The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation proposes a new edition of \u201cFarnesina Open Doors\u201d, the event opening the building to the general public.<\/p>\n
Over the recent years, \u201cFarnesina Open Doors\u201d has turned into the event that renews the Ministry\u2019s commitment to promote its assets in Italy and abroad: an opportunity to have an open dialogue with the citizens, illustrating the transparency of its institutional activities, to tell the story of the building, and to show its collections and its historic archives and library, thus transforming a public building into a common good.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mediterranean Table: \u201cLove Difference<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Mar Mediterraneo\u201d by Michelangelo Pistoletto<\/strong><\/p>\n Throughout the \u201cFarnesina Open Doors\u201d event, Michelangelo Pistoletto\u2019s impressive work \u201cLove Difference \u2013 Mar Mediterraneo\u201d will be set up at the centre of the International Conference Hall: a Mediterranean-shaped reflecting table surrounded by the mirrored chairs from different Countries reflects the theme of transnationalism, cultural diversity and integration. \u00a0<\/p>\n The \u201cOpen for You\u201d initiative of the Italian Touring Club<\/strong><\/p>\n After signing an ad hoc agreement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) participates in the Italian Touring Club\u2019s \u201cOpen for You\u201d project. The project, launched in 2005, was joined by the Quirinale Palaces several years ago. Through the cooperation with the Italian Touring Club (TCI) and thanks to the help of their volunteer workers, the Foreign Ministry will offer guided tours of its building every month.<\/p>\n The Farnesina Palace<\/strong><\/p>\n The building that hosts the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation was designed in the 1930s by architects Enrico Del Debbio, Arnaldo Foschini and Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo, and owes its name to the \u201cFarnesina\u201d, the historic estates that the Farnese family owned in the area.<\/p>\n Originally designated to become the Palazzo del Littorio, after the construction of the building was suspended at the outbreak of World War II, Enrico Del Debbio managed the project to adapt it to its new use, for which he engaged numerous artists (Pietro Cascella, Amerigo Tot, and Francesco Coccia among others) who collaborated in redesigning the layout. Then, through two national competitions published on the Official Journal in 1965 and 1968, the Farnesina Palace was enriched with the work of other artists of the calibre of Carla Accardi, Toti Scialoja, Gastone Novelli and Piero Dorazio.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Farnesina Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n The Farnesina Collection, the Ministry\u2019s collection of contemporary art, was established in 2000. It contains artwork of particular relevance for the Italian Art History of the \u201cNovecento\u201d, which is currently displayed on the first, second and fourth floors of the building but which will involve the whole building in the future.<\/p>\n In particular, the gallery on the\u00a0bel \u00e9tage\u00a0<\/i><\/strong>is devoted to the artwork of the most representative periods of the Italian Novecento, spanning from Mario Sironi to Alberto Burri, the artists of the Gruppo Forma and to Jannis Kounellis.<\/p>\n The\u00a0second floor<\/strong>\u00a0gallery presents a selection of the artistic movements that were active in the \u201880s and 90\u2019s, displaying the work, among others, of Ubaldo Bartolini, Bruno Ceccobelli, Giosetta Fioroni, Omar Galliani, Alberto Garutti, Felice Levini, Titina Maselli, Piero Pizzi Cannella, Grazia Varisco.<\/p>\n Finally, the\u00a0fourth floor<\/strong>\u00a0gallery displays an exhibition on the construction of the Farnesina \u2013 with a large selection of replicas of Enrico Del Debbio\u2019s drawings and some of the works contracted out by public tender in the 1960s \u2013 and the exhibition “Sistema”, with its recently published catalogue, which contains a selection of Italian contemporary art from the last two decades, with a special focus on the latest generations of artists.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The “Italia Mediterranea” exhibition curated by the Historic Diplomatic Archive<\/strong><\/p>\n After World War II, the new Italian Republic succeeded in the challenging task of conciliating its role as member of the Atlantic Alliance with a policy focused on the sensitivities of the Arab world, assuming the role of interlocutor of the Countries on the Eastern and Southern shores of the Mediterranean within the framework of a new foreign policy, free of the weight of colonialism and of the heritage of imperialism. The \u201cdiplomacy of friendship\u201d strategy was then launched, opening a dialogue and debate with all the Countries bordering on the Mediterranean, which still now characterises Italy\u2019s Mediterranean policy and whose specific aspects are illustrated in a selection of documents kept at the Historic Diplomatic Archive and in film footage drawn from the collection of the Istituto Luce and the Videotheque of Rai, the public broadcasting network.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Crisis Unit<\/strong><\/p>\n The Crisis Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is in charge of protecting Italian citizens and interests in areas of the world that are particularly at risk. It uses instruments like monitoring the presence of Italians abroad, carries out risk assessment analyses and risk prevention and provides information on every Country, designs and tests measures to assure the safety of Italian citizens, manages emergencies and performs operational interventions.<\/p>\n Through a Situation Room operating 24 hours a day, the Crisis Unit receives requests of assistance from Italian citizens involved in emergency situations. The direct contact with Italian citizens is provided through two dedicated websites: 1)\u00a0www.viaggiaresicuri.it, which offers travel information on the socio-political situation of selected destinations; 2)\u00a0www.dovesiamonelmondo.it, which enables Italians travelling abroad to indicate their travel plans with a view to facilitating rescue operations in case of the occurrence of serious emergencies.<\/p>\n The Conference: \u201cHumanitarian corridors. The role of civil society in managing the migration phenomenon\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The Conference presents an innovative public-private cooperation project \u2013 organised at the initiative of the Comunit\u00e0 di Sant\u2019Egidio, the Tavola Valdese (Waldensian Board)\u00a0and the Evangelical Churches in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior \u2013 which has organised the arrival to Italy of migrants in particularly vulnerable conditions.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n