Fez — A joint Italian-Moroccan concert presented at the 2025 Fez Festival of World Sacred Music has received the “Mercurio Alato” prize, a distinction often described as the Oscar of Italian cultural diplomacy.
The award, given by Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, honors the most outstanding cultural event organized worldwide by its cultural network in a given year.
The winning performance, created in partnership by the Embassy of Italy in Morocco, the Italian Cultural Institute in Rabat, and the Esprit de Fès Foundation (Fez Spirit Foundation), brought together Italian baroque music and the Arab-Andalusian tradition on the same stage. Led by maestro Antonio Greco and Moroccan Andalusian music master Mohamed Briouel, the concert was presented as part of the 2025 edition of the festival.
A prize for the best cultural event of 2025
“Mercurio Alato” is awarded annually to the most remarkable event organized by Italy’s cultural network abroad. That network includes 88 Italian Cultural Institutes across five continents, which collectively stage thousands of events each year to promote Italian language, art, creativity, and intercultural dialogue.
In this context, the Fez concert stood out for its artistic quality and symbolic reach. The jury highlighted the strength of its message of unity, the depth of the dialogue between musical traditions, and the way it reflected the universal vocation of the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music.
The performance fused Claudio Monteverdi’s “Vespers of the Virgin” with the Andalusian repertoire, offering an encounter between two distinct, but compatible, approaches to sacred and classical music.
A celebration of Italy–Morocco cultural dialogue
Italian Ambassador to Morocco Pasquale Salzano welcomed the recognition as a sign of the strength of ties between the two countries.
“I am deeply pleased by this award, which underlines the quality of the work carried out by the Italian Cultural Institute in Rabat and the richness of the cultural dialogue between Italy and Morocco,” he said. “The concert presented in Fez united musical traditions which, although different, share the same spirit of openness and search for harmony. This prize shows the strength of cultural cooperation between our two countries and encourages us to continue projects that bring societies closer and highlight our shared heritage.”
For the Spirit of Fez Foundation, which organizes the festival, the prize is also an international acknowledgment of Fez as a meeting point for spiritual and artistic traditions.
“This distinction from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs honors us and marks the international recognition of the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music, an event that promotes a spirit of tolerance and peace,” said Abderrafie Zouitene, President of the foundation.
Bab El Makina as a shared stage
The concert took place at Bab El Makina, one of the festival’s emblematic venues. Italian Cultural Institute Director Carmela Callea underlined how the setting and the program combined to create an exceptional moment.
“I am particularly honored by this prize awarded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and RAI to this exceptional fusion, which combined two different artistic genres, the ‘Vespers of the Virgin’ by Claudio Monteverdi and Andalusian music,” she said. “This fusion took place in a magnificent site, Bab El Makina, as part of a festival dedicated to sacred music that brings cultures closer and supports intercultural dialogue.”
The award once again highlights the role of Fez as a historic crossroads of spiritual encounters, and of the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music, founded in 1994, as a long-running platform for fruitful dialogue between cultures and religions.
By honoring a concert that united Italian baroque and Moroccan Andalusian traditions, “Mercurio Alato 2025” also reinforces a broader message: that cultural diplomacy can be carried by musicians as much as by diplomats, and that shared stages often speak more clearly than official speeches.
