A conference entitled “Dante, Italian and Argentina”, organised by the Embassy of Italy and the Dante Alighieri Society of Buenos Aires, opened the 21st Week of the Italian Language of the World in Argentina.
“More than 80,000 students, six bilingual schools, and 100 Dante Alighieri committees underline the importance of the Italian language in Argentina”, commented the Ambassador of Italy in Buenos Aires, Fabrizio Lucentini, at the opening of the proceedings, who recalled the numerous initiatives created by the diplomatic-consular network and the Italian Cultural Institutes in Argentina to celebrate both the Week of the Language and the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri.
The aim of the conference was to shine alight on the work of the Supreme Poet, via a series of reflections on the actuality and influence of his work in Argentina, in particular on the writer Jorge Luis Borges, who studied the Divine Comedy in depth in the latter part of his life. The event was also attended by the President of the Dante Alighieri Society of Buenos Aires, the writer and poet Marco Basti, author of the book ‘Yo Dante Alighieri. En mitad del camino de la vida ”; Roberto Alifano; the tutor Maria Esther Badín; the journalist Romano Martinelli; and Nora Sforza, president of the Association of teachers and researchers of the Italian language and culture in Argentina (Adilli). The event took place both in person and via live streaming, and is available on the Embassy’s Youtube channel.
