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The New Year brings with it the Year of �������� Culture in the United States that celebrates the two countries’ common heritage and the future ahead.

The Year of �������� Culture will run throughout 2013 across the USA and will focus on scientific research. It involves more than 180 events focused on �������� culture in 40 American cities aimed at promoting and revitalising �������� culture in the USA.

When Italy’s Ambassador to Washington, Claudio Bisogniero, was in Houston to address the eighth Conference of �������� Researchers in the World, he said the Year of �������� Culture “...is a most important initiative designed and launched by Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Giulio Terzi.”

The Ambassador said the Year of �������� Culture “will feature a rich programme of events spanning across multiple fields, from music and opera to scientific research. It will also include major exhibits, conferences and seminars.”

Terzi inaugurated the Year of �������� Culture at Washington’s National Gallery of Art by unveiling Michelangelo’s ‘David-Apollo’ sculpture, which the artist created in 1530. The last time the marble sculpture was loaned to the gallery was in 1949 as a token of appreciation for postwar aid. It attracted more than 791,000 visitors and was the centrepiece for people attending the gallery’s inaugural reception for President Harry Truman. The sculpture will be on display until 3 March to include visitors attending the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the goal of the year’s theme “is to present Italy as a country that is forward-looking and forward-thinking, whose excellence is deeply rooted in a time-honoured past of success in the research, discovery, and innovation that repeats in this year’s theme, with a vision and perspective together with the experience and expertise to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.”