(8 May 2017) Italian music, history and culture featured in Serbia in the name of Giacomo Puccini. An agreement was signed between the Puccini Festival of Torre del Lago Foundation and the National Theatre of Belgrade at the Italian Institute of Culture of Belgrade. The two music institutes are planning important artistic and cultural exchange initiatives, including a forthcoming Belgian edition of the prestigious Torre del Lago Festival. The President of the Foundation, Maestro Alberto Veronesi and the Superintendent of the Belgrade National Theatre Maestro Dejan Savic expressed their satisfaction of the agreement that offers concrete opportunities for collaboration in the field of lyrical music, and in particular the works of Puccini, the 20th century opera author of the world. The director of the Italian Institute of Culture of Belgrade, Davide Scalmani praised the achievement that confirmed the centrality of Italian music in Belgrade and the potential of a collaboration with major Serbian cultural institutions. (Red)