ABSTRACT
In 1938 the Italian community of Alexandria officially presented the city with a gift to celebrate the close relationship that existed between Italy and Egypt. The gift, a statue of the Khedive Ismaʿil, specifically commemorated the state visit of his son, King Fu’ad, to Italy in 1927-the first official trip of his reign.1 The installation of the statue affected a repatriation of sorts for the exiled ruler-after Isma’il was deposed in 1879 he initially settled in Italy.2 The Italian community of Alexandria had a particular fondness for Ismaʿil and his Italian-educated son, Fu’ad. Although Ismaʿil’s grand vision for the reconstruction of Cairo was inspired by Haussmann’s Paris, the Khedive showed a particular taste for Italian arts during his reign. He hired Italian architects and he commissioned an opera by Giuseppe Verdi to mark the opening of the Opera House during the celebrations that inaugurated the Suez Canal in 1869. Although the commissioned work, Aida, famously did not premiere in Cairo at the inauguration, the first performance featured another Verdi opera, Rigoletto.3
