Date: 22 October 2026 (Thursday)
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: LE2, LG1/F, Library Extension Buidling, Main Campus, The University of Hong Kong
Registration opens soon. Stay tuned.
Date: 23 October 2026 (Friday)
Time: 7:00pm
Venue: Dante Alighieri Society Hong Kong, Room 702, 7/F, Hong Kong Arts Centre, 2 Harbour Road, Wan Chai
Click here to register.
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In celebration of the XXVI edition of the Week of Italian Language in the World, Italian Cultural Institute is proud to present the lecture “Italian beyond Italy: The Adventures of an Ingenious Language” in two venues, by Professor Daniele Baglioni.
The Italian language has played an important international role for centuries in Europe and in the Mediterranean region, serving literature and, more generally, culture, as well as commerce and diplomacy. The peak of its dissemination coincides with the great Renaissance period, when Italian sonnets were composed at the courts of France, Spain and England, often in Italian, and official communications between European powers and the Ottoman Empire were also conducted in Italian. At the same time, very elementary varieties of the language were used as a means of communication in North African ports. Italy’s international influence persisted in the following centuries, thanks to commedia dell’arte and opera, and continues today in fields such as gastronomy, design, and fashion.
This lecture will trace this fascinating journey, highlighting, through the analysis of a selected number of episodes, the dynamics of the dissemination of the Italian “genius” abroad from a linguistic perspective, without neglecting the contacts and hybridizations between Italian culture and language with other languages and cultures. It is a fortunate encounter that has allowed – and still allows – Italian to spread as a vehicle of peace, enabling ideas, projects, and creations even far from Italy.
Professor Daniele Baglioni
Daniele Baglioni is a Full Professor of Italian Linguistics, Director of Department of Humanities and member of the Academic Senate at Ca’Foscari University, Venice. His research interests include the history of the Italian language, the history of the Italian language outside Italy, and the contact between the Romance languages and the other languages of Mediterranean.
