29 January 2022
Today at the Museum of Peace, President Michele Capasso and some members of the Foundation's Board of Directors and International Committee commemorated Oscar Luigi Scàlfaro on the tenth anniversary of his death.
In particular, they underlined the support of the President of the Republic Scàlfaro (December 1997) to the project of the "United States of the World" and to the action of the Foundation in favour of peace and dialogue in the Euro-Mediterranean area.
27 January 2022
As every year - in strict compliance with anti-Covid 19 regulations - the Museum of Peace held various events with school students (connected in DAD) and selected groups of visitors on the occasion of the 2022 "Day of Remembrance". In the Israel Room - inaugurated by Shimon Peres - various videos were screened, some of them unpublished, on the Shoah and the deportation of the Jews to the various concentration camps.
There was particular emotion and participation in the testimonies of Andra and Tatiana Bucci during their visit to the Museum of Peace. Their story is moving: daughters of Jewish mothers, in 1944 - when they were only 6 and 4 years old - they were deported to Auschwitz and survived.
Today Tatiana lives in Brussels, while Andra lives between the United States and Europe. On this occasion, the book "Sergio's Story" by Alessandra Viola, Andra Bucci and Tatiana Bucci was presented: the story of their Neapolitan cousin who died in the concentration camps.
27 January 2022
A great influx of links and contacts on the multimedia platform of the Museum of Peace - MAMT for the centenary of Giovanni Verga's death. President Michele Capasso, in connection with various schools and in DAD, recalled the figure of the great writer and playwright Giovanni Carmelo Verga di Fontanabianca (Catania, 2 September 1840 - Catania, 27 January 1922) who was also an Italian senator, considered the greatest exponent of the Verismo literary current.
Of noble birth, he lived in an environment of liberal traditions. He initially devoted himself to writing adventure novels, influenced by the works of his father Dumas, and later to others with a passionate theme, including Storia di una capinera, which was quite successful. He moved to Florence in 1869 and then to Milan where he frequented literary circles and met Arrigo Boito and Giuseppe Giacosa. The novella Nedda marked his conversion to Verismo, which led him to write his most complete work, I Malavoglia, in 1881. Together with Mastro-don Gesualdo in 1889, they constitute two of the most remarkable novels in Italian literature.
"Verga's new verist conception," said President Capasso, "placed the hinge of the literary work on the 'disappearance' of the author, making sure that in the narrative the facts developed on their own, as if by spontaneous necessity. Verga's language is rough and bare as a reflection of the world he represents, made up of both poor people as in I Malavoglia, and rich people as in Mastro-don Gesualdo, all of whom are in any case "defeated" in the daily struggle of life".
The writer also worked in the theatre, scripting some of his novellas, the most famous of which is Cavalleria rusticana, later set to music by Pietro Mascagni. Verga became a Senator of the Kingdom in 1920 by appointment of King Vittorio Emanuele III.
In the Museum's library - opened according to strict anti-Covid-19 rules - various Verga texts are available.
26 January 2022
A choral and convinced adhesion of the Fondazione Mediterraneo and its president Michele Capasso.
The Pope's call to pray for peace in Ukraine has not gone unheard. This evening at 7:15 p.m., there will be a video connection from the Museum of Peace with the Holy See's Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, who will preside over a special prayer for Ukraine in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, together with the Community of Sant'Egidio.
The prayer will also unite the cardinals and bishops gathered in Rome for the Permanent Council of the Italian Bishops' Conference. President Capasso, from the Don Bosco Chapel, announced that the Salesian missionaries inform that, "since the crisis in Ukraine became acute, the young people of the Salesian Oratory in Kiev have gathered in shifts of one hundred at a time for 309 evenings to recite the three Hail Marys and to share a goodnight thought in the style of Don Bosco".
17 January 2022
The "World Pizza Day" took place at the Museum in full compliance with Covid 19 regulations.
In the Museum's pizzeria, old recipes using sourdough were re-prepared, while on the large video walls on the five floors it was possible to enjoy the complete edition of the emotional video "THE BREAD AND THE ART OF THE PIZZAIUOLO".
11 January 2022
The Fondazione Mediterraneo took part in the "th International Conference on "Water, megacities and global change" (EauMega) co-organized by the Division of Water Sciences of UNESCO and ARCEAU IdF (Association Research Communities in the field of l'EAU Ile de France), in collaboration with the Métropole du Grand Paris and the Interdepartmental Syndicate for Sanitation of the Parisian Agglomeration (SIAAP) from January 11 to 14, 2022, online.
