(3 April, 2017) “Italy in Sudan: intercultural traces” is the title of the conference organised by Marina Bertoncin and Andrea Pase from the Department of Historical, Geographica, and Antiquity Sciences (DISSGeA) of the University of Padua. It will be held at the University of Padua on April 4th at 15:00. Participating in the conference will be Amira Gornass, Ambassador of Sudan to Italy and Fabrizio Lobasso, Ambassador of Italy to Sudan. The conference will focus on Sudan’s centrality for Italians, starting with introductory remarks by Marina Bertoncin (coordinator of the geography sector of the department) and Giovanni Silvano (the deputy director of the department). Alessandro Paccagnella will explain the University’s role in the African continent; Renzo Guolo who will give an overview of the Islamic world and Pierpaolo Faggi who will talk about the long history of scientific cooperation between the University of Padua and the University of Khartoum. There will then be a focus on the various institutions present in the country by Rossella Miccio such as Comboni Missionaries with Father Celestino Prevedello, and Emergency who is in charge of an important cardiology centre. The director of the Directorate General of Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Pietro Sebastiani and the representative of Western and Central Africa of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, Mariarosa Stevan. During the course of the day, ongoing research projects by DISSGeA geographers and other scholars of the department will presented. The conference is accompanied by a photo exhibition titled “Italy in Sudan”: a different outlook on Sudan through 50 photographs by Benedetta Fumi accompanied by precious books and ancient maps concerning the African country that belong to the Library and Museum of Geography of the University of Padua. The photography exhibition “Italy in Sudan” organised by the Italian Embassy in Khartoum, is about Italian presence in Sudan and the intercultural evolution between the two countries from ancient times to the present day. “We have tried to document the extraordinary activities of the Italian Development Cooperation, the Comboni missionaries, organisations such as Emergency and OVCI, and other Italian companies active in Sudan that have become an integral part of the social and institutional fabric. The exhibition opened on June 2nd 2016 in the gardens of the Italian Ambassador’s residence in Khartoum, on the occasion of Republic Day, in the presence of high Sudanese and international authorities and the Italian and the international community capital” stated Ambassador Lobasso. (PO/red)
