Ukraine and Italy Strengthen Partnership on Post-War Cultural and Urban Projects
Acting Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine (MCSC) Tetiana Berezhna met with Carlo Formosa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Italian Republic to Ukraine, during which the sides discussed the development of cultural cooperation and projects for the restoration of Ukraine.
The Gaze reports on it, referring to the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine.
Tetiana Berezhna expressed her gratitude to Italy for its support and organization of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2025) in Rome, highlighting such initiatives as the creation of the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Fund, the launch of the CURE cultural recovery platform, and the formation of the Cultural Resilience Alliance.
The parties emphasized the importance of URC2025 for the formation of long-term partnerships focused on post-war reconstruction, where culture is a key factor in sustainability.
Berezhna separately thanked the Italian side for its support in canceling concerts by Russian performers, which are used as a propaganda tool.
Carlo Formosa, in turn, confirmed Italy's interest in further developing practical cooperation in the field of preserving Ukraine's cultural heritage. In particular, the importance of the Grant Agreement between the governments of Ukraine and Italy on the program “Restoration and Preservation of the Cultural Heritage of the Odessa Region” was noted, under which Italy provides Ukraine with €32.5 million in non-repayable aid.
In addition, Deputy Minister of the MCSC Anastasia Bondar shared Italy's experience of integrating cultural and artistic components into urban development and discussed opportunities for cooperation in the restoration of Ukrainian cities.
For his part, another Deputy Minister, Andriy Nadzhos, invited Italian partners to join a conference on combating illegal trade in cultural property, which will take place in the fall and will be dedicated to coordinating international efforts to protect cultural heritage.
The Gaze earlier reported that the management of the Royal Palace of Caserta in Italy announced on Monday that it had cancelled a concert featuring Russian conductor and ‘Putin's friend’ Valery Gergiev.