OUR ACTIVITIES

Monthly meetings
are held from March to November, at the Linwood Community Arts Centre, corner Stanmore Road and Worcester Street at 7.45 pm, on the second Wednesday of each month. Talks about Italy are in English, videos are in Italian.
At the end of each meeting there is an opportunity to mix with Italian speakers.
Entry is free to members and non members.

Multimedia library
Members of the Dante Society can borrow books, magazines, videos and CDs during our meetings.

Support to students of Italian language
is given through various events, such as the International Week of Italian Language in October.

Monthly newsletter
in English and Italian gives info about monthly meetings, radio programmes, performances and events. Click on the link, to read the current newsletter.

Radio Program CARTOLINA
of Italian culture and life, in English and Italian, is aired through PLAINS FM 96.9 every second Wednesday at 7.30pm and repeated on the following Monday at 9.30am. Click on the link for details.

Special Events
are advertised through our newsletter and the city newspapers.

You are most welcome
to join our activities. We value your suggestions and your participation in order to expand the range of our interests.
If you wish to join the Dante Society, get in touch: our annual fee is $20 (waged), $12.50 (unwaged), $27.50 (family). Membership fees are our only income!

Committee for 2009:
President: Denis Walker
Secretary: Stephanie Moran
Treasurer: Philippa McLaughlin
Librarian & webpages: Peter Hosking
Other members: Robyn Black, Maria Fresia, Wilma Laryn (special events), Victor Leech, Valerie Mayer, Fiorenzo Peloso, John Pryor (newsletter editor), Jan Tedesco 

Benvenuti nel sito del comitato di Christchurch della Società Dante Alighieri.

Welcome to the site of the Christchurch branch of the Dante Alighieri Society.

The Dante Society is an international organization established in Italy in 1889 with the aim of "promoting Italian language and culture throughout the world and rekindling the spiritual connection between Italians living abroad and their homeland and nourishing among foreigners the love and cult for the Italian civilization".

There are currently more than 500 Dante branches around the world with the number continuing to grow. Some 400 of them are outside Italy: in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, Oceania. In New Zealand there are two comitati: one in Auckland and one in Christchurch. Wellington has a Circolo Italiano affiliated to the Dante Society. Click for details about the activities in each town.

The Italian cultural society is named after Dante Alighieri, the great poet from Florence, who lived from 1265-1321. His epic La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy) is regarded as a landmark of world literature. Dante is recognized as the greatest poet of early Renaissance Italy and was influential in the development and acceptance of Italian as literary language.