Italian Ambassador to seoul Massimo Andrea Leggeri (fourth from left) poses with others at Arte Che Cammina: Walking Art show.

The Embassy of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute are hosting "Arte Che Cammina" exhibition or "Walking Art: History, Art and Fashion of Italian Footwear" at Seoul Olympic Museum in Bangi-dong, eastern part of Seoul on Nov. 23- Dec.17, 2006. Curators for the "Walking Art" exhibition are Luciano Calosso and Enrica Barbano.

There was an opening reception at 6 p.m. on Nov. 23 (Thursday), 2006 in the Lobby Lounge on the first floor of the Seoul Olympic Museum. The reception drew scores of guests from many sectors of both local and foreign communities including Mr. Vladimir Koutakhov, Seoul Bureau chief of ITAR-TASS Russian news agency and his wife Mrs. Koutakhov.

From the Italian Embassy in Seoul and the Italian Cultural Institute in Seoul are Ambassador Massimo Andrea Leggeri, Director Luigino Zechinn and Vice Director Simonetta De Felicis. Prior to the reception was Ambassador Leggeri's speech both in Korean and English.

Ambassador Leggeri started his speech saying "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen" in a little bit awkward but clear Korean, which brought laughter and applause from the participants.

Quite contrary to his heavily accented Korean, later he used very fluent English to emphasize the genuine history of Italian shoe arts. He never failed to thank the Korean guests for their continued interest in the Italian fashion industry, particularly shoes.

Arte Che Cammina: Walking Art in Seoul

This exhibition, which was presented in Seoul in the previous months, has added in its new version hosted at the Seoul Olympic Museum some very special footwear: a pair of shoes belonging to internationally famous football player Francesco Totti, hero of all soccer fans worldwide.

Curator Luciano Calosso also expressed his gratitude to the local people for this exhibition, which was the second one in South Korea.

"I am very pleased with Korean people's ever-rising interests in Italian culture and fashion," he said. "As a curator, I want to host more exhibitions here in Seoul to inform local people of the beauty of Italian arts."

Among nearly 150 pairs of shoes on the exhibition Mr. Calosso singled out one particular item: Totti's soccer shoes and a shirt signed by Totti himself.

Moreover in this special edition of the exhibition "Walking Art" two pairs of women's shoes by ROSSIMODA were offered as prizes in a lucky draw. Many of the guests at the reception ceremony filled out the form to win the prizes.

The exhibition offered a five-century tour in the history, design and creativity of Italian footwear by displaying close to 150 pairs of genuine Italian shoes. Aiming at appreciating and preserving the handicraft history of Our Country it presented the historical and sociological development of the Italian footwear industry.

Arte Che Cammina: Walking Art in Seoul

Arte Che Cammina" exhibition or Walking Art

The exhibition – in its three sections: History, Italian Handicraft and Haute Couture - offers an overall unprecedented and interesting journey into the history of costume and tells of the development of footwear as objects of design and fashion as well as showing how inventions and projects have modified the way of considering them more and more as necessary accessories. They also presented film and advertisement posters that by showing the customs and lifestyles of an era have become part of our cultural heritage.

Our ancestors started wearing some sort of "shoes" to protect their naked feet when moving from place to place. However it is impossible to determine precisely when man started to produce them.

Italian footwear is the result of high level handicraft as to manufacturing technique, creativity and research of new materials, which shows that artists have always been in tune with the atmosphere of the times. The Italian style is based on the awareness that our ancient civilization relies on art, culture, region, handicraft and manufacturing ability.

Italian man and woman's haute couture footwear charmingly represents the Italian style at its best, highly appreciated everywhere for its refined details, choice of materials and ability to adapt an ever-changing technological research to handicraft manufactures .
The exhibition avails itself of the contribution of the Italian firms : ROSSIMODA SpA and ARDITI.

Arte Che Cammina: Walking Art in Seoul