Embassy of Italy in Jerevan

The Italian Embassy in Armenia is particularly active in promoting bilateral cultural cooperation. As a matter of fact the diffusion of Italian culture in Armenia represents one of the main instruments for opening new perspectives in the political, economic, commercial spheres of cooperation. Armenia is a country with strong artistic traditions from literature to fine arts to music. Consequently it looks towards Italy, the cradle of arts and the centre of the major treasures of world cultural heritage, as a model and reference point. One of the venues of the Embassy’s cultural activity is its theatre, an elegant and comfortable multimedia hall that can accommodate up to 70 people. It is mainly used for film screenings and conferences in Italian. It also includes a library of modern Italian literature provided by the Italian Foreign Ministry. It is open to public on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. One of the Embassy’s main cultural activities is the promotion of the Italian language by means of a lecturer dispatched from Italy at the Yerevan State University. Italian is one of the most favorite and studied languages in Armenia, particularly among young generations. The possibility to receive RAI and Mediaest programmes via satellite is a powerful instrument for its diffusion. Since March 2000, the effort put in place by our lecturer to establish a close cooperation among local Universities offering Italian classes has been producing a major impact both on the quality of teaching and on the number of students enrolling to Italian courses. A space devoted to Italian teaching, provided with a library by Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs along with a well-known publishing house and private donors, was opened in each of the above-mentioned Universities. Indeed, Brusov University (whose Italian space is also Dante Alighieri’s local Committee headquarters) recently awarded Italian language the “first special tongue” academic status, bringing about a significant rise in local demand for Italian courses. At the same time, Yerevan University Italian Department, where the same “upgrading” is still on the way to be acknowledged, is experiencing a steady increase in post lauream courses’ registrations. The Embassy also launched in 2004 a “pilot project” offering free Italian language courses for beginners coming from Armenian Public Administration staff (about 8 lessons on basic elements of Italian), getting the particular consent of the Armenian Foreign Ministry. Moreover, computers and a satellite for the broadcast of Italian were delivered to public school in the rural area of Panik in the north of Armenia.
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Besides the language courses, numerous activities have been organized at the Embassy’s multimedia theatre. Such events are not usually open to public but are available for the Armenian students of Italian and to invited guests. Weekly film screening on Tuesday afternoons provide further occasion to deepen Italian culture and language’s knowledge. The yearly held “Week of the Italian Language in the world”, aimed at giving a multifaceted overview of our culture while pursuing close cooperation with local institutions, was devoted in 2006 to “food in Italian language and culture”. The sixth Edition proposed a lecture given by University’s of Bologna Professor Cristina Bragaglia titled “Gastronomic history and greed scenes. Italy on stage” along with chef Bruno Cazzin seminar and film screenings related to the issue.
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In the framework of the bilateral cultural agreement, the following worth mentioning events took place in 2006; the contemporary dance show “Confidance” staged by the Italian Company “Francesco Selva”, at the Yerevan’s Opera House (14 April); Giacomo Puccini’s Trittico: Il Tabarro-Suor Angelica-Gianni Schiacchi (16, 20 and 22 December) and Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello, performed as a concert by tenor Francesco Anile and baritone Stefano Anselmi (9 and 12 December). Furthermore, a significative film review has attempted to acquaint the Armenian public with the most contemporary Italian Cinema represented by four movies shown at Nairi’s Cinema: “Emma sono io”, “Un viaggio chiamato amore”, “Hijos”, “L’ora di religione” (2-10 December). As for 2005, the agenda’s top event, the Italian-Armenian Friendship Days’ Festival was organized jointly by the Italian Embassy and the Armenian Government (mainly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) by means of the Bilateral Cultural Agreement’s funds and through local sponsorships. The Festival, held in November, hosted up to 36 free cultural initiatives (and 72 events taking into account repeated performances and film screenings) and was referred to by the Armenian authorities as “historic”.
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It’s also worth mentioning the Embassy’s activity in support of numerous delegations from Italian universities and institutions (some of them financed by the Italian Foreign Ministry), carrying out their activities in Armenia in the spheres of archeology and restoration of the Armenian heritage. One of the main beneficiaries was the institution called “Centro Studi e Documetazione della Cultura Armena” (Center of Studies and documentation of the Armenian culture) whose internet site is www.csdca.it. Thanks to the financial support of the Italian Government the Csdca has taken a leading role in the restoration of Armenian churches like those in Marmashen and Ererouk. The activities were also aimed at forming Armenians in the field of restoration of monuments. In 2006 the pilot project presented by Csdca, out of 192 previously archeological projects examined, received the largest amount of funds from the Italian government (with the only exception of a project executed in Libya). Furthermore, it seems worth noting that for 2007 the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to finance also a research on the Urartian civilization along the rivers of Lake Sevan. Within this framework, it seems also important to highlight that during the Summer of 2005 the Italian University “Carlo Cattaneo” of Castellanza presented a detailed and interesting study named “Project Marmashen: landscape management and local entrepreneurship development for sustainable tourism in Vahramaberd-Marmashen-Kaps rural area”. Also this study was financed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As a matter of fact, sustainable development linked with cultural preservation has always been a priority of the Italian government in Armenia and worldwide. For instance, an Italian Trust Fund for Culture and Sustainable Development (ITFCSD) was established in September 2000 with an initial amount of US$2.39 million. This amount was increased by additional Euro 2.5 million (US$ 2.25 million) in 2001. The purpose of the ITFCSD was to assist the World Bank in the implementation of initiatives that could advance the preservation, promotion and management of cultural assets and enhance cultural heritage related activities in developing countries, particularly those located in the Mediterranean Region. The ITFCSD provided support to the preparation and implementation of Bank- financed operations by funding research, policy and program analysis, economic and sector studies and training. It was also used to implement self-standing pilot projects entailing the appreciation of the cultural patrimony, the improvement of education, the share of information and knowledge, the diffusion of best practices. To-date, investments have been made in 14 countries, both within the Mediterranean basin and worldwide, including Armenia. Specifically a conference named “the sustainable development of monuments” was organized in April 2005 at the Armenian Academy of Sciences with the participation of the Armenian Ministry of Culture.

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