Cuban art in Italian cities

In October, several Italian cities will host the Cuban Culture Festival, which will be dedicated to the 500th anniversary of Havana, organizers said.

From October 3 to 13, Rome, Milan, Padua, Venice, Florence, Turin, Bari, Mater and Genoa will hold several artistic shows that will exhibit the force of Cuban culture and will strengthen cultural bridges between the two countries.

The initiative, organized by the Cuban Embassy in Italy, is sponsored by the Cuban Ministry of Culture and the Italian-Latin American Institute (IILA), with support from other institutions.

Entitled #CubaCulturaItalia2019, the Festival will involve artists and intellectuals such as painter Michelangelo Pistoletto, and dance critic and historian Elissa Guzzo Vaccarino, on behalf of Italy.

Cuba will be represented by Fine Arts Museum Director Jorge Fernandez, dance maestro Santiago Alfonso and ballet dancer Carlos Acosta.

A group of Cuban artists who reside in Italy will also take part in the event, including dancers Maykel Fonts, Irma Castillo and Ulises Mora, singer Andres Roman, and musicologist and soprano Monica Marziota.

The activities will celebrate Cuba's Day of National Culture (October 20) and the 500th anniversary of Havana, which was declared Humankind's Cultural Heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).