MY TASK WAS TO FACILITATE THE KNOWLEDGE OF ITALIAN CULTURE IN INDIA: DR ANDREA BALDI

In this interview, Dr Baldi discusses the significance of culture in relations between India and Italy.

- MURTAZA ALI KHAN

Dr. Andrea Baldi, Director, Italian Embassy Cultural Centre, New Delhi will soon leave India for Venezuela, having completed a five year-tenure which started back in 2017. Over the last five decades, the Cultural Centre has continued to live up to its reputation of being a major cultural hub of Delhi. Dr. Baldi has been instrumental in keeping the show running despite the disruptions forced by the pandmeic over the last few years.

In this interview, Dr. Baldi discusses the significance of culture in the relations between India and Italy. He also looks back at his tenure, sharing some of his fondest memories resulting from the numerous artistic collaborations he oversaw.

EXCERPTS

Q. How do you see the significance of culture in the relations between India and Italy? How has this cultural exchange been impacted by the pandemic? A. Generally speaking, the cultural relations between India and Italy, even if they have never been very close, if compared to those with other European countries, are very ancient, dating back to the period of the Roman Empire, when Roman merchants had established commercial presences in South India. But to come to our times, the exchanges, even if not numerous, have been very beneficial at cultural levels. I think of famous Italian artists who have stayed in India and were inspired by Indian art and culture, such as Luigi Ontani and Francesco Clemente. And even more recently, last year India was a guest of Artissima, the most important contemporary art exhibition in Italy, which had a great success. We are witnessing a rapid progress in mutual knowledge and cultural exchanges.