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he cultural exchange and dialogue between Italy and the Dominican Republic extends back to a long
tradition of goodwill and solidarity. The ensuing cultural legacy, the product of diplomatic and histor-
ical relations between the two nations, also encompasses a vocation of love for literature and the arts.
From its role as the cradle of the Renaissance, that great period that sought to revive the Classical Greco-Latin
past, to the present, Italy always fascinates and seduces us, for the ancestral richness of its culture, for the
magic of its mythology, for its distinguished men and women of letters and the arts, and for its great thinkers.
This wonderful publication will serve as a reference for present and future generations, who will be nour-
ished by the wisdom and knowledge that spring from the intellects that have contributed to the pages of this
volume. It is a splendid encyclopedic endeavor and a laudable initiative that will contribute to enriching both
cultures.
History, architecture, literature, the arts (cinema, music, and sculpture), economics, science, journalism,
law, and society are the areas and aspects that engage, in their conceptual depths and scholarship, the authors
who grace this beautiful book with their insights.
It is enough to read the texts and the profiles of the highly prestigious historians—the architects, writers,
and intellectuals that make up the theoretical body of the essays that this volume brings together—to recog-
nize the historical and cultural value of this work.
I invite every Dominican—as well as every lover of knowledge, letters, arts, and history—to read this for-
midable work, which has an inestimable value, and which urges us to explore the legacy of Italy in Dominican
culture and understand how the culture of both countries is shared, in a process of foundation and ongoing
transformation, which spans the centuries of history and fellowship between the Italians and Dominicans.
This work has an extraordinary significance, because it will enable our country to be seen, known, and
recognized in that great cultural homeland which is Italy and, therefore, throughout Europe and the rest of the
Carmen Heredia de Guerrero
Minister of Culture of the Dominican Republic