Visit of the Rotary Club of Palermo

An intense three days saw members of the Rotary Club of Palermo, with its President, Pietro Luigi Matta, and the Rotary Club of the City and Shoreditch, with its President, Dominic Pini, in a Friendship Exchange, to foster and promote friendships and international culture. The topics discussed were peace, safeguarding the planet, energy policies, and it was agreed to proceed with a series of online meetings to define the guidelines of a common path to be shared.

On the occasion of the visit, reads a note, the Club had the opportunity to meet Michael Raymond Mainelli, Lord Mayor of London for the year 2023/2024.

On the evening of 10 February, in particular, preceeded in the morning by an interesting visit to the City of London led by President Dominic Pini himself, a convivial moment was celebrated to seal the new friendship. President Matta thanked his friend Luigi Sasso, a member of the London club, for his active collaboration in this successful visit and reminded everyone how this splendid initiative fits into the centenary year for RC Palermo and that, as emphasised in the message sent by Governor Giuseppe Pitari, it involves the entire Rotary District 2110 of Sicily and Malta. In particular, underlines the note, the latter wanted to recall that the true essence of the Rotary motto  'Service Above Self' also lies in the 'international vocation to promote dialogue between different cultures, united by common values'. And with this in mind, President Matta invited President Pini to the upcoming Centenary initiatives, the first of which is scheduled for 28 February at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, with the Stravinsky/Ravel concert conducted by Maestro Gabriele Ferro.

The visit, the note continued, ended with the invitation of the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in London, Francesco Bongarra, to attend the inauguration of the photographic exhibition 'Journey to Italy' at the institute, curated by the Directorate General of Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Museum of Contemporary Photography in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in London and the Luigi Ghirri Heirs Archive.

This innovative project, which started 40 years ago, portrays an Italy from an emotional point of view by the Master who contributed to the realisation of the project curated by Luigi Ghirri and Gianni Leone. Also present at the inauguration was the Consul General of Italy in London, Domenic Bellantone, who spoke highly of the initiatives carried out by the Palermo Club and District 2110 of Sicily and Malta

Translated from an article published by ITALPRESS on 13 February 2025: Missione a Londra della delegazione del Rotary Club Palermo