Italian Cultural Institute

The Italian Cultural Institute occupies a grand town house at thirty-nine Belgrave Square that was once a private residence for members of the British aristocracy, including the Earl of Albermarle. The building was designed by George Basevi, a prominent late Georgian architect who trained in the office of Sir John Soane. Basevi is famously remembered for his tragic death in eighteen forty-five after falling from the tower of Ely Cathedral, a site he was inspecting at the time. Today, the mansion functions as the official governmental center for promoting Italian language and culture in England and Wales.