Italian Alessandra Zecchini has been a New Zealand resident since 1997, living in West Auckland.
At last month’s annual Italian Festival, now staged on the streets of Newmarket, of which Alessandra is the founder and, for the last 14 years, director, she was awarded the highest Italian presidential honour, Cavaliere dell’ Ordine della Stella d’Italia, for services to Italian culture and foreign relations. She was presented with the honour by the Italian Ambassador, Fabrizio Marcelli.
The honour - which translates as Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy - is bestowed on Italians who have promoted relations between Italy and other countries.
Alessandra was born in Milan and grew up in Modena in Northern Italy. Along with husband Peter Dowling she founded Oratia Media, a publishing company, and currently holds the position of Media Director of the company.
As a writer and editor Zecchini has contributed to the publication of a number of books in New Zealand. She has also produced numerous articles about Italian food, culture and travel, and authored three cook books. Alessandra founded the Slow Food Waitakere chapter, now Slow Food Auckland, the country’s most active group.
As well as her publishing work, Alessandra has been closely involved with the Dante Alighieri Society whose Auckland HQ is in Freemans Bay Community Centre. Her involvement over 21 years, which has included a stint as President, has been recognised by this honour as a significant contribution to the building of a strong and visible community of Italians, and cross cultural relations in New Zealand. The current President is Sir John Kirwan, whose Italian wife is also an active member of the Dante Society.
Just as importantly, Alessandra is an elected member of the Comitato Italiani All’Estero (ComItEs), a committee representing the interests of Italians living outside of Italy. In 2015, Italians officially registered in New Zealand reached the 3000 threshold required for a ComItEs to be formed and Alessandra reports that in the four years since, the number has grown to 4500. She estimates that more than half of those are in Auckland and that there are perhaps the same number who are resident but not registered.
Along with seven others, including Ponsonby’s own Sandra Fresia and sculptor Chiara Corbelletto, Alessandra was elected for the first five year term. This committee represents the interests of local Italians, liaising with the Italian Embassy in Wellington, with regard to topics such as work holiday visas, pension reciprocity questions and any other issues and policy matters relevant to ex-pat Italians. Registered Italians are eligible to vote in the Italian elections and the committee provides a valuable link where matters of concern can be raised.
The New Zealand Italian community is a vibrant and colourful one, whose commercial and cultural activities are making their mark. A weekly radio hour, Ondazzurra airs each Sunday morning and broadcasts, entirely in Italian, interviews with Italians resident in New Zealand. Alessandra reports that overseas streaming of these broadcasts accounts for a proportion of the audience. She says there is a lot of interest from young professional Italians in coming to New Zealand and they are glad to hear the real life stories of those who have already made the move.
On Saturday 8 December the Italian community will be out in force once again at the Freemans Bay Community Centre. The Italian Christmas Market to be held between 10am and 3pm is always a lively event. Food, drinks, Italian goods and Christmas specialty ideas for great gift making will be on offer. This is a great chance for Auckland’s Italian community to meet up and showcase the best of the lifestyle they have brought to New Zealand.
Ponsonby News congratulates Alessandra Zecchini on her honour, and her Italian ex-pat friends for the contribution they are making to their adopted country. (JOHN ELLIOTT)