The Sandro Penna Library, Perugia, Italy

The Sandro Penna Library is located in Perugia, capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy. A three-story building, it opened in 2004, designed by the architectural firm of Studio Italo Rota & Partners – Milano. It is part of Perugia’s municipal library system, specializing in issues of peace, nonviolence, human rights, and intercultural and inter-religious dialogue. Its building is a glazed pink disc that lights up at night. The library’s interior is noteworthy for open spaces with natural lighting and colorful furnishings. The library was named after the Italian poet Sandro Penna (1906–1977), who was born in Perugia. Penna had a difficult life, working at different times as a bookmaker, bookstore clerk, proof-reader and art dealer. The library has almost 20,000 volumes in its collection, as well as periodicals, videotapes, DVDs, audiobooks, CDs, and books for the visually impaired.

In 2014, the architect Italo Rota told one online interviewer:

My love of color has a particular origin… having always seen bright colors in Africa, South America, India, Tibet, color for me is what you see in caravan cities, as in Uzbekistan…  Finally, let’s face it, man has always been compelled by society to dress without chromatic freedom.

Mr. Rota is especially interested in fluorescent color, which he defines is anything that gives off light. He suggests:

Try to take a marker and draw a line between two pages of a book. Close the book and reopen it a little: it will seem like a lamp.

He considers that Asian tradition can teach him how to better understand being Italian:

I sense the theme of the proximity to ancient cultures such as Japan or China. It is increasingly evident that ancient cultures produce individuals [who are] not more intelligent or richer, but always able to survive. Another aspect is that those who have the millennia behind them know what can be offered to the world by the past.  

Thailand and Italy

Many Thai shoppers are familiar with Palio Khao Yai, an Italian-style village near Khao Yai National Park, northeast of Bangkok. Over 100 stores and restaurants surround a central Piazza Palio, or Palio Place. The design was intended to evoke Tuscany, the region of central Italy containing much famous Renaissance art and architecture, including Michelangelo’s statue of David, as well as vineyards where grapes are grown to make Chianti wine. Palio Khao Yai features a clock tower, buildings covered in ivy, and a landscaped garden. There is even a copy of the famed Mouth of Truth image carved from marble of a face, that is found in a porch leading to the entrance of a church in Rome. According to a popular legend, the Mouth of Truth can tell if someone is lying or not. If a visitor tells a lie while sticking a hand in the Mouth, the hand will be bitten off. In the famous Hollywood movie Roman Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, the romantic couple have fun trying to see if the Mouth of Truth really works. Since Italy would not be Italy without wine, it is fortunate that in the Khao Yai area PB Valley, along Pansuk-Kudkla Road, has been producing different wines since 1998. It offers tours, tastings, and restaurants.

Other businesses.

According to its website, the main goal of the Thai-Italian Chamber of Commerce (TICC) is to

enhance cooperation between Italy and Thailand, by developing programs of common interest in order to increase the awareness between organizations and public administrations in the two Countries. In order to reach its goals, TICC constantly organizes activities, seminars, commercial missions, networking events and meetings to promote the development of commercial activities as well as industrial and cultural collaboration between organizations and entrepreneurs both Thai and Italian.

TICC was founded in 1978. Originally intended as a place for friends with things in common to meet, it later developed into an organization working

to promote trade as well as help secure and establish the industrial and cultural relationship between Thailand and Italy.

In 2011, TICC opened an office in Phuket. Over 160 members currently belong to the association.

Italian Week 2016

Anyone who visited CentralWorld shopping plaza in the first week of June must have noticed Italian Week 2016 @ CentralWorld, part of the Italian Festival in Thailand 2016. At CentralWorld, on view were typical Italian foods, including risotto, pasta, organic pasta, pesto sauce, Parma ham and coffee. There were also product demonstrations, some opera singing and piano performances. The festivities were inaugurated by His Excellency Mr. Francesco Saverio Nisio, Ambassador of Italy to Thailand. On display were many products some consumers may not immediately associate with Italy, for example yachts. More familiar as famed products of Italy are cars, motorbikes and vans. Such brands as Azimut Yachts, Ferrari 488GTB, California T, F12 Berlinetta, Maserati Ghibli, Ducati, Vespa and Alpinestars were all present. For the home or office, there were also items such as Moka Pot, a coffee machine made by Bialetti; travel luggage from Bric’s Milano; MyRun treadmills from Technogym; and Greengear power generators by Cavagna.

The full range of events for Italian Festival in Thailand 2016 started early in January and will continue for a full year. In May, Siam Paragon Italian Grand Weekend featured Italian pop music as well as food and wine. Art, music, design, architecture, cinema, dance, and photography will also be on display. Among highlights were an exhibit from February to March at the Pandora Art Gallery, 12/6 Ekkamai Soi 2 of work by the Italian photographer Luigi Fieni. A longtime resident of Nepal who is devoted to preserving Tibetan culture, Mr. Fieni photographs landscapes and cultural heritage of the Himalayan region. On his website, Mr. Fieni explains that since he studied drawing and painting, his works are

constantly trying to merge photography with painting, trying to produce photographs that are as pictorial as possible. It is not just my personal view of things but an attempt to show what is beyond a photograph. Emotions are what I mostly try to capture, to show through my lenses, and that is also true when the work involves a visual narrative. Even while working in photojournalism, rather than capturing or depicting an event, the photograph becomes a way to show the emotions of a precise moment. In the end I prefer to show feelings to people, trying to let them relish the atmosphere, not just show them what I saw or what was happening.

Among dozens of other events of interest, admirers of Thai-Italian cultural exchange may wish to note that in December, the Italian archaeologists Professor Fiorella Rispoli and Professor Roberto Ciarla will present a seminar on the site of Ban Ta Kae at Silpakorn University as part of the Thai-Italian Lopburi Regional Archaeological Project: 30 years of Italian archaeology in Central Thailand.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Perugiacity.com)