The Italian Australian Podcast

Get ready for another mouth-watering episode! This week we're joined by Laura from Alpino Gelato, Australia's first gelato company. Founded by Laura's Calabrese immigrant grandparents, Alpino Gelato has a rich family history that we're so excited to share. Laura's passion and enthusiasm are contagious, and we loved hearing the story behind the family business, as well as learning what goes into ma...

This week we're joined by Domenico Colosimo, a proud Italian Australian and incredibly talented pizzaiolo, recently crowned Australia's Most Sustainable Pizzaiolo for 2026. We loved chatting all things pizza and hearing Domenico's thoughts on what transforms a good pizza into a truly unforgettable one. He also shares the story behind his family business, Tempo, and the strong sense of community th...

Ciao amici this is the 150th episode of the Italian Australian Podcast! We are so excited to have reached this milestone and we thank everyone who has supported us along the way, especially our family, Lukas’s wife Vanessa and my fiancé Daniel. We also thank each of our guests and all of you for listening. Our guest this week is Nella, a proud Italian Australian who immigrated to Australia as a ch...

If you want to bring some good luck or get protection from negative energy this is the episode for you! We are chatting with Nicole from Bella Luck Charms on Lygon Street in Melbourne. Nicole founded Bella Luck Charms with her sister and they specialise in beautiful jewellery inspired by the traditional Italian symbols for good luck and protection. You can visit the shopfront on Lygon street or sh...

This was a very fun chat with Annalisa from Bella Ciao Travels. Annalisa moved to Perth from Italy and has created this amazing travel company which offers more than simply assistance in booking your Italian holiday, Bella Ciao Travels can design the Italian holiday of your dreams. More details are available at Bella ciao travels.com, you can find them on socials or click on the links below: Bella...

We had a fascinating chat with Dr Mariarosaria Francomacaro in this episode. Mariarosaria is a lecturer in Italian Government Studies at the University of Western Australia we were very interested to hear of her experiences professionally in teaching Italian at a University level and also her personal journey of moving to Australia with her family. This episode is proudly sponsored by Leading Digi...

This was a very fun chat with passionate Italian Australian Chiara Barbera, creator of Vera Italia and our guest in this episode. Vera Italia is your doorway into the true Italy: the people and traditions that make our culture special. Here, you’ll meet locals, discover hidden towns, and experience authentic Italian life. Chiara joined us from Italy for this chat and we were thrilled to hear all a...

We were thrilled to welcome Guy Grossi to the podcast. Born in Australia to Italian immigrant parents, Guy has built an impressive career spanning more than 40 years in the hospitality industry. Alongside his success as a chef and restaurateur, he has authored several cookbooks and appeared on popular television programs including Food Safari, Iron Chef Australia, and My Kitchen Rules. In this epi...

Our guest is Agnese, founder of Buongiorno Bimbi, an Italian Language school in Melbourne. Agnese is passionate and has years of experience in teaching the Italian language and we were thrilled for this opportunity to have her answer our questions. We were truly inspired during this conversation and loved hearing practical advice on how children and adults can improve their Italian language skills...

It’s Mother’s Day this Sunday so we decided it was the perfect opportunity to chat with our Mum Rose and her Mum, our Nonna Maria in this episode. Both have joined us on the podcast before, our listeners may remember our previous episodes with these special ladies and we have also added the links to those episodes in the shownotes. In this episode we loved hearing more stories from our Nonna about...

In this episode we are joined by our good friend and return guest Joseph Sgambelluri, also known as the Italian Aussie Cook. This was a fun and lighthearted chat about foods we love but can’t find outside of Italy. We are very interested to hear what our listeners think, please let us know if we missed any of your favourites!! You can see the amazing dishes Joseph creates on his instagram page The...

In this episode, we welcome back Frank Lotito. You might remember our conversation with him in episode 128, where he shared his journey and spoke about the stage show The Italian Divorce , which has performed to sold-out audiences across Australia. Fantastic news for our Perth listeners- The Italian Divorce is coming back 3rd, 4th and 5th of July, tickets are selling fast and you don’t want to mis...

