The second stage of the "Cultural Mission in Italy" project took place in Italy.

      In 2025 the traditional project of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, “Cultural Mission in Italy,” is being successfully implemented in Italy; its developer and executor is the Center for Film Festivals and International Programs. Events of the second phase of the project successfully took place this autumn in three regions at once: Piedmont, Liguria and Veneto, in the cities of Genoa, Turin and Verona.

      The second phase of the “Cultural Mission in Italy” — the festival “Russian Autumn in Italy” — was carried out in cooperation with the Italian associations Destinazione SOLARIS, Cantiere Multipolare and the compatriots’ association “Russian House” in Verona, with the support and direct participation of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Genoa.

      One of the central events of the second phase of the project was the exhibition “Soviet Partisans in Italy 1942–1945,” which was open to visitors at the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Genoa for three months, from August 1 to November 1, 2025. Materials for the exhibition were provided by the Russian Historical Society, and the exhibition was timed to the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory, telling of the participation of Soviet citizens in the Italian Resistance during World War II. The exhibition features photographs from their personal archives and information about the best-known partisan detachments, in whose ranks a total of at least five thousand Soviet citizens fought. The exhibition was solemnly opened at the end of April 2025 as part of the first phase of the “Cultural Mission in Italy” at the Russian House in Rome, where it was on display for a month.

      The musical program of the second phase of the festival continued with evenings dedicated to significant anniversary dates of 2025: the 185th anniversary of P.I. Tchaikovsky’s birth, the 130th anniversary of S.A. Yesenin’s birth, and the 190th anniversary of the death of the Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini.

      On November 13 a musical evening was held in the concert hall of the Santa Pelagia temple complex in Turin, performed by Russian opera soloists, laureates of national and international competitions: Gnessin Russian Academy of Music graduate Darya Klimenko (mezzo‑soprano); Roman Lyulkin (bass), a graduate and soloist of the Academy of Young Opera Singers of the Mariinsky Theatre; and Sergey Semenov (piano), a soloist of Mosconcert, concertmaster of the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, piano teacher at the Moscow State Institute of Culture, and a member of the UNESCO Music Society. The concert program included arias from operas by Russian and Italian composers, Russian romances to verses by S.A. Yesenin, and Russian folk songs. Representatives of the Italian public and cultural community, the diplomatic corps and compatriots attended the concert. Before the concert, Mirko Preatoni, president of the Italian association Destinazione SOLARIS and representative of the Center for Film Festivals and International Programs in Italy, addressed the audience with a welcoming speech, introduced the soloists to the public and spoke about the multi‑genre project program of the “Cultural Mission in Italy” for 2025.

      On November 15 a concert by the Russian opera soloists Darya Klimenko, Roman Lyulkin and Sergey Semenov took place at Villa Delser in Verona. The musical evening was held as part of the presentation of the Second Alexandrov Prize “UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador named after Zurab Tsereteli” for contributions to promoting cultural cooperation between Russia and Italy. The prize was initiated in 2024 by the compatriots’ association “Russian House in Verona” with the support of the Russian Academy of Arts (RAKh) and personally by Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli. At the gala evening accompanying the second Alexandrov Prize, works by the Russian artist and stage designer Anna Nezhnaya from the collection “Great Representatives of Russian Culture in Italy in the Works of Anna Nezhnaya” were also presented to participants and guests.

      The Consul General of the Russian Federation in Milan, Dmitry Shtodin, attended the events in Turin and Verona as an honorary guest. Before the event in Verona he warmly welcomed the guests, participants and organizers of the evening, noting the importance of implementing, including through cultural associations and compatriot associations in Italy, such cultural initiatives, which undoubtedly contribute to maintaining dialogue between the civil societies of the two countries and to increasing mutual understanding.

      Tatyana Shumova, Honored Art Worker of the Russian Federation, Knight of the Order “For Merit to the Italian Republic,” president of the Center for Film Festivals and International Programs: “In 2024 the federal project ‘Cultural Mission in Italy’ celebrated its twentieth anniversary. We are glad that our many years of cooperation in the field of humanitarian projects and culture with partners in Italy continues, and that interest in the project’s multi‑genre festival programs remains strong. The project’s geography continues to expand year after year. The development of dialogue, first and foremost at the level of the civil societies of our two countries, and the support of compatriots living in Italy remain priority goals of the project. We are convinced that maintaining cooperation in the cultural and humanitarian sphere between Russia and Italy today contributes to sustaining broad mutual understanding and preserving the relations that have been built and have linked our countries over many centuries.”