Stage diplomacy. Reassessing Italy s performing arts within the context of international relations
ProjectSTACY aims to study the relationship between the performing arts and diplomacy in Italy from the Unification (1861) to the
present days. Wherever migration determined processes of cultural interaction, the international renown of composers,
playwrights, and performers conveyed (and somehow created) the imaginary of nations, transforming the homelands no less
than foreign countries. The question is: are these processes the result of diplomacy?
Italy is an especially promising place to start addressing this question. The importance of migration in Italian history, the
pervasive circulation of Italian artists, and their success in the global theatrical marketplace provide excellent reasons for
exploring such perspective. The global renown of such artists as Puccini, Toscanini, Pirandello acted as an effective tool for
soft power (i.e. the capacity for fascination determined by culture) and still today the international fame of Castellucci,
Michieletto, or Muti is an asset for Italy’s influence.
However, their relationship with cultural diplomacy (i.e. the area of international affairs delegated by governments to
agencies) remains unclear.
Extant studies on international relations during fascism generally neglect the performing arts, and Italy’s liberal age (1861-
1922) and the present are basically unexplored in this regard. Drawing on sources that are new to musicology and theatre
studies, STACY addresses this lacuna through an innovative and interdisciplinary approach: opera, drama, and other genres
will be studied within the context of their interactions with diplomatic networks, showing them to be essential parts of a
cultural ecosystem which developed beyond the borders of countries and styles. Preliminary research (Paoletti 2021, 2022,
2023) proved the ground-breaking potentialities of such a methodology.
STACY raises the stake and aims to reassess our knowledge of the performing arts and their interchange with foreign
cultures: large amount of data will be processed through artificial intelligence to visualise this process of interaction.
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New light will be thus shed on Italian theatre, as well as on historic and current frameworks for cultural diplomacy. The study
of the past will connect to the ongoing debate about soft power and its potentialities in terms of both interpretation and
practice.
present days. Wherever migration determined processes of cultural interaction, the international renown of composers,
playwrights, and performers conveyed (and somehow created) the imaginary of nations, transforming the homelands no less
than foreign countries. The question is: are these processes the result of diplomacy?
Italy is an especially promising place to start addressing this question. The importance of migration in Italian history, the
pervasive circulation of Italian artists, and their success in the global theatrical marketplace provide excellent reasons for
exploring such perspective. The global renown of such artists as Puccini, Toscanini, Pirandello acted as an effective tool for
soft power (i.e. the capacity for fascination determined by culture) and still today the international fame of Castellucci,
Michieletto, or Muti is an asset for Italy’s influence.
However, their relationship with cultural diplomacy (i.e. the area of international affairs delegated by governments to
agencies) remains unclear.
Extant studies on international relations during fascism generally neglect the performing arts, and Italy’s liberal age (1861-
1922) and the present are basically unexplored in this regard. Drawing on sources that are new to musicology and theatre
studies, STACY addresses this lacuna through an innovative and interdisciplinary approach: opera, drama, and other genres
will be studied within the context of their interactions with diplomatic networks, showing them to be essential parts of a
cultural ecosystem which developed beyond the borders of countries and styles. Preliminary research (Paoletti 2021, 2022,
2023) proved the ground-breaking potentialities of such a methodology.
STACY raises the stake and aims to reassess our knowledge of the performing arts and their interchange with foreign
cultures: large amount of data will be processed through artificial intelligence to visualise this process of interaction.
- 6 -
New light will be thus shed on Italian theatre, as well as on historic and current frameworks for cultural diplomacy. The study
of the past will connect to the ongoing debate about soft power and its potentialities in terms of both interpretation and
practice.