Thursday, March 14, 2019. From 6:00 pm To 8:00 pm. Organized by: Istituto Italiano di Cultura Chicago - 500 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1450 - Chicago, Illinois 60611. Entrance: Free. ITALY & THE ORIENT A tangled history of traders, travelers, colonists, couturiers, aristocrats & refugees. From the time of the ancient Romans, to the Renaissance Medicis and the couturier Elsa Schiaparelli, Italy has had a long and complex relationship with the Near East and North Africa in particular.

It is also a layered and often misunderstood history that has recently come into sharp relief at a time when the country is witnessing a rise in refugees and asylum seekers from lands it had once colonized. Yet dig a little deeper and one will also come across stories of fruitful cultural exchanges, unexpected encounters and a host of characters who are the product of centuries of mixing.