Detroit will host a special celebration of the enduring relationship between Italy and the United States on Sunday, September 27, with an afternoon combining history, culture, diplomacy, and the Italian American experience.
“Across Oceans, Shared Dreams: Italy and America in Dialogue,” organized by the Consulate of Italy in Detroit and the Dante Alighieri Society of Michigan, will run from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM at Marygrove Main Dining Hall, 8425 West McNichols Road. Admission is free, although advance registration is required.
The program begins at 3:00 PM with an exhibition developed with the Historical Diplomatic Archives of Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Francesca Cinquina will guide visitors through major chapters of American history, from Independence to the present, while highlighting Detroit and Michigan. The exhibition also explores Italian immigration, the contribution of Italian communities to American society, and the diplomatic and cultural connections linking the 2 countries.
At 4:00 PM, Amedeo Arena, professor of European Law at the University of Naples Federico II, will lead a conference examining the intellectual exchanges that crossed the Atlantic during the Enlightenment. The program connects figures including Pasquale Paoli, Philip Mazzei, Gaetano Filangieri, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson.
Particular attention will be given to the correspondence between Filangieri and Franklin from 1782 to 1788 – 6 remarkable years of exchanges about government, education, civic responsibility, and human happiness.
Held during America’s 250th anniversary year and the 80th anniversary of the Fulbright Program, the Detroit gathering offers a timely reminder that Italy–U.S. relations were shaped not only by diplomacy and migration, but also by ideas that traveled across the Atlantic centuries ago and continue to inspire connections today.
