A few days ago Italy’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Pietro Giovanni Donnici, hosted a reception at the Philharmonic Society in Kyiv to commemorate the anniversary of the democratic republic of Italy. A number of guests were on hand to offer their best wishes to Ambassador Donnici. In fact, there was a line of people stretching all the way from the entrance through the foyer to the underground passage on European Square. An honor guard of Italian Carabinieri greeted the guests, among them Ukrainian politicians and political scientists, members of the Verkhovna Rada, businessmen, scholars and cultural figures, and accredited diplomats. After the crush of visitors died down, Mr. Pietro Giovanni Donnici gave the following blitz interview to The Day
Mr. Ambassador, how is the Day of the Italian Republic celebrated in your country?
June 2 is a major national holiday in Italy, and there are festivities throughout the country. The Day of the Republic is celebrated by every family. Traditionally, we have a Roman Forum with a military parade next to the Coliseum. But this parade is not meant to demonstrate our military strength. Italians are proud to know that their military units are taking part in UN peacekeeping operations all over the world. There are fireworks and public celebrations all over Italy.
Could you name the priorities in Italian-Ukrainian relations?
Ukraine is a large European country with tremendous resources, advanced industries, agriculture, scientific potential, a singular history, culture, and wonderful people. Italy is cooperating with your country along a number of lines, ranging from business, politics, and science to culture and tourism. The ties between our countries are growing stronger every year, as is the range of our mutual interests. People are the main resource. Italian businessmen are expanding their contacts to all fields of endeavor, forming joint ventures and projects that also deal with culture, education, and science. Right now a number of Italian companies are willing to invest in Ukrainian businesses. I can identify such trends as ferrous metallurgy, construction, the sciences, and so on. Ukraine offers a vast field of endeavor and we, diplomats, will do our best to maintain contacts between our two countries.
(It should be mentioned that the Italian Embassy and the Italian Institute of Culture have been organizing exhibits, concerts, tours, and joint creative projects. This season, the Ivan Franko Theater conceived and staged I Remember/Amarcord whose music score was written by the celebrated Italian composer Alessio Vlad. The plot is about Ukrainian girls who travel abroad to earn a living. There was also a UNESCO-Italy photography exhibit that was a great success. And on June 6 the National Opera of Ukraine premiered Un Ballo in Maschera , staged by Italo Nunziata (who also staged the headline-making productions of Manon Lescaut and Macbeth — T.P. )
Our media recently reported statistics indicating that there are three million immigrants in Italy, and that one-third of them are Ukrainians. This is one of our current realities.
I think this number is overstated. It is true that many people come to Italy in search of jobs. There are a number of Ukrainians among them. Some of these Ukrainians have spent several years working in Italy. Most often Ukrainian women are hired by Italian families as domestic help or nannies, or to take care of aging or sick family members, while Ukrainian men are hired by building companies, private developers, and factories. As a rule, Italian employers are satisfied with their employees: Ukrainians are hard-working and in most cases they don’t cause any problems. Ukrainians who come to my country contribute to Italy’s economic development, and they are earning money because they couldn’t in their native country. But they never forget about their families and continue to help them out financially.
