As two important civilizations along the ancient Silk Road, China and Italy will strengthen their cultural cooperation, deepening mutual understanding not only between the governments, but also among people of the two countries.

“The cultural exchange between China and Italy has been thriving for over two millennia. I believe the two nations have great potential in cultural cooperation,” Lucia Borgonzoni, Italy’s deputy culture minister, told People’s Daily Online, especially under the framework of the BRI.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Italy in March, Italy has announced that 796 Chinese cultural relics that had previously been taken overseas would be returned to China. It is the largest scale international repatriation of lost Chinese cultural relics overseas since 1998, when around 3,000 artifacts were recovered from the UK.

Moreover, China and Italy have signed several documents regarding cultural exchange and cooperation. The cultural landscape of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces in Yunnan province and the vineyard landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato in Italy will become sister sites, as will the west lake cultural landscape in Hangzhou and Verona in Italy.

According to Borgonzoni, Italy will increase efforts to present small Italian cities to the Chinese public, helping them to understand Italian culture, while diversified cultural cooperation, especially in tourism and film, will see rapid growth.

“During this year’s Venice Film Festival, we will organize the fourth edition of the ‘Focus on China’ section. Moreover, we’ve included the US into a multilateral cooperation mechanism with China and Italy, in an effort to strengthen film cooperation among the three,” said Borgonzoni. The second edition of the “Venice to China” section is ongoing at the current Beijing International Film Festival.

“We will also bring Italian movies to the upcoming Hainan International Film Festival. Normally, such movie events are held in big cities, but this time we want to extend our cooperation also to Hainan, as it may bring to both parties new ideas, new possibilities, and new opportunities,” she added.