Author: Rosanna Turcinovich Giuricin

To the prof. Konrad Eisenbichler, presented with a lifetime achievement award on a warm evening in late May. There were participants of the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for Renaissance Studies (CSRS) and those of the Canadian Society for Italian Studies (CSIS), colleagues and friends, gathered around the Lussignan-Canadian professor. The ceremony took place in Waterloo as part of the annual conference of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the largest multidisciplinary academic gathering in Canada. Why the award to Prof. Eisenbichler, the motivation was presented by Prof. Claude La Charité President of the Society of Renaissance Studies which awards this prestigious recognition every year to a person who has distinguished himself in teaching, research, publication of volumes, conferences in various universities around the world, activity within the association, relationship with students and professors. All these characteristics are not lacking in the professor's curriculum. Eisenbichler, also known to the Julian Dalmatian public around the world, for his Adriatic origins. The professor. Eisenbichler was born in Lussinpiccolo to a locally born Austrian father and a Lussignan mother, that is to say from an ancient island family, the Martinolichs, also known for having developed part of the local and Trieste navy and shipbuilding industry. But not only that, Prof. Eisenbichler is also the editor of the Boletin, the Toronto Julian-Dalmatian information sheet. For all these activities he was awarded the title of Commander by the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano. She is waiting to receive Italian citizenship, stuck in the meanders of bureaucracy due to the anomalies often present in our lands: she left Lussinpiccolo at the age of two following an "Austrian" father, so her case is not contemplated by the law in force today. Strange paths of a reality that sees him among the greatest scholars of Italianness in Canada, in a prestigious University like that of Toronto. And now his merits are also recognized with the lifetime achievement award. “And not because of my age” – jokes Professor Eisenbichler during an evening of great joy and satisfaction without the pomp of etiquette, simply among friends and colleagues – highlighting however the exceptional nature of the award received which underlines the vast production of publications and the constant presence wherever the network of contacts and connections is “built” for the development of teaching suited to the needs of the young generations. It turns out, during the evening, that many students undertook their post-graduate studies in Toronto on the advice of Italian professors who advised them to attend the courses of the prof. Ironmonger. There are many testimonies. Some of them returned to Italy, others found their way in America. Tireless, attentive to the needs of his disciples, he cultivated his passion for poetry, in particular for the feminine poetry of Renaissance Tuscany, with studies on some important figures. Soon everything will be revealed in both the English and Italian volumes. Why poetry? “It's a genre that I love very much – he confesses – it often allows you to imagine broader contexts through a challenge of reading and interpretation. The research is often long and difficult but how satisfying…”. This is what she said after a long work of research and analysis in the volumes dedicated to the "Sienese poetesses" to be published soon. Who would you like to dedicate your award to? “To my mother, who reminds me every day of my connection to my homeland and that all-feminine ability to assert oneself with sweetness and intelligence, today as in the Renaissance.”