Participation of IvSU students in International Festival of World’s Cultural Expressions "The World in Florence"

Cooperation with the Italian Cultural Foundation Romualdo del Bianco is one of the longest and most successful in the international activities of our university. Since 2008, IvSU has been implementing an international student integration project, jointly with the Romualdo del Bianco Foundation, dedicated to the creation of an encyclopedic associative dictionary for guides and tourists “Florence in the Works of World Famous People” (supervisor – doctor of philology prof. Olga M. Karpova). Teachers and students of IvSU regularly deliver reports at conferences and forums organized by the Fund, dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage and promotion of historical and cultural territories.

On November 24-26, 2021, students of IvSU Department of Foreign Philology were taking part in the I International Festival of Cultural Expression of Countries and Territories "The World in Florence", the purpose of which is to acquaint the general public with the history, peculiarities of cultural and spiritual life, traditional folk crafts and crafts of different countries and regions. For an international interactive photo exhibition in Florence, the team of IvSU (students D. Demidova, A. Sokolova, A. Nizova, A. Guseva, scientific advisers associate professor Elena Shilova and associate professor Ekaterina Grigorieva, artistic directors (provided photographic materials) associate professor Denis Dokuchaev and A. Leonov) prepared posters with color illustrations and detailed cultural information on several topics: "Orthodox pearls of Ivanovo region", "Folk arts and crafts of Palekh", "Constructivism in the architecture of Ivanovo" – and etc. The posters are have a special NFC code, which is read by a smartphone or any other "smart" gadget and allows you to instantly get a link to a special section of the festival site dedicated to Central Russia and, in particular, the Ivanovo region.

The exhibition was opened on 24 November at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi showroom in Florence and received widespread coverage in the Italian press. Unfortunately, delegations from universities and cultural institutions from Russia were unable to attend it in person due to coronavirus restrictions, but the ceremony was broadcast live on several streaming online media and was watched by several thousand interested persons. Our students made a detailed presentation "Local cultural brand of Ivanovo", in which they talked about the tourism potential of the Ivanovo region, its famous natives, local holidays and festivals, unique crafts and culinary delights. The guys received a lot of positive feedback from the audience and the organizers of the Festival.

It is gratifying that the participation of our students in international project activities makes a certain contribution to the establishment of intercultural dialogue and the establishment of friendly contacts with representatives of other countries.