On the 11 August 2023, a press release by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Italy announced the Italian government’s decision to take on the task to restore the Christian Orthodox Cathedral of Transfiguration of Odessa, the most important religious building of Ukraine’s maritime capital, severely damaged by a Russian rocket.

The Italian Government will involve in the project the Triennale Design Museum of Milan and the National Centre for the Contemporary Art MAXXI of Rome. The two institutions will provide their expertise and technical skills to carry out the restoration of the church.

Italy boasts several restoration schools and university art departments with a long record of accomplishment, which can support the recovery of building s façades of walls and frescoes damaged by the Russian bombings.

This decision is also a gesture to mark the historical tie between Odessa and Italian culture, since its foundation in 1994 by the Neapolitan nobleman José de Ribas, who attracted Southern Italian entrepreneurs, artisans, traders, ship builders and sailors to realise the new port on the Black Sea. The successor governors employed Italian architects to design the city’s plan and its most iconic buildings at the beginning of the 19^th century,

On the night of  the 23^rd of July 2023, a Russian rocket hit and severely damaged the Orthodox Cathedral of Transfiguration. The church has had a troubled history. It was first founded in 1794 together with the birth of the city, and was completed on 1808 by the city master architect Francesco Frappoli. In 1936 it was pillaged and destroyed by the Soviets, but was rebuilt in 2003 after the independence of Ukraine.