The Italian Cultural Institute of Bratislava presents the fifteenth edition of the “Dolce Vitaj” – Italian Festival in Slovakia from 26 May to 26 June, an appointment awaited by the local public, which promotes Italian culture and lifestyle by recalling already from the name one of our icons in combination with the word “vitaj”, meaning “welcome” in Slovak.
The Festival is organized by the Institute in close collaboration with the Italian Embassy and the Italian-Slovak Chamber of Commerce, and will be organized from the end of May to the end of June with events ranging from art to live music and cinema, to literature, from Bratislava to Žilina, up to Košice.
On 26 May the Festival will open in Žilina with the inauguration, at the Civic Gallery, of the exhibition by Lucia Marcucci, an artist who grew up in the alternative scene of the 60s, exhibited in three Venice Biennials and recently celebrated, in Paris, in a large Dior fashion show.
On 1 June, the Festival also kicks off in Bratislava, with the exhibition “Italians. Culture and Made in Italy in Maria Mulas’ portrait photos”, at the headquarters of the Slovak National Museum. The exhibition brings for the first time to Slovakia eighty shots by the Italian photographer Maria Mulas, which document an extraordinary artistic and cultural season, portraying protagonists from every sector of Italian inspiration, from literature to design, from fashion to cinema to the arts: Umberto Eco, Bruno Munari, Ettore Sottsass, Gae Aulenti, Giorgio Armani, Nicola Trussardi, Federico Fellini, Sophia Loren, Alberto Burri and yet more. The exhibition is completed by a section dedicated to portrait photos of international artists and personalities, from Andy Warhol to Peggy Guggenheim.
On 23 June it will be the turn of the Vasco Bendini exhibition at the Bratislava Castle (a section of the Slovak National Museum). The exhibition takes place on the centenary of the artist’s birth, already exhibited at the Farnesina Collection, a few days after the retrospective dedicated to him by the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome.
The Festival is also enhanced with a musical component, with the concert by the Daniele Di Bonaventura Trio, who will perform live in the Auditorium of the Slovak National Radio. The concert will be recorded by the Radio to be then broadcast, pre-recorded, on national frequencies. The musical events of the festival will continue with the concert by Luca Ciarla, violinist and jazz composer, at the Klarisky hall in Bratislava.
As part of the festival, the Cultural Institute also offers the “Cine Vitaj” film review, with contemporary films that combine attractiveness for the general public and quality: “Lasciarsi un giorno a Roma” by Edoardo Leo (2021) “The best years” by Gabriele Muccino (2020), “Superheroes” by Paolo Genovese (2021) and “The King of laughter” by Mario Martone (2021).
Furthermore, on 14 June, Sandro Veronesi will present online the Slovakian release of his novel “The Hummingbird”, winner of the 2020 Strega Prize, published by the Slovart publishing house.
The Festival will include, in the historic centre of Bratislava, an “Italian Market” organized by the Italian-Slovak Chamber of Commerce, with a rich offering of Italian gastronomic specialities proposed by sellers of typical regional products, and which arrived from Italy for the occasion.
More information at: iicbratislava.esteri.it.
