A cultural programme based on readings with authors, film screenings, live performances. A great moment of celebration, reflection and debate, on Europe and its values.
THURSDAY 4th APRIL 2024
15:30 › 17:00 • Readings with authors › Claudio Sardo "David Sassoli, La saggezza e l'audacia. Discorsi per l'Italia e per l'Europa, Feltrinelli Editore, 2023" [free entrance]
Author Profile: David Maria Sassoli (1956-2022) was the President of the European Parliament from 2019 until the day he passed away. After a long journalistic career, which led him to the hosting and deputy management of Tg1 (an important news program here in Italy), in 2009 he became MEP for the Democratic Party. After his first mandate, in 2014, the Strasbourg Assembly elected him Vice-President and then, in 2019, President.
Curator Profile: Claudio Sardo. Italian journalist. He started his journalistic career at the daily Paese Sera. He was editor of Azione sociale (weekly magazine of the ACLI, Christian Associations of Italian Workers). A parliamentary reporter for Agenzia Asca, then Il Mattino di Napoli, then Il Messaggero, he was elected secretary of the Parliamentary Press Association in 2006, a position he held until 2011. He was editor of L'Unità from 2011 to 2013. He has published several essays on social Christianity and is the author (with Miguel Gotor) of a book-interview with Pier Luigi Bersani. He currently works at the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic in charge of studies and research.
Book Profile: “The Green Deal, the digital transition, a stronger and more democratic Europe, and greater social justice are essential far-reaching projects that Europe is carrying out, and we must succeed out of loyalty to our fellow citizens. But Europe, also and above all, needs a new project of hope, a project that unites us, a project that can embody our Union, our values and our civilisation, a project that is obvious and clear to all Europeans and that lets us unite. I believe that this project can be built around three sting axes, a tripe desire for Europe that is unanimously shared by all Europeans: that of an innovative Europe, a protective Europe and a Europe that is a beacon.”
There are different ideas of Europe. The collection of speeches by David Sassoli during his presidency of the European Parliament shows us a path: we need innovation, not only in technology but in institutions, in policies, in lifestyles and in our being a community. The ecological transition, of which Europe can be the driving force in the world, will only be possible if true social equity is ensured. To achieve this it is necessary to acknowledge the people are the core,the protection of rights, respect for differences and plurality. And, together, the pride in the European democratic model. This is the meaning of Sassoli’s legacy: the turning point in economic and social policies that Europe was capable of dealing with during the terrible pandemic can become an example for the times to come. Despite conflicts and difficulties, the principles of solidarity and the search for sustainable development prevailed over the strict lines that had produced regressive policies. But now new crises and imbalances are before us: to face them, Europe must avoid taking steps backwards. European citizens will feel that they belong in Europe if its model of democracy, freedom and prosperity is strengthened and is able to spread, even beyond our borders. “We are immersed in periodical transformations which, to be governed, require new ideas, and the courage to combine great wisdom and maximum audacity.”
Introduced and moderated by: Alessio Falavena - Journalist of FILO Magazine
17:00 › 18:30 • Readings with authors › Francesco Giubilei "L'Europa dei Conservatori" [free entrance]
Author profile: Francesco Giubilei, a young editor and writer, founded the Historica publishing house in 2008, Giubilei Regnani Editore in 2013. Since 2015, he has been teaching at the Herzog Literary Agency Publishing Course in Rome and Milan. In 2017, he founded the magazine 'Nazione Futura', from the 2017-2018 academic year he is a contract professor at the Giustino Fortunato University of Benevento. He is president of the Tatarella Foundation and 'Nazione Futura', writes for 'Il Giornale' and is on the editorial board of 'The European Conservative' magazine. A former advisor to the Minister of Culture and member of the Italian government's Scientific Committee on the Future of Europe, he is a contract professor at the Giustino Fortunato University in Benevento. He has written ten books that have been translated in the United States, Spain and Hungary.
