The foreign ministry has set up a pavilion and is organising dozens of events at the Turin International Book Fair from Thursday through Monday as part of the government's bid to strengthen Italy's cultural diplomacy and "soft power", a statement cited foreign minister Antonio Tajani as saying.
“Culture is a bridge for dialogue and a source of shared growth: for a country such as Italy, which holds the world record for the number of Unesco sites, soft power represents the real added value for conveying our interests and values in the world,” Tajani said in the statement.
The them of Italy's pavilion is 'The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs meets…' and a busy programme of events is on offer in the exhibition's conference rooms, according to the statement.
On Thursday at 1.45 pm in the fair's Sala Bianca room, the head of the foreign ministry's crisis unit, Nicola Minasi, and General Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, Head of the Inter-Forces Summit Operations Command will recount how Italians abroad receive help critical situations, giving recent examples.
An event at 10.30 am on Thursday will unveil two projects designed to recount Italy to children all over the world through popular Italian children's books. The first of these is “Pimpa viaggia in Italia", in cooperation with Franco Cosimo Panini publishers. It will then be the turn of well-known children's character Geronimo Stiiilton of “Mille meraviglie in blu” at a presentation at Italy's pavilion at 11.30 am.
A debate will take place later on Thursday in th Sala Bianca spanning diplomacy, culture, information and Artificial Intelligence. The event will look at the role and prospects of “soft power” in an ever-more competitive and conflict-wracked international scenario, the statement said.
Speakers at the debate will include the ministry's Director General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy, Alessandro De Pedys, Italy's ambassador to Ukraine, Pier Francesco Zazo, Venice Biennale art fair president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, Italian Digital Media Observatory chief, Gianni Riotta, and the Politecnico di Torino's AI hub director Barbara Caputo
On Friday at 12:45 pm, in the fair's Sala Lisbona room, representatives of the foreign ministry, trade agency ICE, Italy's publishers association, its Reading and Writing centre and the Italian Encyclopedia (Treccani) will present strategies to promote Italian books throught the word.
In a final event on Monday, at 11:30 am in the Sala Avorio room, the ministry's 'Director General for Italians Citizens Abroad, Luigi Maria Vignali and author Simona Binni will present the 'Under the Same Sky' comic strip which grew out of a ministry tourism project to help Italian descendants abroad reconnect with their roots in Italy.
Since the conservative government took office in October 2022, Tajani has led efforts by the ministry to strengthen cultural diplomacy including support for publishing - Italy's top creative industry - promoting high-quality Italian exports, Italian archaeological missions abroad, and boosting Italian language teaching and cooperation with schools and universities abroad, the statement noted.
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