Art, culture, diplomacy - at the Italian Ambassador's residence in Abuja

Left to right: Ambassador Roberto Colamine' of Italy;  a painting exhibited at the Italian Ambassador's
Residence; guests.

Since I arrived in Abuja a few years ago, I have come to know that the Abuja residence of the Ambassador of Italy has been a venue for many cultural and art events that have brought artists and art lovers together – and one thing I have come to learn from these events is that you don’t really need a big and expensive venue (in terms of rent) to organise events such as these.

A concert by
the Abuja Metropolitan
Choir at the Italian Ambassador's
Residence in Abuja

At the Italian Ambassador’s residence, for instance, we have listened to concerts, watched a fashion show, viewed hundreds of paintings and other art works, all in one place – and I do speak for myself if I say I could not have enjoyed more and learned more from these events than when they were held in bigger venues. These events organised by the Italian Embassy (often in collaboration with other organisations) have featured not only artists who are based in Nigeria but also those that come from different parts of the world!

The beauty of holding an event in small venues is that there is some kind of intimacy among the guests and lots of opportunity to interact with each other. In spite of security issues in the FCT, it’s quite amazing that the Italian Embassy has no reservations about opening its doors wide for these kinds of events.

Last month alone, there were two events hosted by H.E. Roberto Colamine’, Ambassador of Italy. These were: 1) the opening on 3rd December 2012 of an art exhibition featuring the works of Nigerian artists Fidelis Eze Odogwu, Franklin Beli and Uche Uzorka, and Italian artist Olga Prokopenko Del Pio, which is a part of the activities celebrating the Italian and Language and Cultural Week; and 2) a Christmas Concert of songs, instrumentals, opera arias featuring the BelCanto Ensemble (a group of five Italian music artists who have been in Abuja several times) on 30 December 2012.

Both events were attended by various art lovers, members of the Diplomatic Corps in Abuja, and the general public. We do look forward to another busy year with the Embassy of Italy.