International events: “Images of Italy” Conference in the Pushkin House, St. Petersburg

16-18 February 2012, the Institute of Russian Literature (the Pushkin House), RAS and the Museum-Estate of G. R. Derzhavin are holding the conference on "Images of Italy in Russia, St Petersburg, Pushkin House."

The conference has been prepared by the Institute of Russian Literature, RAS, and Vyacheslav Ivanov Research Center in Rome, under the support of the Consulate General of Italy in St. Petersburg and the Italian Institute of Culture. Among the participants are scientists, university professors from Rome, Pisa, Venice, Salerno, Macerata, Jerusalem, guests from France, the United States and experts from the Russian State Humanitarian University (Moscow), Russian Institute of History of Art (St. Petersburg), Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, St. Petersburg State University.

The conference covers the "Images of Italy": of the Italian Art, literature, theater and music, the images of Italian life and nature in the culture of Russia. The image of Rome in Russian thought of the 19th – 21st century and in modern times, "myth" of Italy in Russia, the legacy of Michelangelo, Italian opera and everyday life - these are only some of the topics of the conference.

In the context of conference there will be a presentation of the research university project "Russians in Italy: 1900-1940." The project is being developed by specialists from four Italian universities. The research resulted into the web site http://www.russinitalia.it. Its sections include "Dictionary of the Russian Emigration in Italy" (currently - over a thousand names), "Bibliography of Russian Publications and Translations in Italy", the information about Russian cultural and social associations in Italy, the Russian places in Italy; scientific news, list of Italian archives and libraries disposing of materials in Russian. The site of this kind and scope is unprecedented in the world Slavic studies.

February 16, 2012 within the conference launches the "...Eternal Rome, a haven for wandering": Russians in Italy 1900-1940" exhibition. It was created on the basis of the Italian archives, and features documents, works of art and photographs, describing the Russian emigration in Rome in the first half of the 20th century. The exhibition will run until April 30, 2012.