{"id":7550,"date":"2026-10-15T10:30:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T08:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/?p=7550"},"modified":"2026-10-15T10:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T08:31:11","slug":"the-nativity-scene-the-legacy-of-st-francis-of-assisi-through-italian-design-and-irish-craftsmanship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/en\/news\/dall_ambasciata\/2026\/10\/the-nativity-scene-the-legacy-of-st-francis-of-assisi-through-italian-design-and-irish-craftsmanship\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nativity Scene: The Legacy of St Francis of Assisi through Italian Design and Irish Craftsmanship"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Aptos,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">On 7 October 2026, the Ambassador of Italy to Ireland, Nicola Faganello, and the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Dublin (IIC), Michela Linda Magr\u00ec, inaugurated the exhibition <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Aptos,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"en-US\"><i>The Nativity Scene: The Legacy of St Francis of Assisi through Italian Design and Irish Craftsmanship<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Aptos,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"en-US\"> at Rathfarnham Castle in Dublin. The exhibition was organised by the Embassy of Italy and the IIC, in collaboration with designer Andrea Vecera, who curated the project.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Aptos,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Aptos,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">The exhibition forms part of the commemorations honouring St Francis of Assisi on the 800th anniversary of his death. It celebrates a significant element of Italy\u2019s spiritual and cultural heritage while also serving as a symbolic bridge between Italian and Irish culture.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Aptos,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Aptos,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">The initiative was made possible thanks to the support of key partners, including Ireland\u2019s Office of Public Works (OPW), the government body responsible for the country\u2019s historic and architectural heritage, represented at the opening by its Chief Executive, John Conlon, and Head of Collections and Sites, Mary Heffernan. The OPW provided the prestigious venue of Rathfarnham Castle. Another key partner was the Design &amp; Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI), represented by its Chief Executive, Mary Blanchfield, which facilitated connections with local craftspeople.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Aptos,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Aptos,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"en-US\">This fruitful and multifaceted collaboration has resulted in nine Nativity scenes created specifically for the exhibition by some of the leading figures in Italian design, including numerous Compasso d\u2019Oro award recipients, in dialogue with the sensibilities and expertise of Irish craftspeople. The nine works offer nine original interpretations of the Nativity, creatively exploring, through natural materials and contemporary design languages, the delicate interplay between tradition and innovation, Italian culture and Irish identity.<\/span><\/span><\/span><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7547 img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/download-2-1-300x197.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"197\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/download-2-1-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/download-2-1-1024x672.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/download-2-1-768x504.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/download-2-1.jpg 1206w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7541 img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/download-3-1-300x196.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/download-3-1-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/download-3-1-1024x669.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/download-3-1-768x502.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/download-3-1.jpg 1206w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On 7 October 2026, the Ambassador of Italy to Ireland, Nicola Faganello, and the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Dublin (IIC), Michela Linda Magr\u00ec, inaugurated the exhibition The Nativity Scene: The Legacy of St Francis of Assisi through Italian Design and Irish Craftsmanship at Rathfarnham Castle in Dublin. The exhibition was organised by [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7552,"href":"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7550\/revisions\/7552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambdublino.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}