In the Russian capital he will meet with Russia's Minister of Culture Mikhail Shvydkoi. The Italian Minister told RIA Novosti on the eve of his visit to Russia that book-publishing activity would dominate the talks.
"We will discuss both the publishing of the works by modern Russian authors in Italy, and the publishing of present-day Italian literature in Russia," he said.
According to Urbani, he will be accompanied by a group of Italian writers and publishers who will hold a number of meetings with their Russian counterparts in Moscow.
"We know the Russian classical literature very well but our knowledge of the modern Russian authors is very poor," the Minister said. He voiced the conjecture that Russians know modern Italian literature as little.
Mr. Urbani said that the questions of Italian-Russian cooperation in the spheres of cinema, television, theater, and exchange of arts exhibitions would also be discussed during the Moscow talks. According to him, the course of the preparation of the exhibition Italy - Russia Through Centuries, devoted to the 500th anniversary of relations between Italy and Russia, will be specifically discussed.
