Mediterranean festival

A YEAR-long celebration of Egyptian-Italian cultural exchange kicked off this week. Nevine El-Aref was there.

Wednesday's spectacularly athletic performance by Italy's Kataklo dancers at downtown's Al- Gumhuriya theatre provided a glimpse of the cultural bounty in store for modern residents of two of the Mediterranean's most ancient nations.

The concert signified the beginning of a yearlong Italian-Egyptian cultural festival whose spark may have been an appeal made by Italian President Carlo Azelio Ciampi in Luxor in 2000. Ciampi urged the two most ancient civilisations in the Mediterranean to lend their weight towards an effective, and hitherto elusive, dialogue of civilisations.

At a Foreign Cultural Relations Department (FCRD) press conference, Undersecretary of State for FCRD Cherif El-Shoubashi and Italian Ambassador in Egypt Antonio Badini discussed some of the details of the year's activities, which will be taking place in both countries.

El-Shoubashi said that several exhibitions of Egyptian art -- both ancient and modern -- would be held in Italy over the course of the yearlong festival. Works by modern Egyptian artists like Mohamed Nagi, Mahmoud Said, Mounir Kanaan, Ragheb Ayaad, Ramses Yunan and Fouad Kamil would also be on display. One of the exhibitions being planned features 60 historic maps and architectural plans highlighting the Italian influence on Alexandria's architectural style and planning. A seminar covering Graeco-Roman influence on the development of Egyptian law will also be held.

The Tannoura, Nubia, Luxor and Port-Said dance troops will perform in Italian cities, and Egyptian films will be screened. Books by famous Egyptian novelists like Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz, Gamal Hemdan, Abbas Mahmoud El-Aqqad, Youssef Idris, and poets Ibrahim Nagui, Mahmoud Sami El-Baroudi, Salah Abdel- Sabour, Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi and Amal Donqol, will be translated into Italian and made available for the Italian market.

The Italian side is also weighing in with its share of the cross-cultural bounty. "Our goal is to broaden the cultural exchange between both countries as a step towards intensifying mutual knowledge and cooperation," said Carla Maria Burri, the Italian general commissar.

Burri spoke of the recent Bocelli concert at the Pyramids, and the award given to Mrs Suzanne Mubarak by Napoli's Mediterranean Academy, as part of the exchange. In October the same academy will honour Mahfouz.

Italian dance performances, concerts, plays, films, seminars and exhibitions all feature prominently on the yearlong schedule of events. Highlights include a concerto by Beppe Barra, and a dialogue between the eastern and western lute produced by Paolo Scarnecchia. This latter celebrates the flute as the instrument symbolising the convergence of the European and Muslim worlds.

One of the exhibitions in store includes 200 black and white photographs documenting Italian communities, history and architecture over the years. Another art exhibition celebrates the work of Roberto Capucci under the title "Art does not mean fashion but fashion can be art."

Books written by famous Italian novelists will also be translated and made available for the Egyptian market.