A symposium in the US capital on Tuesday highlighted the many influences Italy has had on the White House through the centuries, from Cicero's ideal of the gentleman politician to the concept of equality espoused by Filippo Mazzei, which influenced Thomas Jefferson in guiding the nation's founding principles.
The symposium "Italy in the White House: A Conversation on
Historical Perspectives" was organised by the White House
Historical Association in cooperation with the National Italian
American Foundation, the Italian Institute of Culture and the
Italian Embassy.
The day-long event took place in the Association's
headquarters, the Decatur House, a historical home built in 1818
just steps from the White House.
The symposium gathered experts in the overlapping histories
between the two nations, as well as diplomats and first-person
witnesses to the relationships between Italy and the United
States.
Campbell Grey, an associate professor of classical studies
at the University of Pennsylvania, was on hand to lead
conference attendants through some of the important historical
connections that tie the two countries together, such as the
long correspondence in the late 1700s between Benjamin Franklin
and Italian philosopher and jurist Gaetano Filangieri.
Grey also touched on the friendship between Jefferson and
Mazzei, a Tuscan physician who aided Virginia in acquiring arms
during the American Revolution, and inspired the Declaration of
Independence maxim that all men are created equal.
Grey said the White House contains a vast assortment of
Italian items, among them a mosaic in the drawing room inspired
by those found at Pompeii, the Carrara-marble fireplace mantle
in the Red Room, and paintings by Costantino Brumidi in the Palm
Room.
White House Historical Society President Stewart McLaurin
in his welcome speech toasted new Italian Ambassador to the US,
Armando Varricchio, who spoke positively of the event.
"Today's symposium represents for us Italians a great
privilege, but above all, an excellent opportunity to deepen a
long and in many ways surprising history of interactions between
our country and the United States," Varricchio said.
photo: bust of Cicero
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