ROME, MARCH 30 – The Board of Directors of the Italian National Commission for UNESCO, which met today in telematic mode under the chairmanship of Franco Bernabè, approved an Italian application to be submitted to the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage for the 2023 cycle: “The Art of the Italian Opera Singing”.
The decision followed a careful examination of the proposed nominations that included, in addition to the chosen one, also the one entitled “The Italian Espresso Coffee between culture, ritual, sociality and literature in the emblematic communities from Venice to Naples”, a dossier that has been much appreciated by the members of the Board.
“The Art of Italian Opera Singing” was born from the evolution of the Italian language in the 17th century in Central Italy, expanded then throughout the peninsula and later abroad, thanks to the emigration of opera singers and theatre producers. The art of opera singing has historically played a function of social aggregation through the sharing of musical and literary skills and the use of natural or traditionally delimited acoustic spaces, in which it is not necessary to use technological instruments for the reproduction of the voice thanks to the power of the voice of the singers themselves
This year, Italy also participates in a transnational application, “Traditional Irrigation in Europe: knowledge, technique and organization”, which has Austria as its leader and also sees the participation of Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Holland and Switzerland. Moreover, Italy participates to the extension of the candidacy “Transhumance, the seasonal droving of livestock”, alongside Albania, Andorra, Croatia, France, Luxembourg, Romania and Spain. Transhumance was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2019 as a transnational element of Austria, Greece and Italy. (@OnuItalia)
