CAIRO - The Italian Cultural Institute in Cairo begins celebrating the Italian Language and Culture Week on October 16. The Director of the Italian Institute, Patrizia Raveggi, says that the Italian week this year will be very special as it coincides with the 150th anniversary of a United Italy. "We are going to remember those days and those brave nationalists, who struggled for a United Italy," she explains, adding that those memories will also bring to the mind memories about how the Italians and Egyptians were very close, when Italian nationalists found shelter in Egypt. One of the highlights of the event this year will be a conference on the influence of the Italian Risorgimento on the birth of the idea of nationhood in Egypt. The conference, which will be held on October 19 at the Italian Cultural Institute, will witness the participation of well-known Italian and Egyptian historians and scholars. The conference will focus on the parallel between the Egyptian and Italian processes for fighting for freedom in the 19th and 20th centuries. Raveggi said that the programme is rich in cultural events, including theatre, music, cinema, literature, history and art. The activities also will include an exhibition of lithography, inspired by the Italian flag interpreted and recreated by the artists of Brera Academy to celebrate the 150th anniversary. There will be also a special season of films on Risorgimento that will be screened in the Institute's Auditorium. Italian-language students will play an important role with a photographic and a writing skills contest, as well as theatrical performances with a four-act play written and directed by the students of the Department of Italian Studies, Ain Shams University. The week will conclude with the inauguration of the Literary Café of the Italian Culture Institute, dedicated to Carla Maria Burri, Cultural Attaché and then Director of the Italian Cultural Institute from 1991 to 1998. The Italian Language and Culture Week, first launched in 2001, is one of the most prominent and internationally recognised events for the promotion of the Italian language.
