Time.news – Yes to the candidacy of Italian opera as an intangible heritage of humanity, no to that of Italian espresso coffee: this is the decision taken by the Unesco national commission in the online meeting chaired by Franco Bernabè.
It will therefore be Italian opera singing to join the Unesco Intergovernmental Committee for the 2023 cycle which will have to decide on new entries in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, as the specialized agency of the UN has announced on its website. The statement underlines that the candidacy of espresso coffee “between culture, rituals, sociability and literature in the emblematic communities from Venice to Naples” has met with great appreciation.
Intangible cultural heritage is the set of oral traditions, expressions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festivities, knowledge and practices which concern the relationship between man-nature and man-universe. Italy will also be present in the 2023 cycle with a transnational bid on traditional irrigation systems, led by Austria with the participation of Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Holland and Switzerland.
“With the candidacy of Italian opera singing, Italy aims to recognize one of its most authentic and original cultural expressions”, commented the Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini.
“This candidacy”, he observed, “comes at a time when the images of the Odessa Opera choir singing the ‘Va, I will think of Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco in the street, under the Ukrainian flag, are still clear in our eyes. A proof of how much the expression of Italian opera is authentically an integral part of the cultural heritage of humanitywhich turns to it in the darkest moments to rediscover light, strength and beauty “.
The candidacy is the result of a long work undertaken by Service II – UNESCO Office of the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with the Directorate General for Entertainment. The candidacy recognizes the requests of the “Committee for the Safeguarding of the Art of Italian Lyric Singing” which were joined, among other things, by the Teatro Alla Scala Foundation in Milan, the Accademia Nazionale Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Association of Italian Theaters of Tradition and Assoliric.
“The news, in my imagination, is accompanied by a roar of applause in the illuminated Arena of Verona”, commented the President of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia, “as the main symbol and reference of the imposing amphitheater of the city of Verona, in fact , can we find to identify the art of Italian opera singing in the world? Also for this reason I find that the candidacy of the latter as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is really important not only for enthusiasts but also for the whole of Veneto “.