In this episode we are joined by our friend, Raffaella from La Mortazza. Many of our listeners will know this famous Italian cafe in North Perth, when you are there you truly feel like you are in Italy, the taste, the smells and the sounds bring you that authentic Italian experience. We loved hearing about Raffaella’s story of leaving her home in Abruzzo to follow her heart to Perth and of how her...

This week we are talking about ‘From Nonna with Love: Stories of Tradition and Triumph’, the fabulous exhibition currently showing at the WA Maritime Museum. This exhibition celebrates the stories of Italian migrant women. I have personally been twice and it is absolutely incredible. We were honoured to be joined by our guest Nella, the curator and woman whose dreams and dedication has made it all...

As we mark Holy Week, we wish all our listeners a safe and joyful Easter, and we hope you enjoy our conversation about Easter traditions in this episode. We’re joined by Jessica Timpano—many of you will know her as The Little Italian Cook and the creator of Nonno in the Kitchen. She’s also the author of a cookbook, Decoding Nonna’s Recipes, a heartfelt collection of recipes from both her nonnas. W...

In this episode our guest is Gianni Corvaia, or Gianni Capri as he is known on Spotify and Mr C as he is called by his many adoring students. We had the pleasure of chatting with Gianni about his Italian Australian identity and his music. We are excited for the release of Gianni’s EP which is titled Gigi, coming out March 27th. To hear more of his incredible work, you can find him on Spotify and s...

It’s been several years since the two of us last experienced the joy of spending time in Italy, and lately we’ve been feeling a little nostalgic. So in this episode, we sit down for a chat about some of the things we miss the most—from the big things like time with family to the little details that make Italy so special. If it’s been a while since your last visit, we’re sure you’ll relate. And if...

We are starting to get very excited here in Perth as we count down the days until the Perth Italian Festival, happening Saturday 11th of April at Langley Park. The festival is back for the 3rd time and we had the pleasure of chatting to the man who started it all- our friend, return guest and iconic Perth Italian Australian- Mr Accordion Man AKA Frank Miranda!!! Frank and his dedicated and hard wo...

Lukas was on location at South West Bottega chatting with our guest Marco D’Aquino in this episode. Marco and his wife moved to Australia in 2010 and started a couple of businesses, one of those being South West Bottega which is known as an Italian hub in the area. At this vibrant business you will find food, drinks, vintage treasures for sale and even Italian lessons. For our Perth listeners who...

We had so much fun chatting with Fabian from Antipasti Deli Cafe in Yarraville in this episode. Some of our listeners will remember hearing about Antipasti Deli Cafe as one of our sponsors and we were so happy to have a chat with Fabian and hear more about his story and his business. In particular we really enjoyed hearing about Fabian’s time spent living and working in Italy many years ago. We al...

Our guest in this episode joined us from the USA, we loved chatting with Anthony Castelvecchi about his passion for learning and sharing knowledge about the Italian Diaspora around the world, he does this through Oriundi- which is a vibrant and popular social media platform he has created. You can find Oriundi by clicking the links below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oriundi_?igsh=MXZueWQz...

As this Saturday is Valentines Day in this Valentine’s episode we are joined by 2 very special guests, Lukas’ wife Vanessa and Josie’s fiancé Daniel. We had a lot of laughs and chatted about the experiences of non Italians becoming a part of Italian families.

Our guest this week is Sonia Di Iorio, a Melbourne based comedian. Sonia is doing something with her comedy which we think is pretty cool, in addition to her usual stand up comedy shows, she has created a stand up comedy show which is spoken entirely in Italian!! We were very interested to chat with Sonia and hear more about this. You can see the show at Adelaide fringe festival 15th March and at...

We had a great chat with our guest Tony Roda in this episode. Tony is a proud Italian Australian who is deeply connected to his Calabrese heritage. He created the facebook page ‘Calabrese of Australia’ which is a massive online community of almost 35K followers where all things Calabrese are celebrated. The page is popular with Italians from all regions and even some people who are not of Italian...

We were truly delighted to chat with Frank Lotito in this episode. Frank has had a long and successful journey in the entertainment industry, he has pretty much done it all from theatre, film and television. He is multi talented as an actor, comedian, writer, producer and director. He is well known for the films ‘Big Mamma’s Boy’ and ‘Wog Boys Forever’ It was fascinating to hear Frank’s story and...