In his recently published book Italia Romantica, a lively and vivid historical account of the Romantics' love affair with Italy, Roderick Cavaliero writes:

"At the dawn of the 19th century, Italy had been for 200 years the universal art gallery, wunderkammer, museum, classroom, repository of Europe's heritage."

British writers, artists, and scholars have drawn so extensively on the culture of Italy in the field of literature, art, architecture, painting and music that it has become difficult to assess and evaluate the impact of this extraordinary influence.

Several eminent scholars, mainly from the UK and Italy, will assemble at the Aula Magna of the Old University of Malta in Valletta to deliver papers on the influence of Italy on British literature and culture.

The Sixth International Conference on Anglo-Italian Literary and Cultural relations is being convened by Prof. Peter Vassallo and Prof. Gloria Lauri-Lucente on September 22 and 23 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The conference is organised in collaboration with the British Council and the Italian Cultural Institute.

Scholars will focus on a variety of topics relating to the conference's central theme of Anglo-Italian cross-cultural influences. Among the numerous proposed papers are Prof. Jonathan White (Essex) on 'Using Dante for a Poetics of Cultural History'; Prof. Nigel Wood (Loughborough) on 'Johnson, Boswell and the notion of Italy'; Prof. Susan Oliver (Essex) on 'Romantic Dantism: Byron, Cary, and other Visions'; Prof. Peter Vassallo (Malta) on 'E.M.Forster, John Ruskin and the "pernicious charm"of Italy';

Prof. Lucia Boldrini (Goldsmiths, London) will present a paper on 'Anna Banti and Virginia Woolf: A Dialogue across Time'; Prof. Gloria Lauri-Lucente on 'Like flowers on a distant branch: Montale and Eliot'; and Dr Saverio Tomaiuolo (Cassino) on 'An English Translation of Andrea Camilleri's novels'. The conference is open to the public. The registration fee for students is €20 and €30 for non-students.

For more information visit www.um.edu.mt/anglo-italian/conference2008, or contact conference manager Lucienne Bugeja on 2123 4571 or at conferences@fis.com.mt.