Honoring the most famous Italian writer who traveled to Iran

Italian Embassy Residence in Tehran 

By Alireza Bahrami

TEHRAN: Italo Calvino’s 100th birthday celebration was held in the Iranian capital Tehran. This famous Italian writer traveled to Iran about 50 years ago and stayed for two months.

In the 23^rd week of honoring the Italian language in the world, the Italian Embassy in Tehran organized a series of events dedicated to Italo Calvino, the founder of Italian literature of the 20^th century.

This series of events began on the evening of Thursday November 2, with a photo exhibition dedicated to Calvino’s trip to Iran in 1975.

At that time, Italian TV was supposed to produce a documentary film about Persian civilization in cooperation with Iranian TV. Italo Calvino, who was a travel writer and wrote about his travels, traveled to Iran together with the great Italian critic and intellectual, Pietro Citati.

In a two-month trip to Iran, in addition to Tehran, they traveled by car to the cities of Shiraz, Isfahan and Yazd.

This project was not completed for some reasons, but Calvino wrote an account of his trip to Iran in the book “Sand Collection” (1984).

Italo Calvino and Pietro Citati in Isfahan, 1975 (Photo: Alberto Negrin)

Now, the Italian embassy in Tehran asked Albert Negrin, the photographer who accompanied Calvino and Citati on that trip, to remove a collection of photos from that trip.

In a video message on the occasion of the exhibition of his photos in Tehran, this photographer expressed his happiness and excitement about this incident; Because he himself had almost forgotten them.

Following the Italo Calvino centennial event series in Tehran,  Italian Ambassador to Iran Giuseppe Perone said: “Writers have played an important role in bringing the readers of other cultures closer to the Italian language and culture. The very high number of Calvino’s books, almost all of which have been translated and printed in Persian by Iranian publishing houses, is proof of this.”

“Calvino was not only a writer, but also a great intellectual; An intellectual with social and political thoughts who fought alongside the partisans against the Nazis.”

Italo Calvino in Isfahan, 1975 – (Alberto Negrin)

“Calvino believed that literature has a political and social role and function. He also believed that you should get a deep and accurate understanding of the world by looking at the realities of the world. He was a curious writer who was very interested in learning about other cultures, for this reason he traveled to Iran in 1975,” Ambassador Perrone said.

After visiting the cities of Iran, he admired the charms of the Persian civilization. Based on this, it can be said that it is no coincidence that many of Calvino’s books have been translated into Persian in Iran.

The series of events commemorating Calvino in Tehran continued with the screening of a documentary produced by Italy and Iran about Calvino.

The final part of the centenary celebration of Italo Calvino in Tehran was a round table with the presence of several translators and publishers of Calvino’s works in Iran.

The celebrations of the Italian language week in Iran continue with programs such as the screening of the film “The Missing Knight” by Pino Zac based on the book of the same name by Calvino and holding a seminar on the translation of Calvino’s works into Persian.