UNESCO’s Division of Water Sciences and ARCEAU-IdF (Association of the Water Professionals, Researchers, Decision Makers And Elected officials from the Paris Metropolitan Area) are co-organizing the Second International Conference on Water, Megacities and Global Change (EauMega), in collaboration with the Greater Paris Metropolis and the Greater Paris Sanitation Authority (SIAAP, Syndicat Interdépartemental pour l’Assainissement de l’Agglomération Parisienne) on 11-14 January 2022, online.
The involvement of young people is of particular significance.
The Assembly of Mayors and Governors also took place on 14 January 2022.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
- To produce a scientific and technical overview of water management in Megacities in order to identify and update the most important issues.
- To strengthen the dialogue between science and policy actors at local level.
- To activate the cooperation platform of the Megacities Alliance for Water and Climate (MAWAC) by concretizing the exchange of their expertise in the specific field of water and climate.
- To review the Strategic Global Framework of MAWAC, prepared by the Working Group of UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP).
EXPECTED OUTPUTS
- Publication of the 15 best papers in a high-level international scientific journal in open access.
- UNESCO electronic publication of the Proceedings of the conference in open-access Youth.
- Declaration and Call for Actions for water and climate change in Megacities.
In his speech, President Michele Capasso recalled the commitment of the Fondazione Mediterraneo for water since its creation in 1990 and the collaboration with UNESCO that has taken place on several occasions such as the "World Water Days".
11 January 2022
President Michele Capasso, the members of the Governing Council and of the International Scientific Committee, the heads of the Autonomous Sections of the Fondazione Mediterraneo express their deep sorrow for the death of President David Sassoli.
The Fondazione Mediterraneo is close to the family of President Sassoli, remembering the common sharing of the dream of the United States of Europe and the United States of the World.
ANNIVERSARIES AT THE MUSEUM: CELEBRATIONS FOR THE 225TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF THE TRICOLOUR FLAG
07 January 2022
This morning a large number of visitors - in strict compliance with the Covid 19 rules - and young students, especially from primary and secondary schools, connected on the multimedia platforms and social channels of the Museum of Peace - MAMT to celebrate the "225th anniversary of the birth of the tricolour flag".
Videos, images and documents - since the first presentation of the tricolour in Genoa in 1789 - involved everyone.
Many connections, in particular with the city of Reggio Emilia for the main celebrations in that city.
05 January 2022
Visitors - in accordance with Covid 19 rules - and a great influx of links and contacts on the multimedia platform of the Museum Of Peace - MAMT for the ninetieth anniversary of Umberto Eco's birth. It is no exaggeration to call him one of the greatest and most influential Italian intellectuals of the 20th century. On 5 January 2022, Umberto Eco would have been ninety years old.
"He sadly left six years ago, on 19 February 2016, leaving a devastating void in the Italian intellectual world. Because Eco was the magician of witty analysis, of constructive and sometimes irreverent commentary, of acute observation on current reality. What we miss most about him today is precisely the clarity of vision that he projected on everything, illuminating it with a new light," said Michele Capasso, President of the Fondazione Mediterraneo, who was moved to conclude his personal remembrance:
"What would Umberto Eco say about the current situation? How many rivers of words would he say about the pandemic, about the discussions that are currently inflaming public opinion? The silence that follows these questions is deafening, because most of all the reference - the lucid wisdom - that Umberto embodied through his impartial interpretation is missing. And it is precisely from the weight of this question and, above all, from the absence of his answer that we can determine how unbridgeable Eco's loss is for the current cultural world. Today we can trace his opinion through his writings, recompose it through a careful analysis of the words he spoke. We can make our own Umberto Eco's clear-sightedness, his ability to look at the world through the lens of culture; but it is certainly not the same thing'.
And President Capasso recalled Umberto Eco's immediate adhesion in 1997 to the Foundation's International Scientific Committee and his support to the Rector of the University of Bologna for the creation of the "Almamed" Network: an autonomous section of the Fondazione Mediterraneo that still brings together the main Mediterranean universities to spread values and knowledge to the new generations.
The Museum's large videowalls contain images, hyperlinks and the main texts written by Umberto Eco.
05 January 2022
The 42nd anniversary of Piersanti Mattarella's death was celebrated in the presence - in compliance with the anti-Covid 19 rules - and on the multimedia platforms of the Peace Museum.
On this occasion pages from Giovanni Grasso's book "Piersanti Mattarella. Da solo contro la mafia" and images from the programme that RAI dedicated to all its networks and newspapers.
High schools were given a description of the crime, with the subsequent investigations and the history of the trial. Above all, they were shown the human and political figure of Piersanti Mattarella through images from the Teche Rai, interviews with him and unpublished photographs.