Speech of Prime Minister Rama at the opening of the exhibition “Three plans for Tirana” at the Prime Minister’s Office hall:

“Thank you for being here!  I have had the opportunity to see not few ambassadors who, when they came in Albania, were unsure whether they would have a happy or a boring time. I have never seen an ambassador being happy for leaving Albania, and recently we are seeing more and more ambassadors who, after they’ve left, either they try always to come back or come back any time they are given the chance.

I want to greet ambassador Bova who cannot make his farewell to Albania, which is a sure indicator that the slogan ambassador Gaiani and I have agreed to use to convince Italians to come to Albania is the right one: “Albania is the country where there is always no way but to come back”. The only problem is the first contact, for all the rest comes naturally.

I want to thank the group of Italian architects who with a lot of commitment and dedication started this not easy imitative, as it was about carefully collecting all the plans and projects, with molds that were not found in a single place and which are testimony of an old and unique link to Italy, but also to Europe, because until recently Italy for us was Europe and other parts of it seemed far away to us. When we thought of Italy, or watch the Italian television, or when we dreamed how life could turn and throw us across the sea, we would always link Italy to Europe.

Of course, the objects and images shown here are not enough to provide a comprehensive understanding of what has happened between Italy and Albania in this field, in the two glorious decades of city planning and architecture in Albania, which practically defined the boundary between a territory up there, defined mostly by the items left behind in the period of Ottoman occupation, and a territory that began being redefined with the aim of returning it to an area of the European architectural and urban culture.

Many thanks to Ambassador Gaiani and all those who contributed to this fascinating exhibition will remain open to the public. I remain hopeful that the Italian presidency of the EC with PM Renzi himself will come and visit these premises. The only thing that is not yet clear is whether he will spend New Year’s Eve  here or will go back to Rome.

Thank you!

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“Three plans for Tirana” is a new exhibition opened in the central hall of the Prime Minister’s Office this evening.

The exhibition, which was held under the auspices of Prime Minister Rama in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Tirana, opened during the week dedicated to the Italian culture and the Italian architectural and urban heritage in Albania, in the years 1925-1943.

Buildings by architects such as Brasini, Morpurgo, Di Fausto and Bosio were presented in the exhibition through different templates and pictures of Tirana’s adjustment plans of those years. This exhibition, which is extended not only in time but in the geography of the capital city, will remain open to the public for some days.

Italian Ambassador to our country, Massimo Gaiani, besides thanking the Prime Minister for his personal commitment in organizing this event, said that the aim of this exhibition was to introduce to the Albanian public and especially to Tirana residents the colossal work by Italian architects to give Tirana the look of a European city.

Earlier, at the reception organized by representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in our country, while inviting them to visit the exhibition, Prime Minister Rama said that “this is an exhibition that speaks clearly about a concrete cooperation between Albania and Italy, between Albanians and Europe when the EU did not exist; and its speaks clearly about the total European belonging of the Albanians, either as a dream or as a concrete effort.”