Studia Polensia, Vol. 7 No. 1, 2018.
Short communication, Note
https://doi.org/10.32728/studpol/2018.07.01.04
THE MOMENTS OF ITALIAN PRESENCE IN CONSTANTINOPLE - ISTANBUL
Nevin Özkan
orcid.org/0000-0003-2550-1787
; University of Ankara, Turkey
Abstract
The city founded by the Emperor Constantine has been full of signs of
Latin presence over past centuries until today. These signs are reflected not
only in the historical, but also in the artistic and cultural fields in the city
situated on seven hills. One could start by naming the Galata tower that
even today dominates the lower city beyond the Golden Horn, conserving
many cultural memories and associations, which bring Italy to mind. If
one is to go back to the time of the conquest of Constantinople - Istanbul
by Fatih Mehmet, it is a must to remember the district of Pera where not
only the Venetian bailo, but also many Venetian families used to live.
Pera was in fact the place where a school of translators was founded in
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries so we witness quite a modern
and different conception of culture. Towards the end of the eighteenth
and throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century Constantinople
- Istanbul became the destination of various categories of travelers;
missionaries, businessmen, tourists and writers, such as Gustave Flaubert,
Pierre Loti, Edmondo de Amicis, Corrado Alvaro and Giuseppe Antonio
Borgese, who in their works gave an account of the city as it used to be.
Moreover, the Italians have rendered themselves immortal in the City
thanks to the works of architects such as Raimondo d’Aronco and painters
such as Fausto Zonaro, admired in the Ottoman ex-capital and highly
esteemed in a nowadays Turkey. In fact, it is possible to find traces of Italian
presence in the City dating back to the Middle Ages still present with a
hospital, churches, schools, associations and newspapers. The most actual
and significant representative of Italy in Turkey is, without doubt, a film
director and writer Ferzan Özpetek. He was born and raised in Istanbul
and defines himself as an Italian thus forming a trait d’union between the
two cultures with his original and multicultural films.
Keywords
Istanbul; Edmondo de Amicis; Corrado Alvaro; Fausto Zonaro;
Hrčak ID:
216330
URI
Publication date:
29.1.2019.
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