FLORENCE – On Tuesday 18 June the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology of the University of Florence pays homage to the memory of Fosco Maraini, anthropologist, writer, photographer and professor of Japanese language and literature at the University of Florence twenty years after his death.
For the occasion, there will be a reorganization of the room that houses the collection of objects from the Ainu of Hokkaido, donated by the ethnologist and naturalist to the Museum in 1948, after the dramatic experience of the Second World War. The new Room 5, which will be enriched with previously unexhibited finds enhanced by new display lighting, houses the precious material on the Ainu, an ancient native population of the Japanese island of Hokkaido, collected in the early 1940s by Maraini.
The rector Alessandra Petrucci will participate in the presentation, with the president of the University Museum System Marco Benvenuti. Afterwards, room 1 will host a meeting dedicated to the figure of Fosco Maraini, during which Mieko Namiki, the scholar’s wife, the historian Franco Cardini and the curator of the Museum Maria Gloria Roselli will take part. The event is free and is part of the celebrations of the centenary of the University of Florence. The initiative aims to underline Fosco Maraini’s deep bond with the city of Florence and the university, where he was first a student of natural sciences and, later, a teacher for more than a decade.
