Edoardo Crisafulli on Culture Under Siege in Kyiv

Edoardo Crisafulli, director of the Italian Institute of Culture in Kyiv, recounts his harrowing 34-hour escape to Moldova and his anguish for colleagues left behind. The Institute, housed in the Italian Embassy in central Kyiv, remains undamaged but all activities are suspended. The last event was the Ukrainian translation launch of Federico Chabod's "Storia dell'idea d'Europa," with professor Oxana Pachlovska. Crisafulli stresses Ukraine's European identity and rejects the conflation of Russian-speaking with pro-Russian sentiment. He supports sanctions against Russia but urges maintaining cultural dialogue with dissenting Russian intellectuals. He criticizes the lack of coordinated international efforts to protect Ukraine's seven UNESCO sites, placing responsibility on Putin. The Institute, with only four employees, has strong ties with local and European cultural institutions. Crisafulli praises the Draghi government for increasing funding to Italian Cultural Institutes after years of cuts.