'Bernard Hickey was a man of many loves. He loved the friends he made around the world. He loved Trinity College, Dublin, where he first studied abroad. He loved his ancestral source land of Ireland, and the many friends he made there. He loved his native Australia' and his adopted home in Italy. Through his career in Venice, and then in Lecce, he tirelessly promoted the study of Australian literature, not only in Italy, but throughout Europe. Yet he wa no uncritical patriot. As an outsider, he was an engaged observer of life and events in Ireland and Italy, but throughout his life he remained proud to be an Australian.' (p 195)