Italian fashion is as popular worldwide and Bulgarians are fond of it.
Undoubtedly, fashion is one of the sectors where the Made in Italy trademark of Italian style and aesthetics reaches its highest point. It is also a powerful means of expression and communication, mostly as concerns young people. In the streets of Sofia and other cities it is easily seen how much Bulgarian youngsters resemble their Italian or European coevals. This is one of the major reasons for which the presence of Italian fashion here, both as a product and means of expression and a way of life, gains momentum. It was highlighted in an unbelievable way at the fashion show, organized by the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade and the National Chamber for Italian Fashion, during which hundreds of representatives of Bulgarian institutions, intellectuals, artists and journalists enjoyed the opportunity to appreciate models by the most celebrated Italian designers: Iceberg, Roberto Cavalli, Armani, Versace Jeans Couture, Cerrutti, etc.

Italian cuisine from Modena was promoted at the Festival. Why did you choose that particular one to get Bulgarians acquainted with the cookery of Italian culinary art?
Italian cuisine boasts its regional character, generating its originality and big variety of tastes. Highly professionally and demonstrating excellent creativity, chefs from Modena replenish the ancient receipts with new bouquets and ingredients, preserving, however, in a unique way the traditional gustaton. Renowned Italian chefs Anna Maria Barbieri and Jessica Lupelli displayed their incontestable mastery in making dishes typical of the region, situated in Emilia-Romagna. The region is exemplary for the rich culinary traditions of my country. The Days of Italian Cuisine in Sofia, were organized thanks to the cooperation of PROMEC, a specific agency for encouraging foreign commercial relations with the Modena’s Chamber of Commerce. It took active part in the seminar on the sector. At the seminar, leading food companies were given the opportunity to meet and exchange expertise with their partners from Bulgaria, where the sector is constantly developing.

Among the highlights of the Festival was the promotion of Italian cinema with its unsurpassable works. What were the selection criteria as well as the accompanying exhibitions?
In the wake of the great success of modern Italian cinema, presented at the last year’s Festival of Italian Cinema, we decided to screen for the Bulgarian cinephiles a series of the masterpieces of Italian cinematography. The names of past masters, such as Marcello Mastroiani, Michelangelo Antonioni, Claudia Cardinale, Franco Zeffirelli, Sergio Leone, etc. are behind the works that have gone down in the history of world filmmaking: Rome – Open City, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), The Leopard.

The line-up of the Festival included the Survived Dreamers exhibition of prints, mounted by the NABA. The Academy was established in 1980 by a group of painters and sculptors, aiming to break the traditional academic austerity and introduce new visions and means of expression in modern artistic practices. The projects of the New Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, adds digital technologies and critical culture of the Italian design to the traditional training of visual presenting.

There is a burning question, which has not been comprised by the line-up of the Festival: Promotion of children’s art and mostly, of young hopefuls. Would you, please, tell us how is Italy supporting them? Has the Italian Embassy here planned initiatives to support and encourage young Bulgarian hopefuls?
Culturally, all the initiatives of our embassy to develop the bilateral relations have always been creating and will further create excellent opportunities for dialogue and juxtaposition of young people of art from the two countries.

As for the particular instruments, offering an additional incentive, the most direct one is, undoubtedly, the grant of scholarships to young Bulgarians by Italy’s government on a yearly basis. Thus the beneficiaries are given the chance to further be trained in Italy in the domains of their interests, especially in those of fashion and design. As of this year, the newly established Dante Alighieri Committee, seated in Sofia, joined the activity. It has already offered a contest for young translators of Italian fiction. Apart from that, the Italian Embassy actively supports the invaluable endeavour of prominent Bulgarian opera diva, Raina Kabaivanska, to discover and train young hopefuls, both singers and musicians.

Ekaterina Pavlova