On June 3rd, this Permanent Delegation organized the traditional celebration for the Italian National Day at UNESCO Headquarters. Ambassador Liborio Stellino, Permanent Representative of Italy to UNESCO, opened the ceremony by addressing greetings and thanks to the Organization’s senior officials in attendance, the guests from the 194 Member States, and the numerous international officials working in Paris and around the world.
The evening was an opportunity to share with the guests the cultural activities in which this Delegation is actively involved at UNESCO: a flash mob featuring opera singers from the Opéra National de Paris celebrated the inclusion last December of the “Art of Italian Opera Singing” in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity; the exhibition “Italianismi” by CasArtusi highlighted the history and success of internationally known Italian culinary terms such as “pizza,” “pasta,” and “coffee”; Fabriano, national coordinator of UNESCO Creative Cities in Italy, represented the other 14 Italian cities in the network, paying tribute to the diversity of the Italian urban mosaic; a preview was also presented of the photographic exhibition “Close/Far,” curated by the CNIU and PalaExpo, which will be inaugurated at UNESCO Headquarters on July 1st. The exhibition aims to spotlight the perspectives of emerging or established photographers from Italy’s diverse immigrant community, who took photos of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in their countries of origin.
