The Italian language is a rich resource to export as a “luxury good for a return to growth”. And capitalising on our culture is a way to attract tourism – a potential market of one billion people a year.
Italian is the 4th language studied at global level, says Giro
Italian is the 4th language studied at global level, commented the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mario Giro, as he opened today’s (29 January) conference at the Farnesina on “Let’s Talk About It: Italian as a resource”. In the USA alone, the numbers enrolling in courses are up 15%. And in Egypt the last 3 years have seen the number of secondary school pupils learning Italian through our network of cultural institutes and schools increase from 20,000 to 100,000. “But all of this will just be a cost if we remain unaware of our status as a cultural power”, added Giro.
From being the number 1 tourism country in the 1990s Italy has slipped to 5th place, underscored the Under-Secretary for Cultural Assets, Simonetta Giordani. This suggests that greater coordination is needed between the ministries and agencies working in the field, as well as more innovation, with today’s tourists selecting their destinations with a click of the mouse. We should be offering our language as a tourism product, she added, for example with short packages like the ones offered by France and Spain.
The Under-Secretary for Education, Marco Rossi Doria, observed that we need to consider the role of our language schools abroad, which have been hit by spending cuts, and take advantage of the Italian EU Presidency.
“The Renaissance is an Italian format: let’s start again from there”, says Dandini
The strong demand for Italian throughout the world was underscored by Serena Dandini, citing the success of her monologue on “femicide” entitled “Ferite a morte”. The monologues, which deal with a harsh reality, won over international audiences through “a language that gave these stories a universal appeal”. As a veteran of Italian TV, Dandini proposed that “the Renaissance is an Italian format: let’s start again from there”.
Starting with a healthy dose of self-criticism, as Tiziana “Tosca” Donati suggests. The Roman singer, who is staging a tour featuring Italian popular music, warns that all too often “we don’t know what we have been, and so we forget what we can become”.
