Hamburg – “Goethe+200”, Italy continues the Grand Tour of the Institute of Culture

Italy seen by Goethe…two hundred year later. This is the time that has elapsed since the release of “Italian Journey”, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s report on his travels to Italy from 1786–1788, and an iconic example of the Grand Tour, the long voyages undertaken by young northern European intellectuals in the 18^th Century. What would Goethe see if he were to visit Italy today? How would he describe Italian society to his fellow-Germans? With the “Goethe+200” project, the Italian Institute of Culture (IIC) in Hamburg traces the main stops along Goethe’s Grand Tour to rediscover the geographical, cultural, political and anthropological panorama of the “the land where the lemon trees bloom”. The journey – a cinematographic anthology organised by the IIC in partnership with Metropolis Cinema and the Mercurio Association – started in Venice and subsequently moved to Florence, which is the setting of“Some Say No” (“C’è chi dice no”), a film by Giambattista Avellino. The screening of the film is scheduled at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, 22 June, at Hamburg’s Metropolis Cinema and will be followed by a round table at the Chamber of Commerce of Hamburg on 24 June entitled “The Labour Market in Italy”. The Grand Tour will continue in Rome, Naples and Sicily, as portrayed in thematic Italian films, which will be the basis for an analysis of Italy’s contemporary society.