Ambassador hopes to promote Italian culture in Korea

Italian Ambassador to Korea Marco della Seta / Courtesy of Embassy of Italy in Seoul

By Kim Jae-heun

Italian ambassador to Korea Marco della Seta, 53, said that his ultimate goal in his four-year mission to Korea is to promote Italian culture, particularly its language, to Koreans.

“Culture includes not only traditional culture like music and art but also education, science, technology and language,” said the ambassador during an interview with The Korea Times, Dec. 21. “I am going to get the Italian embassy to give Italian classes to people who want to come and learn. We think Italian is a language of culture and music and to a certain extent, it is also the language of art, food, and soccer,” della Seta said.

The ambassador stressed that the relationship between Korea and Italy has been firm in terms of politics, economics and investment and they have room to increase more in every sector. He pointed out the European food, automobile and fashion industries are already doing well in Korea and furniture and home appliances could be the next popular Italian products here.

“Italians spend a lot of time at home. Home is a social place to meet friends and to get family together. It reflects the owner’s personality. The furniture can be expensive but they are not fashion. They’re used for a long time and you can pass them on from generation to generation,” the ambassador said.

It has been five months since the new Italian envoy arrived in Korea and he is discovering many similarities shared between his home country and Korea. He finds Koreans easy to communicate with and friendly like Italians who are accustomed to welcoming foreigners, while both can be often emotional.

The ambassador says family values are also important in the two cultures for historical and social reasons. Like Koreans, Italians pay respect to their grandparents and ancestors on special holidays and both countries have powerful mothers who are notorious for their passion in their children’s education. According to della Seta’s opinion, the word “mama” in English defines the Italian mother as being extremely possessive.

The most important similarity is a love for food, and the Italian ambassador said Italians can become very serious about the menu for lunch or dinner.

“Of course, we are not the only two countries liking the food, but I think Italians are known among the very few countries where people speak about what they are going to eat even before sitting down at the table,” he said.

“We argue about recipes and how you should cook the dishes according to each other’s tradition and family background because they are all different according to the region you come from.”

The ambassador’s favorite Korean dish, bibimbap, is also served differently according to the region and family traditions in Korea. But it is the quality of the ingredients used for the recipe that counts very much for both nations.

Although della Seta has served as a diplomat for 28 years, Korea is the first country where he has served as an ambassador, and learning about culture is his way to discover the country and its people.

“Korea is much more than what meets the eye. Seoul can be only a modern city with future-oriented architects in the first place, but you discover that there are a lot of traditions too like culture and habits. They are people’s behavior and a country’s education system,” he said.

“One very impressive thing about Korea is the importance of education like universities, schools, research centers and how much money and energy is spent on them. Such a trend is not used to foreigners like us in our countries.”