Publication details: A revolution of conservatives is needed to change this European Union, defending our identity and realising a Europe of nations. With this in mind, we are launching a special issue of Nazione Futura edited by Francesco Giubilei, entitled 'The Europe of Conservatives'. Within this monograph, we will analyse conservatism in the various European nations with contributions from figures such as Robert Scruton, Novalis on Europe and Christianity, the Regensburg Discourse and Benedetto Croce. We will explore historical figures connected to the conservative world, and it will be a time to explore current issues concerning European conservatism.
Introduced and moderated by: Federico Di Bisceglie - Journalist of the "Resto del Carlino - Ferrara"
18:30 › 19:30 • European short films screening › Selection curated by Ferrara Film Corto Festival "Ambiente è Musica" [included in the participation fee › participate]
An exclusive screening of European short films, mainly with environmental themes, from the last three editions of the international Ferrara Film Corto Festival 'Ambiente è Musica'.
• Farfalle (Marco Pattarozzi, Italy, 20 min.)
• Who wants to live forever (Matteo Valenti, Italy, 5 min.)
• Space Woman ( Hadi Moussally, France, 20 min.)
• The end of the world (Stefano Cinti, Belgium, 5 min.)
• Monkey domino (Ulf Grenzer, Germany, 5 min.)
21:00 • Show › Coppelia Project • Compagnia blucinQue [purchase]
A mechanical doll and illusion, an off-axis body, hanging and defenceless, like a puppet that seeks a way to identify with itself and at the same time to free itself: with this work by choreographer Caterina Mochi Sismondi, Coppelia Project brings the focus back to the theme of identity, of the mask that each of us wears, and of the woman seen in her fragility but also in her strength, thanks to the different roles she is able to play. Inspired by the ballet Coppelia - The Girl with the Enamel Eyes, the dancer and acrobat Elisa Mutto, together with the performers Michelangelo Merlanti, Filippo Vivi, and Vladimir Ježić bring to the stage this new company creation, in which techniques of classical and contemporary dance, of contortion and capillary suspension are combined and harmonised, and mixes to emphasise the body and its fragmentation. The music, based on notes by Delibes, is by musician Bea Zanin and reproposes themes from the ballet, with interference from electronics and cello.
CREDITS
conception and movement score Caterina Mochi Sismondi
performance Elisa Mutto, Michelangelo Merlanti, Vladimir Ježić, Carlos Rodrigo Parra Zavala, Filippo Vivi
rigging Michelangelo Merlanti
original music from the ballet Coppélia - Léo Delibes
live music and electronics Beatrice Zanin
lighting direction Massimo Vesco
photos Andrea Macchia
production Centre blucinQue/Nice
in collaboration with Cirko Vertigo Foundation
[ Duration of the performance: 50 minutes ]
FRIDAY 5th APRIL 2024
12:00 › 13:30 • Readings with authors › Lisa Iotti "8 secondi. Viaggio nell'era della distrazione, Il Saggiatore, 2020" [free entrance]
Author Profile: Lisa Iotti is a journalist and author of docufiction for Rai Tre and Sky. She has collaborated with the program Exit and monthly FQ Millenium and is a correspondent for the investigative program Presadiretta, whose episode “Iperconnessi” won the Goffredo Parise award for reportage.
Book Profile: Before you finish reading this text you will have gotten distracted at least a few times. You have probably already forgotten the title of the book you are holding or the name of its author. Maybe you stopped reading to answer a message from your friend or check the social media appreciation of one of your posts or photos. In any case, it is almost certain that you have a smartphone in your hand and that your gaze is already moving away from these lines. Welcome to the age of endless distraction. But how is it possible that our attention has become less than that of a goldfish? And is it true that facebook likes stimulate the same areas activated by drug use? How does the presence of a smartphone nearby affect our cognitive abilities? Is social media changing the structure of our brain? Lisa Iotti guides us into the world of hyperconnection. It is an intimate and shocking journey into the dark side of the digital revolution, through obsessions, dangers and fears that characterise our contemporary world: from the laboratories where research is carried out on the behaviour of our neural networks during the use of apps, to the rooms in which possible postural transformations due to the use of smartphones are studied; from centres to treat psychological cell phone addictions, to retreats where you can detox from your phones thanks to meditation; from meetings with some of the most important scholars of the mind, to those with Silicon Valley repentance, who have now become prophets of disconnection from social media and devices. Between reportage and personal narration, 8 seconds is a work that arises from the need to find answers to our anxieties and which ends up opening us up to new questions and new scenarios. A rabbit hole at the end of which we can discover what kind of human being we have become and, above all, what awaits us in our near future.
