Italy and China are "two superpowers of culture and tourism", foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Friday during a visit to Beijing, where he opened the Italy-China Cultural Forum and inaugurated a Caravaggio exhibition.
“Italy and China are two superpowers of culture and tourism,” Tajani said in an address, highlighting the "central role" of culture in Italy's relationship with China since the time of (12th-century Venetian merchant) Marco Polo.
Tajani also recalled Italian Jesuit priest Father Matteo Ricci, a founding figure of the Jesuit China missions and ”the first great promoter of cultural dialogue between West and East.”
“This ancient and fertile relationship with China remains a model for us," Tajani said.
"Just as ideas and knowledge were interwoven then, we must all strive today to ensure that culture represents a fruitful instrument of friendship and peace between our peoples," Tajani continued.
"In the wake of Father Matteo Ricci and Marco Polo, Italy continues to strengthen cultural dialogue between West and East," Tajani wrote on X.
