On 23 May, the Italian Cultural Institute of Istanbul presents the conference Venezia, Padova, Istanbul. Mediazioni e incontri con il Levante (Venice, Padua, Istanbul: mediation and meetings with the East) as part of the project Libera il tuo futuro:Padova nel mondo per festeggiare i suoi 800 anni di storia (Free your future: Padua in the world to celebrate 800 years of history).
The University of Padua is celebrating its 800th anniversary this year. Between the 15th and 18th centuries, it enjoyed its most glorious period, when the university was among the most famous in Europe.
Padua was the university par excellence of the Republic of Venice, as there was no other comparable centre of higher education.
Compared to Turkey and the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice (and Padua, its intellectual centre) acted as a point of contact and mediation, through its Stato da Mar (maritime domains), between Dalmatia and Crete, and its Bailo, the Venetian ambassador to Istanbul.
Venice must therefore be considered in its role as mediator between the Ottoman Empire and the West, for the entire period from the fall of Constantinople (1453) to the end of the Serenissima (1797).
The event focuses on the theme of the influence of Italian culture in Turkey, the relations between East and West and between the Ottomans and Europe, reflecting on the role of Venice (and therefore of the University of Padua) and in general of the part of Italy open to the East and Istanbul.
More information at: iicistanbul.esteri.it
