STORY: Italian cultural expert highlights Italy-China cooperation in heritage conservation
SHOOTING TIME: Sept. 13, 2024
DATELINE: Sept. 15, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:19
LOCATION: Rome
CATEGORY: CULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. SOUNDBITE (Italian): MIRKO BALDASSARRE, President of the Culture Association Mirabile Ingegno, Italy
2. various of the landscape of Cinque Terre
3. various of the landscape of Rome
4. various of the landscape of Florence
5. various of the landscape of Venice

STORYLINE:

In a recent interview, Italian art historian Mirko Baldassarre emphasized the value of collaboration between Italy and China in the preservation of cultural heritage.

SOUNDBITE (Italian): MIRKO BALDASSARRE, President of the Culture Association Mirabile Ingegno, Italy
"Italy and China are undoubtedly (two of) the most beautiful countries in the world, as determined by UNESCO. Italy and China hold the highest numbers of World Heritage Sites, 60 for Italy, 59 for China. For years, there has been a partnership, a collaboration made up of projects, agreements, and twinning. There are twinning programs between Italian and Chinese UNESCO sites.
This year marks the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death. There has always been collaboration and a desire to create these connections to enhance each other.
So, there are very strong relationships.
For example, by creating twinning programs and involving young people, Italian students could go to China and Chinese students could come to Italy. Partnerships between universities, organizing exhibitions... this has already happened, where Italian artworks could go to China and vice versa. Both countries also share an intangible cultural heritage made up of centuries-old traditions. Through documentaries, the involvement of foundations, research institutes, and through cinema, we could further enhance this dialogue, as we are two friendly, connected countries in this sense. Therefore, I believe we have many, many opportunities, and we should strongly focus on involving young people, both Italian and Chinese."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Rome.
(XHTV)