Helsinki Celebrates the ‘Brilliant Language’ for Italian Language Week Around the World

(ANSA) - HELSINKI, 26 OTT - As part of the celebrations for the 26th edition of Italian Language Week in the World (SLIM), Helsinki paid tribute to the Italian-speaking community with an event themed “Brilliant Language: Conceive, Design, Create with Italian,” promoted by the Italian Cultural Institute in collaboration with the Association of Italian Teachers in Finland. The event took place on October 24 at the historic Rikhardinkatu Public Library, a leading cultural center in the heart of the Nordic capital. Following the screening of the short documentary “Where Words Go: Three Italian Stories in Finland,” directed and produced by Bruno Lupi, the event opened with welcoming remarks by Dr. Adriano Stendardo, interim director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Helsinki, and Dr. Domenico Pardo, president of the Association of Italian Teachers in Finland. Organized and moderated by Prof. Tania Carluccio (a literature professor and expert in Italian language and literature active in Finland), the event aimed to explore the creative power of words and highlight the connections between the Italian-speaking community and those in Finland who cultivate an interest in the Italian language and culture. The highlight of the event was a conversation with Luca Manzi, a screenwriter, professor of ancient dramaturgy at the Catholic University of Milan, and creator of the podcast “Lo zaino delle parole” and the book “Vantarsi con l’italiano.” Through a fascinating etymological journey, Manzi guided the audience in discovering the Greek and Latin roots of terms such as “sperimentare,” “geniale,” “gentile,” “avventura,” “limite,” and “scienza.” As the author explained, every word holds a “backpack of meanings and layers of history” that, once rediscovered, can make our everyday use of language more mindful and free. The reflection on the creativity of words continued with a reading from Gianni Rodari’s *Grammar of Fantasy*, which served as a starting point to invite the audience to “explore,” with wit and vivacity, to explore rare and obsolete words, discovering in the richness of the Italian language an inexhaustible source of creativity and knowledge.
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