This volume edited by Daniela Cosmini-Rose offers rich insights and a diversity of approaches to the increasingly important issue of Australia’s ageing culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) population. Specifically, it reflects on the experiences of the Italian migrant population in South Australia. Cosmini-Rose rightly argues that South Australia ‘holds a unique place in the national picture of ageing, having one of Australia’s oldest populations, as well as having an Italian community which is a far more elderly group compared to other post-war arrivals’ (p. 13). The volume provides an up-to-date assessment of the challenges that ageing Italian migrants face in Australia, highlighting that, even among Italian migrants, there is no single universal approach to care of the aged.

A major contribution of the volume is its surprising range of contributions, including well-known Italian studies academics, as well as promising younger scholars, who all carefully contextualise the experience of older Italian-Australians in the broader history of the migration process and Australia’s social and policy responses. Diana Glenn explores the theoretical issues related to constructions of ethnicity in relation to assimilation ideologies (in particular macro-state responses to migration) that are pertinent to our contemporary understanding of older Italian migrants today. Desmond O’Connor’s chapter takes into account the relationship that elderly migrants have with their ancestral homeland through the transnational framework, while also describing the role of memory ‘of one’s own human heritage’ (p. 223) and the important role of religion in the lives of elderly Italians in Australia. Francesca Bouvet’s chapter on food habits (linked to personal identities and family) highlights how they remain physically and emotively important to older Italian migrants. We particularly enjoyed the heartfelt reflections by dedicated long-time GP Daniela Costa, and Tony Paganoni’s account of intergenerational differences over time. Together, these chapters explore the more intimate aspects of culture and migration, while recognising the important role of state social policy and historical context.

There are also fresh analytical perspectives. Irene Belperio’s innovative discussion of environmental gerontology and the ecology of ageing provides a sound conceptual background to ideas about the migrant ‘home’, which are critical to understanding why Italian migrants have a strong desire to age at home and therefore may not seek or accept care services. Kenneth Goodall, Lareen Newman and Paul Ward (public health, human services and social sciences) examine the ever-more pertinent issue of information pathways in the ‘digital age’, and demonstrate that CALD groups like Italians are at risk of ‘information exclusion’ as Australia embarks on a ‘digital by default’ approach to the provision of all kinds of information. They highlight the importance of ‘information brokers’ who gather, translate, interpret and even ‘broker’ access to information and communication technologies. This finding mirrors the ground-breaking work of Tracy Reynolds and Elisabetta Zontini in the UK, who show that ‘cultural brokers’, usually drawn from the second generation, are key to improved access to services among first-generation migrants.

The list of barriers to integration and wellbeing remain the same as ever – in particular that of language, combined with loneliness and isolation, although there are new barriers to information represented by the limited digital citizenship discussed above. Cosmini-Rose tackles the enduring and complex issue of culture and cultural differences by underlining that older Italian migrants are reluctant to seek help and less likely to rely on aged care facilities because ‘the dedication to family and reciprocal care obligations are understood to be core principles among Italian-Australian migrants’ (p. 6). The importance of family values, as lived by the second generation and their first-generation ageing parents, is a central theme in this volume. In particular, the chapter by Cosmini-Rose and Belperio demonstrates that caring responsibilities between second generation daughters and their elderly parents remain strong and that service providers ‘need to take into account the important role that family members, and especially adult children, play in providing informal support’ (p. 69). The important role of brokerage is also central to Cosmini-Rose and Belperio’s analysis; they argue that the ‘multiple roles carried out by family members in brokering between CALD parents and health service providers’ need to be better recognised and understood by service providers (p. 70).

The focus of this volume is on post-Second World War migrants, and for this reason it does not contextualise this cohort with other, younger cohorts of Italian migrants (for instance, the post-1980s cohort and the more recent wave of post-2000 migrants). A case is made that the second generation maintains strong relationships with their ageing parents, but that this support is not always readily available. Cosmini-Rose and Belperio state: ‘Family support might not be as readily accessible as has been the general assumption. Second generation Italian-Australians are also expected to conform to mainstream lifestyles, characterised by increasing labour market mobility and demanding personal lives that make them less available to care for their ageing parents’ (p. 101). A possible theme for future research might be the potential role of more recent migrants in assisting the post-war migrants in their ageing process. For example, given their Italian language proficiency, younger migrants could be of great assistance to older Italian migrants who may only be fluent in Italian. This would require some development of the Italian community aged care service sector to provide substantive employment opportunities and career progression.

Overall, this book makes a significant contribution to studies on ageing, specifically in the Italian Australian community. Its principal value lies in its multilayered and multidisciplinary approach to ageing issues, which is beneficial to service providers and policy makers. The volume acknowledges that older migrants exist in the context of important relationships at both a micro (family) and meso (community) level. The elderly, family and community are therefore linked and need to be considered alongside each other.

The volume deserves to be read widely and not just by South Australians interested in aged care. While the book does not overtly reflect on the relevance of its key themes beyond South Australia, the issues are of crucial importance among all ageing populations, particularly for minority groups in migrant settings.