World Day of Greek Language and Culture 2026
February 9, a meeting in IULM
Strangers, barbarians, metics: how to look at the 'other', in ancient Greece and in the present day
Monday, February 9, 2026, IULM University, Milan, Sala dei 146 (IULM 6) - 10 a.m
IULM University, which has long collaborated with the Hellenic Center for Culture and the Hellenic Community of Milan, on Monday, February 9, 2026 is pleased to host the World Day of Greek Language and Culture, called by the Hellenic Parliament in 2017 and celebrated every year in all countries in which the Greek heritage has left recognizable traces.
The date, February 9, coincides with the anniversary of the death of poet Dionysios Solomos, author of theOde to Freedom, the national anthem of Hellenic Democracy. The themes of the Day change from year to year, depending on the cultural climate and socio-political situation: the celebration, in fact, is not meant to be an archaeological evocation of a glorious past, but a reminder of perennial ideas and values that innervate (and provoke) contemporary consciousness.
In 2026, the Day is dedicated to the theme of welcome and inclusion, that is, to that openness to the other that in Greek is called xenìa. A theme of searing topicality, in a world like ours, increasingly disrupted by migration, voluntary or forced, and traversed by identity claims.
The Greeks "invented" the category of "barbarian," to give ideological guise to hostility toward their historical enemies, perceived as ontologically different, and inferior. But they also knew very advanced forms of inclusion, which allowed foreigners to live safely in the polis; and the idea of xenìa, that is, of the cordial, and even affectionate, welcome to be assured to the guest knocking at the door, was deeply rooted in their thinking. All this, between the past and the present, is what Day 2026 is about: the Greek legacy, as always, helps us reflect on our own time.
The day opens with institutional greetings from the authorities and the Milan AICC delegation. This will be followed by speeches by Giovanna Rocca, Martina Treu, Andrea Nicastro, Orsola Jaselli and Giuseppe Zanetto, staged readings entrusted to the Institutes "Paolo Sarpi" of Bergamo and "Don Carlo Gnocchi" of Carate Brianza (MB) and the performance "Metamorphosis of Ego," the outcome of the workshop held by Tiziana Bergamaschi at CUT (University Theater Center) of IULM University.
Download the leaflet here
Download the program here