ROME – Held at the beautiful Bulgarian Embassy building in the Montiparioli district of the Eternal City, the second edition of the ‘Freetime Award – People of the Year Excellence,' was attended by the president of the Mediterranean Journalists Association, Dundar Kesapli and a constellation of fashion designers and celebrities.

 Conceived and organised by Antonella Ferrari, director for 15 years of the Freetime Excellence Lifestyle Magazine, the award ceremony -- to celebrate the greatest names from various cultural categories -- followed on from the ninth edition of the ‘Sofia meets Rome’ event, an exhibition in which Rome and the Bulgarian capital collaborate to promote their mutual passion for cinema, literature, fashion and design.

 The fashion show this year boasted the new design collection ‘I Giardini di Roma’, inspired by the excellence of Sofia Borisova. The vision behind the project is part of a wider cultural initiative, bringing together various art forms and recognising a range of renowned figures in diverse industries to rejoice in the culture of both Italy and Bulgaria.

 Various illustrious names received awards -- for fashion, Stefano Dominella, president of Gattinoni, whilst for sport, the Ferrari pilot and president of the Ferrari Red Passion club, Fabio Barone was awarded a prize. For the web, Janet De Nardis, for fiction, Marina Tagliaferri, for music, Stelvio Cipriani, for health, Francesco Bove and finally the award for beauty went to Elena Aceto di Capriglia.

 The event is sponsored by the municipality of Sofia, Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Italy and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria. The committee is chaired by Adele Mazzotta Lax, who represents a team consisting of Fatima Matcha, Emma Rossi Bernardi, Irene Bozzi, Sonia Giglietti and Giuliana Dantuono, who presented the respective awards.

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