Ambassador to Italy Rory Steele, poet Peter Porter, contemporary artists Euan Heng and Jo-Anne Duggan, as well as distinguished academics and young scholars. Amongst the diverse range of articles and vignettes, Ian Britain writes on Donald Friend's Italian years, Loretta Baldassar explores the phenomenon of reverse migration, and novelist Lisa Clifford reflects on her family ties with Italy. Australians in Italy will appeal to scholars and students of migration and multi-culturalism, Australian Studies and Italian Studies, tourism and travel. It will also delight those interested in Italy and all things Italian people of Italo-Australian background, armchair and actual travellers, sojourners in Italy, and the general reader.