Introduced and moderated by: Barbara Reverberi - Kind mentor and freelance coach
17:00 › 18:30 • Readings with authors › Gianandrea Gaiani "Quanto inciderà l’attuale aspetto geopolitico sulle nuove generazioni?" [free entrance]
Author profile: Gianandrea Gaiani, a journalist from Bologna with a degree in Contemporary History, has been working for 35 years on defence, security, conflict studies and reporting from the Balkan, African, Middle Eastern and Central Asian war fronts. Editor of the web-magazine Analisi Difesa, he has written for newspapers and periodicals and is a columnist for several radio and television stations. Author or co-author of a dozen books, he lectures at military training institutes and universities and is a member of the Italian Society of Military History.
Introduced and moderated by: Stefano Cavedagna - Adviser on EU policies and legal regulation under public law
16:30 › 18:00 • Readings with authors › Edoardo Vigna "Europa. La meglio gioventù, Neri Pozza, 2019" [free entrance] [ EVENT CANCELLED DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES ]
Author Profile: Edoardo Vigna has been working at Corriere della Sera for 24 years, is editor-in-chief in the editorial team of 7 for which has written reports, investigations, interviews, and cover stories over the last 15 years. Today he is the owner of the weekly column entitled Leadership. On correiere.it he is the author of the globalist.com blog. With his colleague Enrico Marro, he wrote Sette mesi di Berlusconi, an x-ray of the first government experience of the founder of Forza Italia. He is a tutor at the Master’s in Journalism at the Walter Tobagi School of the University of Milan.
Book Profile: This is a journey into Europe and into young Europeans - into their dreams, their fears, their life without borders - started from the desire to see and understand what is changing. It has become an authentic encounter with a generation. In pubs, in schools and universities, on public transport, in urban parks, in clubs,at private parties, at work. Ten cities - BErlin, Riga, Seville, Dublin, Copenhagen, Athens, Prague, Warsaw, Stockholm, Strasbourg. The key words, one for each city: Street, Independence, Measure, Talent, Happiness, Change, Making do, Sharing, Technology, Openness. A thousand young people interviewed between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five: the Italian student who won a French rhetoric competition in Strasbourg, the twenty-year-old from Dublin who organises the life and work of startuppers, the violinist from Prague who dreams big by playing on Carlo Bridge, the Athenian graffiti artist who wants to leave his mark on the city walls,, the Berlin lobbyist who sells scarves and hats she makes in street markets… What emerges is the portrait of a talented European youth who, despite everything, firmly believes in a future without limits or barriers.
Introduced and moderated by: Alexandra Storari - Erasmus+ Projects Management Expert
18:00 › 19:30 • Readings with authors › Elisabetta Gualmini "Mamma Europa. Una nuova Unione dopo crisi e scandali, Il Mulino, 2023" [free entrance]
Author Profile: Elisabetta Gualmini is full professor of Political Science at the University of Bologna, and since 2019 a Member of the European Parliament. In the last legislature she was vice president of the Emilia-Romagna Region. She was also President of the Cattaneo Institute. She has written numerous books and essays on Italian and European politics and public policies.
Book Profile: “After the Brussels scandal, it will no longer be possible to say that nothing is happening in Europe, that it is not worth committing to it. Lots has happened since May 2019: the wound of Brexit, the pandemic, the war, corruption. And Europe has only been able to do one thing: profoundly transform, and finally reach out to its citizens.”
