The Italian Embassy is forming an opera group comprised by Tondo students of various demographics.

The vision: See Filipino youth chant Giacomo Puccini in Italy.

Italian ambassador Marco Clemente said the theater program is the third in the series of embassy projects — which started Q4 2023 — mainly to encourage impoverished youth of a place commonly perceived as the backwater.

"I want to promote your artists (Manila) as a contribution to the future of musical culture in this country. I want to give your opera singers the opportunity to perform," he said. "I want to expose young people to this (opera) and I am confident that they will love it."

The impression being that theater is exclusive elite entertainment. Clemente is resolved to change that, inspired by the same success of the Tondo "Italian Street Food Festival" that had heaped posse and interest.

The embassy had also hosted a Christmas celebration and a six-month Italian language course training with Canossa-Tondo Children's Foundation — headed by Fr. Giovanni Gentilin — through which Italy has had a decades-old link to Tondo.

For years, the embassy has provided cultural activities and scholarships to about a thousand youth from the district, some of whom were already sent to Italy.

Gentelin said this new language initiative with the embassy would not only broaden opportunities for the initial beneficiaries; it will "enrich" their understanding of another culture.

Clemente acknowledged the support of Mayor Honey Lacuna for the big projects the embassy had lined up for Manila.

"Ambassadors come and go. I want to leave a mark and inspiration so that people know that, in life, there is always hope," said the Italian envoy.  "I want to promote your artists as a contribution to the future of musical culture in this country. I want to give your opera singers the opportunity to perform."