Viva Italia!
A special cultural event, 'Italian Festival 2007' celebrates the 100-year-old relationship between Thailand and Italy
VISAKHA PHUSAMRUAT


Bangkok art connoisseurs can brighten up their gloomy, rainy days with the Italian Festival 2007, which starts today.

The festival, organised by the Italian embassy and the Italian Trade Commission, takes place around Bangkok and aims to strengthen ties between Thailand and Italy. It also celebrates Italian National Day on June 2, and promises a huge array of cultural programmes.

Thailand and Italy have cherished a long artistic relationship from the times of King Chulalongkorn, who not only visited the acclaimed Venice Biennale in 1897 and 1907, but also purchased a few artworks from the exhibition. He also commissioned Italian artist Galileo Chini to paint frescos on the domes of the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall.

The festival will begin with a seminar, "The Ceramic Design Development for New Markets in a Globalised World", at the Accademia Italiana (Thailand) Fashion Institute on Sukhumvit Soi 55. Conducted by Prof Francesco Cappuccio, architect, designer and scholar, the seminar will provide information on key trends in product design, business strategy and the potential for Thai ceramics in the world market.

A photographic exhibition, "Gardens in Tuscany", by Massimo Listri shows the beautiful gardens and villas of Tuscany, and reflects the cultural and artistic heritage of Italy. Besides the artistic value of the photographs, the exhibition also captures the essence of Italian landscape design.

Divided into four distinct sections, following four historic periods, it also outlines the dominant artistic and design elements of the Renaissance, baroque, Romantic and contemporary eras.

Another key art programme will be an exhibition of sculptures and paintings by Mario Galvagni, Poesia della Natura e Morfologie Luminose (The Poetry of Nature and Luminous Morphologies), on display at the Sheraton Grand Sukhumvit from June 15 to 30.

There will also be a "dining experience with Galvagni", by Italian chef Gaetano Palumbo, who will reproduce the colours and shapes of the artist's paintings through a creative display of cuisine.

The festival will also include "A Tour of Italian Monuments in Bangkok", which was nicknamed the "Venice of the East" by Western visitors more than a 100 years ago. Organised by the Dante Alighieri Cultural Association, the tour will guide visitors to Italian architectural sites in Bangkok to experience the influence on each site by Italian architects, artists, painters, sculptors and engineers invited by King Chulalongkorn to turn Bangkok into a modern city.

Other activities such as a fashion and furniture design lecture, "The Charm of Italian Style"; a fashion photography exhibition by Giovanni Fazzone and a seminar conducted by Italian designer Massimo Scolari, "Evolution of Italian Design" will also be held during the festival.

The Italian Festival 2007 will be held from today until July 3, at different venues around Bangkok.
For more information and programme details, call 02-509-0629.

Bangkok Post