ITALY AND SERBIA TOGETHER ON

Italy And Serbia Together ON CULTURE

Cooperation between Italy and Serbia in the domain of cultural is traditional, intense, and well structured. This is possible thanks to the environment of friendship and the great openness shown by Serbian cultural institutions towards Italy, while it is expressed in all cultural sectors: music (ancient, baroque, classical, jazz, modern), visual arts (painting, sculpture, photography, installations, multimedia), theatre (classical, modern, experimental), general and local history, literature and publishing (fiction, non-fiction, comics, archives), fashion, design, architecture, cuisine, archaeology, science and cinema

The Italian Cultural Institute (IIC) in Belgrade works with many cultural institutions, both in the capital and other cities and towns across the country, as well as with other European cultural institutes (EUNIC), in order to carry out joint projects that involve Serbian partners. The IIC thus cooperates on a regular basis with universities and schools where Italian is taught (in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Kragujevac). In fact, seminars, workshops, international conferences and many other joint initiatives in the fields of Italian linguistics, literature and essay writing are organised. The Institute also organises language courses at all levels. These are still being held online for now, but it is hoped that in-person teaching be able to resume in autumn.

The pandemic obviously slowed down the organising of cultural events in 2020 and the first part of 2021 (e.g. the “Hypermodern Dante” exhibition), but didn’t grind it to a halt completely. Thanks to the positive evolution of the situation, we hope to resume organising cultural events in a more intense and inclusive way with our loyal public. As early as June, the Italian Cultural Institute will offer concerts in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Subotica, while it will participate in the “Fare Cinema” week that the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs organises all over the world; the IIC will inaugurate the 8th photographic exhibition “La Sicilia, ilsuocuore” (Sicily, his hearth), dedicated to writer Leonardo Sciascia on the centenary of his birth. Italy will also be present at Belgrade’s October Salon. Following in July will be Design Day, which is set to include the participation of famous Italian architect Franco Purini, then Literature Night will be held in Novi Sad in September, with writer Nadia Terranova in attendance, and there is still the Italian-Serbian Film Festival, promoted by Gabriella Carlucci, to come.

Some great events are envisaged for the coming autumn: there’s the 2nd October staging of great Italian opera Madama Butterfly; the

Week of the Italian Language around the World, which is this year dedicated to Dante Alighieri; the IIC stand at the Belgrade Book Fair, as well as the literary salon where the local public will meet Italian writers and intellectuals, together with Serbian ones. Then there’s the KRENI project in Niš, Italy’s participation in the Belgrade Jazz Festival, the Week of Italian Cuisine around the World and, perhaps above all, the 25th November concert of the great Stefano Bollani at Belgrade’s Dom Omladine youth centre. December will see the holding of the event Cinema Italia Oggi, a major film festival being organised jointly by Cinecittà-Istituto Luce and the Yugoslav FIlm Archives Cinematheque,

during which recent Italian film productions will be presented in various Serbian cities. These major events will alternate with many initiatives all over Serbia, not only in Belgrade, to include exhibitions, concerts, literary presentations, conferences and webinars. The IIC hopes that many people will attend.

Some great events are envisaged for the coming autumn: there’s the 2nd October staging of great Italian opera Madama Butterfly; the Week of the Italian Language around the World, which is this year dedicated to Dante Alighieri; the IIC stand at the Belgrade Book Fair, as well as the literary salon where the local public will meet Italian writers and intellectuals, together with Serbian ones

HYPERMODERN DANTE

The exhibition "Hypermodern Dante", which was inaugurated on 14th April, has just closed in Belgrade and moved on to pastures new. The exhibition event, which was proposed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and created thanks to cooperation with the Dante Society and the Association of Italianists, was curated by Vincenzo Capalbo and welcomed several hundred visitors in Belgrade, despite restrictions on access due to the pandemic

Thanks to this exhibition, it was possible to tell the story of the wonder and beauty of Italy’s cultural heritage and honour this memory of the country’s SommoPoeta seven hundred years after his death. His Divine Comedy masterpiece is known and famous all over the world. It has been translated into almost all languages, including of course Serbian, and is highly valued and studied. This exhibition could not be lacking in Serbia as a host country, which is a country that has always been attentive and sensitive to the great authors of Italian literature.

The Belgrade stage of the exhibition – which began its tour of six different countries – represented an important opportunity to show the Serbian public some valuable examples of the iconography linked to Dante Alighieri. The exhibition offered a journey into the world of illustrations of Dante’s works and made it possible to admire works by Tom Phillips (London, 1937), a multifaceted artist of precocious versatility; Monika Beisner (Hamburg, 1942), one of the most important and atypical contemporary German illustrators; Mimmo Paladino (Paduli, 1948), who is among the best known and most appreciated Italian artists on the world stage; Emiliano Ponzi (Reggio Emilia, 1978), one of the best known and most appreciated Italian illustrators; Paolo Barbieri (Mantua, 1971), one of the best-known fantasy illustrators at the international level.

The event formed part of commemorations marking the seven hundred anniversary of the death of this great father of the Italian language. Other events marking this great jubilee include envisaged online and faceto-face activities celebrating this writer and poet who contributed to shaping the contours of Italy’s cultural identity and linguistic unity, many centuries before its political unification.

Countless celebrations connected to the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death relate to many aspects of art: literature first and foremost, but also music, cinema, theatre and, of course, the visual arts. Dante Alighieri isn’t only an Italian poet by definition, but rather is also one of the founding fathers of the Italian language; the author of Divine Comedy is the source of one of the most famous, most studied and, let’s face it, most beautiful and admired linguistic codes in the world.

Despite him having lived over seven centuries ago, reading Dante is incredibly understandable to Italians and those who study Italian today, as can be seen by reading Dante’s developed meta-linguistic key of the vernacular [Italian] language in Convivio: “Dicochemanifestamentesipuòvedere come lo latinoaverebbe a pochidato lo suobeneficio, ma lo volgareserviràveramente a molti” [I say that clearly we can see how Latin would have benefited a few, but the vernacular will really serve many]. In difficult times like the one we’re currently experiencing, getting closer to Dante and his work represents a moment of reinvigoration and relief for our soul.

Countless celebrations connected to the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death relate to many aspects of art: literature first and foremost, but also music, cinema, theatre and, of course, the visual arts. Dante Alighieri isn’t only an Italian poet by definition, but rather is also one of the founding fathers of the Italian language