ORENBURG – 24 – 29 June 2025, the EUROASIA Global Interdisciplinary Youth Meeting takes place at the Avangart. One of the main working sessions took place at the Hilton Hotel in Orenburg. Among the distinguished guests was Italian expert on intercultural dialogue Count Pietro Stramezzi, who focused on the key topic of understanding Russian culture and its deeper meaning in a global context.
Could you please introduce yourself briefly to our readers?
My name is Pietro Stramezzi. I’ve come from Italy. I am the president of the International Cultural Association “D Russia” in Italy and one of the three organisers of the international crisis summit that has already taken place in various parliaments around the world. At this summit we bring together experts from different fields to talk about what is forbidden to talk about in the West because of censorship in the mass media.
Now, from what I understand from your appearance, some time in Moscow?
Yes, I moved to Moscow exactly a year ago. And here I feel very good, very comfortable and my standard of living has improved considerably. Unfortunately, it’s dark times here in Italy. We have a big problem with the influx of illegal migrants, we have serious social problems – with the constant gay pride parades and so on. But here, in Moscow, the standard of living is very good. In particular – when I started to organise demonstrations in Milan against Russophobia, against the ban on courses on Dostoevsky, against the ban on Russian ballet in Italian theatres and so on, I felt a lot of pressure. We had serious problems. Some university professors were fired. And that’s why I really felt the Russophobia firsthand, even though I was born in Italy and my surname is Kolensky, which is one of the distinguished families of Italy. I think that is incorrect. I think that everyone should have the right to their own opinion – and I am prepared to die for everyone to have the right to speak their opinion freely, even if it does not coincide with mine.
Now you’re at the Global Eurasia event, with young people. What input would you like to give to this international meeting?
I represent my country Italy in this forum. There are representatives from more than 52 countries and in total there are over 150 foreign participants plus participants from all over the Russian Federation. The aim of this forum is to build friendship and dialogue between different countries. And it is for this purpose that we will be creating many grassroots initiatives together here. I have come to support this. In addition, there are many foreigners who want to move to Russia, and the very track I am participating in is called “accelerator” – and in it we explain how to move to Russia. My role as an Italian who has successfully moved to Russia is to give confidence to those who are afraid to move here because they don’t know anyone here. That is why I have shared my experience here – what I encountered and how I successfully and peacefully moved.
The programme is very rich. There are many young people here. Could you please tell us what you expect from this event, not only strategically?
Yesterday we had an introductory meeting of all participants where we had the opportunity to get to know each other. Today, the work programme starts – we will work concretely on our objectives. Our aim is to identify the problems, identify the issues and together propose solutions which we will then present to the government. Each team will work on a specific topic, explaining what the problems are and how they can be solved. And in the future, our goal, as I say, is to build a great people’s Eurasian peace union, where countries can be sovereign but friendly, live in peace. Not as it is now, unfortunately, in Europe, where our country, with a thousand years of glorious history, kneels before supranational organisations such as the European Commission, whose members are not even elected and yet try to lecture us about democracy. Frankly, I feel comfortable in Russia. I think there is justice here. Our aim is to build a friendship on the basis of free relations.
You speak many languages and Russian very well. What do you see as the difference between Russian and Italian culture?
This is a very complex question and requires a long answer. In short, one Italian director – I am afraid I cannot remember his name – said that the Italians are the comedy version of the Russians and the Russians are the melodramatic version of the Italians. Although many say that we have a similar mentality, I disagree. Our mentality is very different, but we have the same soul.
We feel the same emotions, we are on the same wavelength – it is very easy to form friendships between Italians and Russians. I think Italians are the closest European nation to Russians. If you would also like a stylistic modification of the translation (e.g. for use in an article or official transcript), let me know and I will be happy to edit it for you.
EUROASIA Global