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Vecchia Cancelleria
Piazza S. Giorgio
Valletta VLT1190 
Tel.:   +356 21221462    Fax: +356 21220548
Email:  iiclavalletta@esteri.it

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Director's Letter

Dear friends,

After Somalia, Sweden, Canada, Libya and Ireland … here I am in Malta ready to begin a new journey with you and with the people of this island who, I believe, have more than a passing interest in Italian culture. The basic reason is our common history.

I was asked not only to address you, but also to outline the planned activities of the Istituto over the coming months. I will not go much beyond this, because the realities of any activity, especially of a cultural nature, change very quickly and you run the risk of becoming obsolete from morning to evening. Along with my collaborators, I have a wonderful responsibility, not only to continue the work carried out so far by others, but also to initiate policies and choices that will illustrate the creativity of hand and mind that Italy generated in the past and continues to generate. I will have to make choices, possibly not always straightforward, just as the times that we live in are not always in accord. Fortunately, Italian culture, heir to the ideal of harmony espoused by classicism, can become a messenger for peace and not just knowledge in the strictest sense. For Italian culture then, do not simply expect our intellectual and artistic riches- classical and contemporary- but also our style of life that transfers the cult of beauty and harmony into daily life, and is so greatly appreciated and in fashion abroad.

We will try to reach the young ones, our future.

We will attempt, therefore, to avoid proposing events with an appeal for small groups of specialists only. Such events would not help us convince young generations that we are a country “on the move”. Italy continues to excel in multiple fields of scientific research, and knowledge in general, and has chosen art and culture as the major expressions of its image throughout the world. We will have achieved our goal if, along with our cultural activity, we manage to deliver the visible results of the Italian quality of life, which is imitated across the planet (perhaps even distorting it to a large degree, may we say?). Let me repeat: we have excelled in design, fashion, cuisine, wine, science, sports, in the small things that make up our daily life, and we know that, in an affluent society, all this contributes towards raising the quality standards of life to unprecedented levels. Another thing that I want to share with the Maltese are our emotions. Italian culture is not cold, clinical, mummified, no! It is a living culture in the sense that it is the fruit of the “emotional” interaction of its inhabitants with the territory in which they live. Why are we so “particular”? Because we are the outcome of layer upon layer of historical experiences that shaped and civilized us, in the positive and the negative, to the limit. Even without talking of the geographic differences that mould us in different ways, though still making us feel part of a single territory… think of the severity of the Dolomites or of the softness of Amalfitan Coast. The effects of an existence- living, behaviour, gastronomic, oenological- in areas so diverse could only result “dramatically” opposed but also profoundly “real”, and why? Because the people who live there did not allow life to flow over them, but they suffered, endured, fought, changed, adapted and finally understood that living in harmony with nature and with their fellow man and with the tide of progress, you live a better life: and all this happened in a “unicum”, in a Country whose shape suggests to us that we are constantly on the move and that we are not destined to stop.
But let us come to the heart of things. What awaits you in the near future at the Istituto di Cultura? Try to take a glance at the future programme that we will soon put together. Some things are still at an early stage of discussion, but I would say that we are at a good point …

What comes to me spontaneously is:

“COME TO VISIT US! WE WILL SURELY BECOME FRIENDS!!!"

Sincere regards to everyone

Bruno Busetti
Director

HIGHLIGHTS

Special events

Thursday, February 11, 2010

MEETING WITH DR. FILIPPO MARIANO

Dr.  FILIPPO MARIANO, guest of University lecturer Dr. ANNA PORCHEDDU, will meet the students of the Department of Italian (during an ad hoc lesson) with the aim of sharing with them this new search commitment which is constantly transforming our youths >>>

Cinema

Thursday, February 11, 2010

GALLO CEDRONE (1998) by Carlo Verdone

Armando Feroci (Carlo Verdone), an Italian citizen doing voluntary work with the Red Cross in an Arab country, is taken prisoner and condemned to death for unknown reasons by a group of Islamic rebels. The news reaches Italy and newspapers and TV stations >>>

Art

Friday, February 12, 2010 - Sunday, February 28, 2010

Personal exhibition by PIETRO LOFFREDO

Falling under one single project “CONFLUENZE MEDITERRANEE, Arte e Conflitti” created by Fabio De Chirico, we inform you about two important cultural events for which the Institute is very willing to give its collaboration and patronage : Personal art >>>

Special events

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

LET OUR YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE THEIR SAY

Dr. FILIPPO MARIANO, a lively representative of today’s young people (our children, nephew, nieces, Italian or Maltese) will deliver a talk about his studies, his search for professionalism in line with the times, his journeys around the planet in search >>>

Cinema

Thursday, February 18, 2010

IL MIO MIGLIOR NEMICO (2005 ) by Carlo Verdone

Critical introduction by Prof. GLORIA LAURI-LUCENTE , University of Malta -Achille De Bellis, top manager in a big hotel chain owned by his wife Gigliola and his brother-in-law Guglielmo, has all he wishes for : a luxurious home, a prestigious job, a >>>

 

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