When promises of the European project seemed to have run out under the axe of the growing success of populist parties, the dramatic crises of the pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine, and the internal landslide caused by a serious episode of corruption, gave arise, albeit amidst difficulties and contradictions, a new centricity to the European Union. After years in which the Union was perceived as a supranational body led by cold bureaucrats, interested only in imposing austerity measures to balance national budgets, what emerges from the crises is on the contrary a completely new Europe, where solidarity, social protection and environmental sustainability are the dominant goals. The rules of the game have changed following the pandemic: the Stability and Growth Pact has been suspended, Europe has rediscovered a role in the field of international relations and we have begun to talk about a Europe of defence and energy. Elisabetta Gualmini, from her privileged observation point, sees that the dream of a Europe as a community of destinies, put in danger in the years of sovereignist and nationalist drunkenness and by corruption in the Institution, has not yet been shattered, and that on the contrary Europe, with its antibodies, can be reborn from its ashes: no longer stepmother but mother.
Introduced and moderated by: Marco Carlone - Journalist of Sphera Network
18:30 › 19:30 • European short films screening › Selection curated by Ferrara Film Corto Festival "Ambiente è Musica" [included in the participation fee › participate]
An exclusive screening of European short films, mainly with environmental themes, from the last three editions of the international Ferrara Film Corto Festival 'Ambiente è Musica'.
• Varmints (Marc Craste, United Kingdom, 24 min.)
• Heartquakes (Niccolò Donatini, Italy, 3 min.)
• Our world is on fire (Rainer Bartesch, Germany, 24 min.)
• Through the motions (C. Lohr, M. Ashman, United Kingdom, 14 min.)
21:00 • Show › Vladimir Olshansky "Art De La Joie" French Compagnie Théâtrale presents › "THE LAUGHTER — investigation of an identity" [purchase]
Few know what clowning is, the art of clowning. What is a clown? A clown is not a carnival mask, which can be worn by anyone who wishes. The clown is an actor with a strong comic talent, with the impulse to devote himself to developing this gift throughout their life. The art of clowning is anything but an easy art. It is very common that the clown is also the author and the playwright of his repertoire. Today it is possible to see a wide spectrum of this art, from the simple entrance into the ring of a circus, to the heights of philosophy and poetry. It is the art of pantomime that gives greater freedom of action, not forcing the actor to relate to the stage apparatus: in fact the clown can create their own world using their own imagination and that of the spectators. Even the inner world of the individual, their problems, their psychology, can be the source of some sketches: the common person dealing with an unusually large and complicated world. Are you ready? Then let’s get started.
[ Duration of the performance: 70 minutes ]
SATURDAY 6th APRIL 2024
17:30 › 18:30 • Readings with authors › Gianni Cuperlo "Rinascimento europeo, Il Saggiatore, 2022" [free entrance]
Author Profile: Gianni Cuperlo was a deputy of the Democratic Party. He published Par Condicio. Storia e futuro della politica in televisione (2004) for the publisher Donzelli, Sinistra, e poi. Come uscire dall'inverno del nostro scontento (2017) and In viaggio. La sinistra verso nuove terre (2018). Fazi published his book Basta zercar. Sinistra, traslochi, Partito Democratic0 (2009).
