We have often said that everybody wants to be Italian, in this episode have some strong evidence to support this claim. Meet Tayla, 25 years old from Perth, WA, not of Italian heritage by blood however she has an enormous love and passion for all things Italian. From the Italian language- which she has studied and learned how to speak, travel to Italy- in our chat Tayla told us of her experience visiting Italy, we also cannot forget the food, we had plenty to talk about on this topic!

Tayla is vibrant and very funny, we loved hearing about her passion for our culture and look forward to meeting up with her in person.

This week's episode features one of our favourite return guests- Marco Petta! Station manager at RadioItaliana 531, based in Adelaide, Marco is a busy guy. In this episode we heard his experience visiting Perth earlier this year for the epic game AC Milan versus Roma at Optus Stadium where Marco led the fan club- Milan Club Australia in bringing some serious fan energy.

We also chatted about his most recent trip to Italy and commentating AFL games live in Italian. As we have said, he is a busy guy and devotes a lot of time to keeping the Italian culture alive in Australia. We appreciated him joining us for this chat and know our listeners will enjoy it.

We had a great time chatting Wogism creator Nicholas. An Italian Australian just like us, Nicholas is based in Melbourne. To celebrate his passion for his culture Nicholas created his brand 'Wogism' which includes a podcast, blog and Instagram page. In our chat we talked about our passion for our culture, what it means to be a 'Wog' and asked are we still 'other?'

WOGISM (@wogism) • Instagram photos and videos

Introducing our new friend Mauro Daviddi as our guest in this week’s episode. Mauro immigrated to Australia at the age of 36, speaking no English when he arrived. His journey to be able to stay in Australia was full of ups and downs and hard work which ultimately paid off. In his new life here in Australia he has found joy, love and professional success in his field of public speaking and relationship counselling. Mauro is a published author and has a wealth of knowledge in many areas. We look forward to our next chat with Mauro.

Relationship Counselling Perth for Couples and Singles (maurodaviddi.com.au)

In this episode we caught up with our friend Mr Accordion Man- Frank Miranda. Frank is very well known in the Italian Australian community, especially in Perth. You may have seen him playing around the city, as we always say- Frank is everywhere! We were also very interested to hear Frank's personal story, born in Perth, Frank's family moved back to Italy for a period of time however ultimately returned to Australia. Frank told us about his journey in learning the piano accordion and how he came to be Mr Accordion Man.

Home - Mr Accordion Man - Perth Accordionist

It's our one year anniversary!! We are thrilled to have reached this milestone and in this episode we cast our minds back to August 2023 when we started on this journey. What a journey it has been, we have had so much fun. We have laughed, we have argued, technology frustrations even had Josie in tears on one occasion! It has been an honour to have met so many amazing people, including our guests and people within the community. Some guests were international celebrities, some were family and friends, others we were meeting for the first time and we loved recording each and every episode. We have been so fortunate to have enjoyed some fantastic experiences such as The Sound of Italy, Perth Italian Festival, comedy shows and nights at the Laguna Veneto Club. We have strengthened our connections within our community and with our heritage. We have learned so much along the way and we are truly thankful for all the support and encouragement we have received from our family, friends and the community. It has been a very special year and we are excited to see what the next year will bring for the Italian Australian Podcast. A massive thanks to the businesses who have sponsored us and to all of our listeners.

Sara’s unique and fascinating migration experience sounds like a story with so many twists and turns it could be from a film! From Adelaide to Perth, to Naples to Adelaide, back to Naples then back to Adelaide then to Milan! Her story includes an earthquake, unexpected romance and juggling life as a mother whilst working for NATO. We discussed her experience of defining her identity as an Italian and an Australian, being both but neither at the same time.