The Italian Legacy in the Dominican Republic

185

language and culture in the Dominican Republic, even

more so given that it is the first center of its kind in

Central America and the Caribbean. The Chair was cre-

ated at the request of the Chancellor of PUCMM, Pr.

Alfredo de la Cruz Baldera, and the Academic Deputy

Chancellor Dr. David Álvarez, who believed that this

initiative would serve to further internationalize their

university.

It is worth noting that one week later, on Septem-

ber 25, Italy was chosen as the Country of Honor at the

First Dominican Republic Design Week (DRDW19).

The event featured the participation of two Italian art-

ists, Massimo Caiazzo and Mauro Mori, who had been

personally invited by the embassy, and who brought

an Italian palette to the Caribbean with their respective

exhibitions

Policromía

and

Natural Approach

. The exhibitions were unveiled at the Museo de las Casas Reales,

which is housed in a sixteenth-century building, thus underscoring a contrast between the past and the future.

These exhibitions contributed to the success of the First Dominican Republic Design Week, in which a series

of innovative events was organized to include the art installation

Niebla en Santo Domingo

by Massimo Caiazzo,

an artistic installation within the evocative sixteenth-century Capilla de los Remedios in the Colonial Zone.

This installation sought to take the viewer on a visionary journey of reason, body, and spirit characterized by

the gradual transition to light, through which humanity achieves higher knowledge through empirical expe-

rience. Walking through the installation, visitors passed through a thick blanket of mist on which lights and

colors were projected to the accompaniment of an evocative soundtrack,

while the narrators read passages from texts by Leonardo Da Vinci and

Alessandro Geraldini. The exhibition also sought to commemorate the

quincentennial of Leonardo Da Vinci, thereby linking Santo Domingo to

initiatives occurring in the main cultural centers of the world. Italy’s par-

ticipation at DRDW19 is important, because it demonstrates once again

the presence of Italy at some of the fundamental crossroads of Domini-

can history. With this exhibition, the country opened itself to the use of

design for economic purposes, or the Orange Economy, as has already

happened in many parts of the world.

Also, on the occasion of the First Design Week, an exhibition of

Italian design artists was held at the Fernando Peña Defilló Museum, as-

sembling high-end furniture imported into the country by the BellaCa-

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS. PART TWO. DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS IN THE PRESENT: 2017-2020

Theatrical reading of

the “Letters of Geraldini

and Leonardo Da

Vinci” by Massimiliano

Finazzer Flory at

the tomb of the first

resident bishop of the

Americas, Alessandro

Geraldini. September

19, 2019.

Letter from H.E. President Danilo Medina dated September 26, 2019: “Your

Excellency Mr. Ambassador: Receive my warmest greetings. I wish to thank

you for your kind communication, in which you inform me, in a comprehensive

and detailed manner, of the extensive program of events commemorating

the quincentennial of the arrival in our territory of Monsignor Alessandro

Geraldini, the first resident bishop in the Americas.

I join in celebrating such a singular event, and I am extremely pleased with

the effort put into the magnificence of each of the scheduled events, which

serve to highlight the intimate ties of friendship between Italy and the

Dominican Republic, the ongoing success of which we wish to reiterate with

our best wishes.

With the greatest distinction and consideration, Sincerely, Danilo Medina.