Book Profile: What is Europe? It’s a dream born during imprisonment on an island, at a time when no hope seemed possible. It’s a wall knocked down by a cheering crowd that melts into an embrace that has been awaited for thirty long years. It’s a generation of young activists who fill the squares, animated by the desire to give a future to our plant. But Europe is also the Brexit vote. It’s the affirmation of movements guided by values opposed to the idea of a peaceful communion born from the rubble of the conflict. It is the construction of barriers where there have been none for decades. It’s the body of a child who died at sea while trying to reach our shores. Gianni Cuperlo makes his way through this tangle in search of a different, vital vision of Europe: his is a passionate story that starts from the roots of our shared history and, through Charlemagne, Erasmus, Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Mazzini and other great thinkers, manages to identify a perspective for the near future, a constructive horizon; a new European Renaissance. Cuperlo’s is a wide ranging narrative, which page after page builds bridges and comparisons between the present and the past, between moments of cohesion and the darkest pages: the Maastricht agreement and the Greek crisis, the meetings in Trieste between Svevo and Joyce and the relationship between Brecht and Strehler, Hobbes’s pessimism and Greta Thunbergs’s battle, Emilio Lussu’s 151st Sassari and the conduct of western troops in the Balkan wars, the Orient Express which crossed the territories of half the continent and the assassination of Giulio Regeni in Cairo. European Renaissance is a book of thought and action. A thoughtful reflection on the nature and path of a united Europe which also aims to be an intervention: an invitation addressed primarily to the left, to take back the reins of this exciting and contradictory adventure to lead it towards a tomorrow of welcome, progress and equality. Because, as anyone who travels across deserts knows, every destination is only a mirage until you actually manage to reach it.
Introduced and moderated by: Giorgio Papavero - Journalist of FILO Magazine
12:00 › 13:30 • Readings with authors › Giacomo Natali "Geopolitica pop. Conflitti, simboli e identità dal K-pop a Masha e Orso, Treccani Libri, Visioni, 2023" [free entrance]
"Are there commonalities, in the mechanism that determines international balances, between Chinese investments in American superhero movies, the Red Cross' calls for the establishment of virtual international criminal tribunals within war video games, and the way cooking shows spread national stereotypes and thus our mental representations of the different?" Giacomo Natali
Author's profile: Giacomo Natali is a writer and analyst of communication and geopolitics and deals in particular with the cultural and symbolic aspects of international conflicts. He collaborates with the Treccani Institute and several Italian universities and writes for various newspapers, including 'Il Tascabile', 'Atlante Treccani', 'Internazionale', 'L'Essenziale', 'Limes' and 'Rolling Stone'. He has published essays, articles and fiction and has participated in documentaries, comics, performances and radio programmes in Italy and abroad. His latest book, Capire l'Eurovision, tra musica e geopolitica, was published by Vololibero in 2022.
Book details: From the spread of Turkish telenovelas to the relationship between Peppa Pig and the Brexit, from the impact of Eurovision on the Ukrainian conflict to the impact of the military service of K-pop group members on the atomic balance between the two Koreas, this book reveals, by examining apparently superficial topics, how we often fail to notice the geopolitical aspects of our daily media consumption. Analysing a different cultural phenomenon in each chapter, covering all continents, the author brings to light the connections between popular culture and international balances through the telling of surprising stories. His manifestly multidisciplinary approach draws from semiotics, sociology and cultural studies, but also from the roots of geopolitical discourse, international relations, human geography and strategic studies. The aim is twofold: to provide a wide audience with new tools to better understand what is happening in the world, and at the same time to contribute to better define the outlines of a field of study that has been enjoying increasing consideration outside Italy for some years now, that of popular geopolitics or pop geopolitics.
Introduced and moderated by: Alexandra Tyan - Journalist of Sphera Network
16:30 › 18:00 • Reading with authors › Mariuccia Salvati "Solidarietà, con testi di Marcello Flores e Wlodel Goldkorn, Treccani Libri, 2023" [free entrance]
Author profile: Mariuccia Salvati was professor of Contemporary History at the University of Bologna from 1975 to 2013. For Treccani she edited in 2015, together with Loredana Sciolla, the 4-volume work 'L'Italia e le sue regioni. The Republican Age'. In 2017 he published for Carocci the volume 'Passaggi. Italiani dal fascismo alla Repubblica' (Italians from Fascism to the Republic), and then directed with Pietro Costa, again for Carocci, the series 'La Costituzione. I principi fondamentali', for which she is the author of the monograph on Article 4.
