Italy's Republic Day is back in all its glory and celebrations in Korea

Diplomacy

Published: 01 Jun. 2022, 16:45 Updated: 01 Jun. 2022, 21:57

Italy's Republic Day is back in all its glory and celebrations in Korea

Federico Failla, ambassador of Italy to Korea, speaks with the Korea JoongAng Daily at the embassy in Seoul on May 25, a week ahead of Republic Day in Italy. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Festa della Repubblica, or Republic Day in Italian, will be celebrated this year in all its glory and colors, with the return of the national parades under the sky streaked in green, white and red by the Frecce Tricolori, the aerobatic team of the Italian Air Force.

“It has been nearly three difficult years, and we are happy to finally be able to celebrate the day in person, in both Italy and in Seoul,” said Federico Failla, ambassador of Italy to Korea, speaking with the Korea JoongAng Daily at the embassy in Seoul on May 25, a week ahead of Republic Day in Italy.

Every year on June 2, Italians celebrate the historic moment in 1946 when they voted for the republic to govern the nation.

It was a clear break from the past, said Failla, recalling the history of fascism in the country and World War II.

This year’s celebration, coming on the heels of the lifting of Covid-19 social distancing restrictions in Korea, seems to herald the same spirit.

“From three months ago, there was much optimism in the air, as people started to see hopes for a new beginning after the pandemic,” Failla said. “The EU had also designed a very ambitious economic plan, Next Generation EU, and in this framework Italy will invest more than $230 billion for economic recovery.”

In light of the reopening, the Italian and Korean governments are bringing back their exchange programs and other cultural overtures.

Seoul’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza will host an exhibition by pop artist Marco Lodola from the end of July through August, and the Gangwon city of Chuncheon and the North Jeolla city of Jeonju will host festivals centered on Italian cuisine and films, scheduled for the summer and fall.

The year's finale will be celebrated with a gala concert dedicated to tenor Luciano Pavarotti in November in Seoul, attended by some of his family members.

To hear more about how the national day would be celebrated this year, and its implications especially in regards to the effects of the pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Korea JoongAng Daily sat down with Failla at the embassy on May 25.

The following are edited excerpts of the interview.

Q. How will this year’s Republic Day be celebrated in Italy? What meaning does the day hold for Italian people today?

A. We are celebrating the second [day] of June of 1946, when the referendum was held for the people of Italy to decide the form of government. The Italians chose the republic, to break clean from the past. If you recall, we were coming out of a tragic experience of World War II, of some 20 years of dictatorship and fascism. From that point on, we repudiated war as a means to solve an international dispute, as stated in our Constitution.

Would you say the Italian national day may be celebrating a spirit that is perhaps more relevant than ever today because of the ongoing war in Ukraine?

That spirit stands equally strong today. Wars and aggressions cannot be justified means to solve an international conflict. Countries could have their differences, but there are other options, such as diplomacy, that can be put into place. The Russian aggression into Ukraine has introduced further elements of instability following the Covid-19 pandemic, and has given tragic results for the people of Ukraine. A resolution needs to be found as soon as possible to put a stop to this tragedy.

With the general lifting of the Covid-19 restrictions in both Italy and Korea, how are the embassies working to bring more of Italy to Seoul and more of Korea to Rome?

In addition to the national day celebrations, we will have an exhibition on design, called Italy & Korea, a platform for co-design, on June 9 in Milan. It will showcase how design can be a meeting point between art and industry.

This will be followed by the second edition of Festival Ciao, Italia in Chuncheon, Gangwon, from June 16 to 18, where film screenings and wine tasting, and a cooking class by chef Fabrizio Ferrari will take place. A similar festival will take place in Jeonju, North Jeolla, in September.

We will have a forum on science, technology and innovation, from June 20 to 22, which will discuss Italy and Korea’s cooperation on micro-electronics, aerospace, sustainable energy with a focus on hydrogen, and advanced technology for preservation and restoration of cultural heritage. The high-tech involved with preservation of cultural heritage can be remarkable — they can involve mechanisms like an MRI scan of a cultural heritage to discover possible defects for restoration work, as well as space technology to assess ground conditions and possibilities of earthquakes or landslides in the area of heritage sites. It seems that the preservation of cultural heritage is very much embedded in the national identities of Italians and also Koreans.

Marco Lodola will be showcasing his work at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza from the end of July through August.

In the third week of October, we will have the Gala Concert in Memory of Luciano Pavarotti, organized by the Pavarotti Foundation. The widow of Pavarotti will be here, and some singers, to remind us all of the achievements of maestro Pavarotti.

Italy has topped tourist destinations for Koreans for years. When do you expect the direct flights between Incheon and Rome to resume?

Before the pandemic, we used to have some 20 direct flights a week. Asiana Airlines and Korean Air are working on resuming these flights, and my understanding is that after mid-July we may see resumption.

In the midst of the pandemic we actually saw some natural habitats in Italian touristic spots recover greatly, including the Venice canals. What is Italy doing to address the sustainability of these popular tourism destinations?

The need to balance tourism and sustainability is a big issue, something that we all learned during the pandemic. Italy is working on production of green energy, and a more effective circular economy based on the principle of three R’s: reduce, reuse and recycle.
While there isn’t any talk at the moment on a quota on tourists at some of these popular destinations, Venice has said no more to cruise ships.

Italy is famous for its design, but what we are focusing on now very much is the design of materials, including the materials for packaging. Italian designers are cooperating with chemical companies, for instance, to develop a kind of plastic that can be used for packaging, and still be totally environmentally friendly. One example is our pavilion in Dubai Expo 2020, all made with materials that can be recycled.

There are a number of multilateral economic agreements taking place in the Asia Pacific region as of late, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity. How has Italy, and the European Union, seen these developments?

What we think in the EU is that easing relations on trade is not only an economic issue, it is also a cultural issue. Because you can learn, you can share things that can benefit the respective communities. We are in favor of free and fair trade, and Italy and Korea share this principle.
Italy and the EU also believe that these agreements should not be promoted to exclude someone. […] We cannot talk about this issue without addressing the elephant in the room, China. Whatever a country’s position or opinion is of China, they need to engage China. Because if they want to have results in climate change, they will need to engage China, and if they want to have results in fighting the pandemic, they will need to engage China.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]