The special book dedicated to Italy’s beauties is about to enter Ukrainian schools, libraries and homes. Ukrainian children, too, will have the opportunity to plunge into the new treasure hunt dedicated to Italy’s beauties. The protagonist is Geronimo Stilton – the mouse journalist most loved by children all over the world, the brainchild of Elisabetta Dami. Mille Meraviglie. Viaggio alla scoperta dell’Italia, (A Thousand Wonders. A Journey to Discover Italy), the new 224-page book that explores Italy in an enthralling way, is a special project of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in collaboration with the Italian National Commission for UNESCO, produced by Edizioni Piemme-Mondadori Libri, with the aim of introducing boys and girls around the world to Italy’s artistic and cultural heritage.
From Rome to Venice, from the Apennines to the Alps, the friendly reporter visits the most famous monuments and places (including many of the Italian sites included in the UNESCO World Heritage List), without forgetting the hidden gems: lesser-known treasures, gastronomic specialities, places of scientific research, craft and industrial products. An adventure imagined as a real treasure hunt, full of games, curiosities and surprises.
The initial project envisaged special editions in four languages (Italian, French, Spanish, English) for the cultural network of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs – Embassies, Consulates, Italian Cultural Institutes and Schools abroad – in collaboration with Atlantyca Entertainment for the international editions. Well aware of the importance of children’s literature, the Italian Embassy in Kiev and the Italian Cultural Institute strongly supported the translation into Ukrainian. The idea – an absolute novelty on the local publishing scene – was enthusiastically welcomed by IRBIS Komiksi, one of the most prestigious publishing houses in Ukraine. The project, started a few months before the outbreak of the conflict, has just been completed despite the great difficulties of the current situation.
The Italian Cultural Institute in Kiev, temporarily operating in Lviv, is developing appropriate promotional strategies with the dynamic children’s and young adults’ book sector of the library network in Lviv. Ukrainians have been avid readers since childhood and interactive and playful book presentation activities flourish in the numerous “children’s libraries”. Geronimo Stilton in Ukrainian is currently printed in around 3,000 copies but, according to the publisher’s forecasts, the print run will increase significantly in the coming months, thus enriching the presence of Italian children’s literature in the country alongside the classics by Collodi (Pinocchio) and Rodari (nursery rhymes and stories). The initiative will have a significant impact on Italian-Ukrainian cultural relations, fitting into a context in which the national language acquires an increasingly stronger identity value than in the past, in a country which is traditionally bilingual (Ukrainian-Russian).