Book Details: The word 'solidarity' emerged at the end of the 19th century in the sociological sphere but has also had important developments in the historical, religious and philosophical-legal fields in the past. The essays collected in this volume on the subject of the close links - over the last two centuries - between Europe and solidarity highlight, precisely, the progress made not only in the process of economic integration, but also in the legal-constitutional field. The underlying conviction is that Europe has gradually recognised itself at the test of the inclusion of ever larger swathes of its citizens and that, since the second half of the 20th century, the recognition of more and more (human and social) rights has been fundamental. Today, solidarity is seen as an increasingly necessary value, not only because it delineates a well-defined European field, but also because it contains within itself the wish, in the name of the common ideal, for a future without oppositions and borders.
Introduced and moderated by: Sara Sanzi - Author and radio presenter for Rai Radio3
18:30 › 19:30 • European short films screening › Selection curated by Ferrara Film Corto Festival "Ambiente è Musica" [included in the participation fee › participate]
An exclusive screening of European short films, mainly with environmental themes, from the last three editions of the international Ferrara Film Corto Festival 'Ambiente è Musica'.
• Ape regina (Nicola Sorcinelli, Italy, 14 min.)
• The location manager (Andreas Graf, Greece, 22 min.)
• La petit folie (Massimo Zannoni, United Kingdom, 13 min.)
• Fossil (Michael Moppert, Switzerland, 11 min.)
21:00 • Concert › LaFil • Filarmonica di Milano [purchase]
In the first part you will hear Maurice Ravel's Introduction et allegro for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet, composed in 1905 and dedicated to Albert Blondel, an example of the charm and elegance of early 20th century French music. Next, the flute takes centre stage with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Quartet in D major for flute and strings K285 from the series composed for the Dutchman De Jean in Mannheim. Finally, Luciano Berio's famous Folk Songs written for the singer Cathy Berberian. Eleven folk songs from the oral tradition of different countries: Italy, France, Armenia, the United States and Azerbaijan.
Maurice Ravel
Introduction et allegro
Elena Gorna, harp
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Quartet for Flute and Strings No. 1 in D major, K 285
Mattia Petrilli, flute
Luciano Berio
Folk Songs
Ljuba Bergamelli, mezzo-soprano
FROM THURSDAY 4th TO SATURDAY 6th
Nature photography exhibitions › "European Nature Moments" / "Un Po di bianco e nero" — Photographies by Milko Marchetti • Curated by Studio Archeo900 [free entrance]
EUROPEAN NATURE MOMENTS › The photographer is the one who is able to stop time, to make it eternal. In a shot a moment is fixed, a moment of life, a tiny, fleeting fraction of time that will never return, that only in a photo will live on forever. Images of the life of Nature that surrounds us, to make a dynamism static, to "stop" a run or a flight, to transmit the energy, the movement of that instant, that the eye cannot perceive but that the camera is able to capture.
UN PO DI BIANCO E NERO › The Po Delta, Italy's largest and most important wetland area (recognised by Unesco as a World Heritage Site since 1999), is an environment rich in biodiversity where man and nature coexist, where land and water merge, where light and fog, colours, blacks and whites, contrasts and shadows, sounds and smells have always coexisted, making it unique. Milko Marchetti's Po Delta is like this: lived and painted in a heap of infinite shades of grey, from the cleanest white to the deepest black.
Milko Marchetti - Photographer and videomaker, from Ferrara, class of 1968. In over 30 years of activity he has built up an archive of over 1,200,000 images and 25,000 video clips. He collaborates with the Emilia-Romagna Region, the Po Delta Park, Delta2000, REM. He has published photos on covers and interiors in several national and international periodicals.
He is for the 12th consecutive time winner of the Nature Photography World Cup; AFI (ARTISTA DELLA FOTOGRAFIA ITALIANA); QIP (QUALIFIED ITALIAN PHOTOGRAPHER), first Italian photographer for the Nature sector; QEP (QUALIFIED EUROPEAN PHOTOGRAPHER), first Italian photographer for the Wildlife sector. He is Gitzo Pioneer and brand partner of Manfrotto, Lowepro and Joby. He has been organising nature photography workshops in Italy and worldwide since 2000.