Lucca Comics & Games at Italy Pavilion, Amano 'ambassador'

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 30 - The collaboration between the General Commissariat for Italy Expo 2025 Osaka and Lucca Comics & Games was announced today in order to bring one of the most prestigious Italian and international events dedicated to comics, games, video games and cinema to the Italy Pavilion.
    The news was announced during the opening ceremony of Lucca Comics & Games which took place at the Teatro del Giglio and was attended by Tuscany Governor Eugenio Giani, the President of the Province of Lucca Marcello Pierucci, the Mayor of Lucca Mario Pardini, the Ambassador of Japan to Italy Satoshi Suzuki, the artist Yoshitaka Amano, the president of Lucca Crea Nicola Lucchesi, the Director of Lucca Comics & Games Emanuele Vietina and the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka Mario Vattani.
    The agreement aims to enhance the cultural encounter between Italy and Japan, which will culminate at Expo 2025 Osaka with projects and initiatives co-organized at the Italy Pavilion also in collaboration with Lucca Comics & Games, representing an important opportunity for cultural promotion for Italy.
    The signing of the agreement was also an opportunity to present the maestro Yoshitaka Amano, an internationally renowned Japanese artist, as one of the Ambassadors of Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka. The Japanese artist thus joins the list of prominent personalities from the world of art, culture, and design, who have agreed to promote Italian culture in Japan as Ambassadors of the Italy Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka: fashion designer Junko Koshino, designer Toshiyuki Kita, industrial designer Ken Okuyama, sculptor Susumu Shingu, orchestra conductor Tomoni Nishimoto, and entrepreneur Yuzo Yagi.
    Yoshitaka Amano has created the three official posters for the 2024 edition of Lucca Comics & Games, dedicated to the Centenary of composer Giacomo Puccini's death, further strengthening the bond between Italy and Japan in the name of music, art and creativity.
    "This agreement opens up an unprecedented collaboration for us in the name of new arts, comics and games, aspects of contemporary culture that both countries share", commented Ambassador Mario Vattani, General Commissioner for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka.
    "Lucca Comics & Games, an Italian event of excellence in the field of pop art and capable of speaking to a heterogeneous audience, will bring dedicated projects to the Italy Pavilion, enriching the experience of visitors to Expo 2025 Osaka with the best of Italian creativity. We are happy to welcome Yoshitaka Amano among our 'Ambassadors', who thus becomes a further protagonist of the path of cultural diplomacy between Italy and Japan".
    Emanuele Vietina, Director of Lucca Comics & Games, commented: "Bringing Lucca Comics & Games to the Italy Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka is a milestone that makes us proud of the path we have taken in these fifty-eight years of activity. Starting from the in-depth study of Italian comics, moving on to European and then American comics, up to the Oriental manga, Lucca Comics & Games has always had the ambition of being a place dedicated to intellectual reflection and analysis of the present. Arriving today in the country of origin of many of the disciplines we celebrate and where some of the fantastic imaginary worlds most loved by our community are born represents for all of us a new starting point to continue to broaden our horizons and our cultural mission, in the name of transmediality, inclusion, respect for the arts and professionalism. A 'Butterfly Effect' that consolidates the importance of making new contemporary mythologies dialogue by drawing on the richness of our cultural heritage".
    Yoshitaka Amano expressed his enthusiasm: "I am deeply honored to be the Ambassador of the Italy Pavilion at Expo 2025. I have great respect and admiration for Italian art and I am sincerely grateful to have the opportunity to share the beauty of Italian and Japanese art with the world thanks to this special cultural exchange." Expo 2025 Osaka will be held from April 13 to October 13, 2025 under the overall theme "Designing future society for our lives." Italy is participating with a Pavilion designed by architect Mario Cucinella interpreting the theme "Art regenerates life." (ANSA).