On October 28, the bilateral Embassy in Brussels hosted the first edition of the De Sanctis Europe Award, established by the De Sanctis Foundation and organized jointly with the Italian Institute of Culture. The Award is an initiative of high-level cultural diplomacy with the scope of rewarding personalities who have distinguished themselves in the field of culture, representing excellence in literature, commentary, music or art.
This first edition, hosted in Brussels and held before an audience of institutional and cultural personalities on the Belgian and Italian scene, as well as members of the Belgian government (the Belgian Vice Prime Minister, Petra De Sutter, and the Secretary of State, Sarah Schlitz were among those present, in fact) wanted to pay tribute to the tradition and strong ties of friendship between Italy and Belgium, highlighting in particular, among the others awarded, excellences of Italian and Belgian culture well-known in both countries. The Italian, Speranza Scappucci, internationally known orchestra conductor and first woman to cover that role at La Scala, in Milan, and musical director of the Opera Royal de Wallonie in Liège (Belgium), and the Flemish Belgian David Van Reybrouck, a leading author of his generation and internationally famous for his bestseller, “Congo”, translated in Italy by Gabriella Bosco, were awarded the de Sanctis Foundation Jury Prize.
The Italian Ambassador, Francesco Genuardi, in describing the figure of Francesco De Sanctis as a historian, essayist and statesman, characterized by his strong commitment to the process of Italian unification, stressed the importance of having held the first edition of the De Sanctis Europe Award in Brussels: “Brussels was chosen, not only because it is the heart of Europe and of the Institutions, but also because it is the capital of Belgium, a country with which Italy has a very strong, very special relationship. It was, therefore, a strategic as well as a natural choice in a joyful moment of recovery, a time of renewed dynamism, also with regard to Italy’s cultural presence in Belgium (a country where there are over 300,000 Italian citizens and a trade exchange with Italy that is very close to 40 billion euro)”.
