The Italian Dinner

[Owen]

Becoming the Italian Ambassador to Australia was probably one of the most lucrative diplomatic postings in Canberra. Why? Because the Italian Ambassador was one of the only diplomatic heads with their own dedicated residence available to them. What made the posting even lucrative was, the Italian Ambassador was the only neighbour of the Prime Minister of Australia. To the south and east of the Prime Minister's official residence "The Lodge", was open parkland. To the north, a main arterial road (Adelaide Avenue) and to the west, a road named National Circuit and across from that road, the Residence of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Italy. The residence had been vacant for some time now, but with the appointment of Domenico Catizone as Ambassador, it was now occupied again. The residence was actually bigger than the Prime Minister's residence, which was an old style cottage from the early settlement of the Canberra region. The Italian Ambassador's residence was designed by Italian-Australian architect, Enrico Taglietti, along with the neighbouring Italian Embassy. He designed both in a modernist architectural style and certainly the beauty of the buildings were the envy of the diplomatic community in Canberra.

To welcome the new Ambassador, Prime Minister Julia Gillard would be in residence in The Lodge and would invite the Italian Ambassador over for dinner. As the Ambassador was simply across the road, they would be able to walk over. Australian Federal Police protective services officers would escort the Ambassador and his wife to walk over to The Lodge and then grant them entry into the premises.

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Danny

 

[Danny]

Domenico would be settled in well in his new role. He'd only been the Ambassador for over two days before he got the call the meet with the Prime Minister of Australia which he found to be quite immediate. With the invitation reached out to his wife Alessandra, both decided to get ready. Domenico would be wearing his best all brown suit whilst Alessandra matched her husband. Both left the residency to the Carabinieri guards as they walked over, putting their trust into the AFP officers.

As they approached, Domenico remarked quietly to his wife. "Warmer then home, remember best first impressions."

Alessandra nodded simply, fixing her dress.

As they approached the Prime Minister, Domenico spoke gently. "Madam Prime Minister." He smiled, holding his hand out.

Owen

 

[Owen]

The Prime Minister and her partner, Tim Mathieson, would greet the Ambassador and his wife at the doorstep of The Lodge.

"Mr. Ambassador, it is wonderful to see you. Welcome to the neighbourhood. You can trust that we make very good neighbours." She would shake his hand.

Tim would greet Alessandra with a kiss on the cheek, as was Italian tradition. The Prime Minister would then swap to Alessandra and likewise, kiss her on the cheek. Tim would shake the hand of the Ambassador.

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"Welcome to The Lodge, please come through."

They would enter into the home, first would be a large foyer with the staircase leading up to the second floor. There would be an Australian and Italian flag inside the foyer.

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Upstairs was the residence, downstairs would be the dining room and the lounge room. The dining room would be set up by the household staff at The Lodge.

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Julia and Tim did not have any children, so it was only the four guests. They would take their seats in the dining room as they awaited their entree to be served by the Chef at The Lodge. Warm bread rolls and butter were available on the table. Julia would begin pointing out and explaining the different artworks around the room.

"These artworks have been kindly curated and donated to the house from The Australiana Fund. The fund was started by former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser's wife, Tamie. The idea was to fundraise in order to purchase and maintain artworks for use in Official Resdences of the Prime Minister and Governor-General so that international visitors could be surrounded by the highest examples of Australian artwork."

The sommelier would come around pour glasses of Penfolds Grange Bin 95 1990 vintage.

"Ah, talking of highest examples of Australian artwork, this is probably one of the highest examples of Australian wine. Grown and made in my home state of South Australia, Penfolds Grange is probably one of the most lucrative wines in Australia. It's a Shiraz. This is a 1990 vintage, which was a particularly good year for the Penfolds Grange and a highly sought after vintage. Now I know its hard to compete with Italian wines, though I think you will be pleasantly surprised."

Danny