It’s perhaps a pipe dream, even a “crazy idea,” Italy Ambassador Marco Clemente acknowledges as much, but he remains optimistic that his vision for the Philippines to one day have its own opera house is not a lost cause.
“I’m retiring in June, but my mission is to keep doing this,” he told editors of Inquirer during a recent visit to this paper’s offices in Makati City. He describes it as his “humble contribution to revive high culture.”
The diplomat has been unrelenting in his opera awareness cause, and his final act before he ends his tenure in the Philippines may just be the most daring yet: The Italian Embassy in Manila is bringing a Giacomo Puccini opera to a young audience in a parish in Tondo—a “social experiment,” he called it.
“Why don’t we give the future generation the chance to see how beautiful it is, to keep them off Tiktok and Instagram?” he asked rhetorically.
Opera is the traditional form of sung theater that originated in Italy in the 1600s, and Clemente is a devout fan. He believes that promoting opera is not just boosting appreciation for this musical art but also promoting the Italian language.
Clemente said he doesn’t drink wine, perhaps an anomaly for an Italian, but he does love the opera and football. “I think those make me very Italian,” he said with a grin.
“The best thing that ever happened in my life was when I started to love opera at age 15. I don’t need Prozac; I don’t need medicines for depression. Every time I’m sad, there is a good friend that makes me happy. I want the same thing for young people.”
‘For the kids’
The Italian embassy, which marked the 75th anniversary of its bilateral ties with the Philippines in 2023, is supporting a double-bill Puccini opera performances at the Hyundai Hall at Areté in Ateneo de Manila University next weekend. But Clemente said the embassy chose to bring the opera to the Tondo youth, instead of inviting them to the Ateneo, because they didn’t want the youngsters to feel intimidated.
The Tondo performance of Puccini’s one-act “Gianni Schicchi” on March 23 will be held on the grounds of San Pablo Apostol Parish Newland on Velasquez Street. This year marks the centenary of the passing of the Italian composer’s death, which the embassy is commemorating.
The one-act “Gianni Schicchi” was chosen for its light, comical plot that anyone, even those who don’t know a word of Italian, will understand, the envoy explained. “O Mio Babbino Caro” is its famous aria. (An actor will explain the plot to the audience, as the envoy vetoed the idea of using subtitles. “Distracting,” he said.)
“Gianni Schicchi,” he added, is the perfect opera for beginners.
Clemente knew that the project is a “big risk,” but “we do it for the kids, for their benefit, to entertain them … Who cares if it’s ‘elitist’?”
This is not the first time that Clemente has invited young Filipinos to an opera performance. In December 2022, with help from Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte, he brought busloads of high schoolers to a dress rehearsal of “Turandot,” another Puccini opera, the last show at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) before it closed for renovations.
Seeing the youngsters’ reaction to the performance was the “most moving experience of my life,” Clemente said.
But the likes of the CCP and Areté are just “normal theaters,” he noted, adding that the country should have its own opera house. Businessmen friends have told him “it’s a crazy idea, as it’s too expensive and nobody’s interested.” But if it ever comes to fruition, yes, he wants it to be the legacy of his Manila posting.
Final posting
Clemente, 64, arrived in the Philippines almost two-and-a-half years ago. He has been posted all over—Australia, Venezuela, South Africa, Armenia, Vienna, Estonia, among others—and Manila is his final posting before returning to his native Rome.
“I will miss the people,” he said. “You are much warmer and more welcoming than Italians. Your welcoming nature, we’re not used to that.”
He added, “On my first day at the office, I was surprised with the beautiful atmosphere. The staff were friends. And I realized, this is the way you are. You have bayanihan. That’s why you are happy because you know you’re never alone. If something happens, you know that someone will be there for you—friends, relatives, colleagues. In Europe we can be very alone. I guess this is something that you take for granted, but it’s good that you’re never alone.
“I tell my Filipino friends, ‘You won me over because you taught me how to be kind.’”
Throughout his visits around the country, his favorite places were the beaches of Palawan and Boracay, and the Cordillera and its Banaue Rice Terraces. “I loved Iloilo, that was a big surprise,” he added.
For Filipinos who plan to visit his country, he suggested destinations in the southern part of Italy, like the region of Apulia and the islands of Sardinia and Sicily, as well as the cities of Naples and Matera.
Go in the summer, in June or July, he said. But weather-wise, it is mild even in winter down south, he added. “Travel by car. You’ll find good food, and in a little church you might see a Caravaggio.”
One can most certainly guess what he plans to do in retirement. “You know the answer already,” he said with a laugh. “I haven’t had much opera here, there was a crisis of abstinence.”