PHI-ITA Friendship Cup on June 4 celebrates ties between the Italian Republic and the Republic of the Philippines

On June 4, 2024, Tuesday, the Philippines-Italy Friendship Cup unfolds at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium, featuring the Philippines U19 selection team and a selection of locally recruited players representing Italy.

The match aims to promote and celebrate the close ties between the Italian Republic and the Republic of the Philippines.

The Embassy of Italy in Manila and the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) are cooperating in this special occasion to commemorate the Republic Day of Italy, which happens to fall on the same month as the Philippines' Independence Day.

The Philippines U19 selection team consists of players scouted during the ongoing PFF U19 Boys National Championship and other talent identification activities across the country. PFF Technical Director Josep Ferré will mentor the U19 selection team.

Meanwhile, the team representing Italy is composed of locally based players chosen by former Philippine Men’s National Team player and G8 Academy founder and head coach Simon Greatwich, who also serves as the squad’s coach.

Ambassador of Italy to the Philippines Marco Clemente emphasized, “The Philippines-Italy Friendship Cup 2024 is one of the most important events in the series of initiatives organized by the Embassy of Italy in Manila for the 2024 Italian Republic Day. This event marks a new chapter in the fruitful cooperation between Italy and the Philippines, which was also celebrated in 2022 during the 75th Anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic relations.”

PFF President John Anthony Gutierrez expressed his utmost appreciation to the Embassy of Italy in Manila for the opportunity to collaborate on such a significant undertaking. “This Friendship Cup is very special to the federation on several levels,” he said. “Aside from commemorating the ties between Italy and the Philippines, which date back to the 1940s, we are able to highlight Filipino football culture and also give our emerging U19 National Team a chance to play against a selection team, which we expect to be a formidable opponent.”

Ambassador Marco Clemente also pointed out that the Friendship Cup represents shared values: “The Italian football tradition, one of the oldest and most significant worldwide, embodies values that are fundamental not only to the sporting cultures of our two countries but also to the value systems shared by Italy and the Philippines: healthy competition, respect for opponents, a sense of belonging, discipline, perseverance, and sacrifice are some of the virtues that create common ground between our two peoples, fostering ever stronger integration and cooperation.”

Fans can watch the Philippines-Italy Friendship Cup live at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium for free.

For FREE tickets, click this link: https://ticket2me.net/event/21819

Screening of “Gianni Schicchi’s performance in Tondo’ at Ayala Triangle Gardens

During the two-day Italian Food Festival at Ayala Triangle Gardens on 25 and 26 May 2024, the movie of the performance of Gianni Schicchi’s opera in Tondo was shown to the general public at 6pm and 8pm.

“Gianni Schicchi: a live opera in Tondo”, the first-ever fully staged opera performance in Tondo, featuring the Manila Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Marlon Chen, took place on March 23rd 2024 in the San Pablo Apostol Parish playground in Tondo before an audience of over 500 people, most of whom were young members of the Tondo community. This event showcased Giacomo Puccini’s delightful one-act comic opera Gianni Schicchi and was one of the most ambitious initiatives of the festival "The Embassy of Italy Meets the Youth of Tondo" organized by the Embassy of Italy in collaboration with the Canossa-Tondo Children’s Foundation.

The opera was performed in its original Italian language. Given the educational nature of the initiative, two singers periodically paused the performance to explain the plot in Tagalog, helping the young audience follow along.

The success of this remarkable educational project was immense. Since the event was primarily for the Tondo community and only a select few guests could attend, Italian Ambassador Marco Clemente decided to transform the video recording of the show, made by The Manila Times TV, into a movie for the general public. This project received generous support from AyalaLand and Ayala Cinema, which agreed to screen the film twice in the afternoon on both Saturday 25 May and Sunday 26 May, during the Italian Food Festival at the Ayala Triangle Gardens. The film will also be shown in a commercial movie theater on June 7.

The audience at the Ayala Triangle Gardens had the unique opportunity to experience the magic of opera in an informal setting through a high-quality and educational performance. Initiatives like this help demystify opera, a genre often considered elitist, overly complex, and distant from contemporary tastes. The “Gianni Schicchi in Tondo” screening at the Ayala Triangle Gardens clearly demonstrated that these prejudices are unfounded.

This initiative by the Italian Embassy, in partnership with local organizations, underscores the importance of making cultural experiences accessible to a broader audience. By bringing opera to unconventional settings and explaining it in familiar languages, such projects can foster a deeper appreciation and understanding of the arts among diverse communities. The transformation of Gianni Schicchi from a live performance to a widely accessible film marks a significant step in this direction.