The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Rome and the Czech Centre in Rome, in cooperation with the Eleutheria Foundation in Prague, organised a Czech-Italian evening in the Sala della Protomoteca of the Campidoglio in Rome, during which the book 'Italians in the Bohemian Lands' was presented.
The new publishing project, realised by Eleutheria with the collaboration of the Italian Embassy in Prague, was illustrated by the Director Emeritus of the Library of the Strahov Monastery in Prague, Gejza Šidlovský, and the President of the Eleutheria Foundation, Francesco Augusto Razetto. During the course of the evening, which was attended by numerous dignitaries, including the Italian Ambassador to the Czech Republic Mauro Marsili, pieces of baroque music were also performed by the trio consisting of Davide Pozzi (harpsichord), Laura Scipioni (baroque violin) and Jakub Kydlíček (flute).
The volume, published in Czech and Italian with the accompaniment of an extensive photographic apparatus, was edited by Francesco Augusto Razetto, Ottaviano Razetto, Flavio Mela and Genny Di Bert, with the aim of deepening the historical and artistic relations between Italy and the Czech Republic through the studies and testimonies of numerous specialists. The work, with an introduction by historian Franco Cardini, illustrates the first Italian contacts with the Bohemian lands in the 10th century, continuing to the present day under the sign of the friendship between the two countries, in what Ambassador Marsili believes can be considered one of the first forms of cultural integration that Europe has experienced.
Within the book, a specific in-depth study is dedicated to the 'Italian Congregation of Prague', founded in 1573 and active until 1947, whose historical memory is still tangible in the buildings of the Mannerist chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary Assumed into Heaven, in the very central Karlova Street, and the former Italian Hospital of Malá Strana, today the seat of the Italian Institute of Culture.
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