Czech Republic – Kafka Award to Magris ends Prague’s Italian Week

The Franz Kafka Award was presented to the Italian writer, Claudio Magris. The prize was awarded to him in recognition of his high literary merits, his ability to stimulate the reader without consideration of  origin, nationality and culture and for having been translated into Czech. The ceremony brought the rich programme of events marking in the Czech Republic the 16th Week of the Italian Language in the World to a conclusion . 
Other events were organized concurrently with the Week of the Italian Language, including the lecture by the linguist and philosopher of language, Raffaele Simone at the Department of Italian Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Karlova University and the conference inaugurating the exhibition dedicated to Italo Balbo, hosted in the Baroque Chapel of the Italian Cultural Institute (ICC) in Prague. The Balbo exhibition was an opportunity to gain a better understanding of a powerful leader of the fascist hierarchy, capable of maintaining his freedom of thought, but also a fearless pilot who, among his many achievements, completed a transatlantic flight in 1933. The ICC conference hall hosted the presentation of the magazine “Ciao Praga”, an online art and life-style magazine in Italian, which has increasingly become  an aggregation and communication point of reference for the local Italian community.
Poetry and music events were also featured in the Week’s programme of events. Michele Fenati and his band played famous tunes by Italian songwriters. The show was made possible thanks to the joint support given by the Dante Alighieri Society- Prague Committee and the Cultural Association Beatrice, together with the Emilia-Romagna Region. Other concerts followed by the Fabrizio Bosso Quartet at the Reduta Jazz Club and at the Civil Library of Prague. The famous Italian musician and his Quartet won over audiences, critics and the President Emeritus, Vaclav Klaus, who was in attendance at the Quartet’s opening concert.  
Finally, there was a presentation on the progress of the development of the web project titled “Atlas of European Structuralism”. Gaia Vettori, the winner of the 2016 Italian Competition in the senior section of vocational institutes and professor Simone Bucciantini of the Vocational Institute Luigi Einaudi of Pistoia, stayed in Prague throughout the week  as guests of the bilingual Czech- Italian high-school   U’stavni’ and of the Italian Cultural Institute (ICC) in Prague.