THE FONDAZIONE MEDITERRANEO EXPRESSES DEEP CORDOGLY FOR THE DEATH OF ARRIGO LEVI

Rome | 24 August 2020
Parent Category: Iniziative (EN) - Category: Maison de la Paix (EN)

The president Michele Capasso, the members of the Board of Directors and the International Scientific Committee, the heads of the Autonomous Sections of the Fondazione Mediterraneo express deep condolences for the death of Arrigo Levi, one of the founding members of the institution born in Naples in 1990. In particular, the President Capasso recalls the affectionate fraternal friendship with the great journalist:
“Arrigo is facing a new journey, leaving a great void in all of us. He was above all an affectionate friend and a builder of intercultural and interreligious dialogue. Thirty years ago he enthusiastically joined the Fondazione Mediterraneo - continues Capasso - making contributions of great significance and importance. As a Councilor at the Quirinale, how can we fail to remember his brief messages, always affectionate and sincere, after sending him my notes on the occasion of the visits of the President of the Republic Ciampi to the Mediterranean countries, where our Foundation and I first of all operated. Arrigo's meetings with Predrag (Matvejevic ') are memorable: two different "agnostics". Arrigo defined himself as a "non-believer who has faith in Man", while Predrag in nothingness.
When we set up the Foundation in 1990 - immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall - Arrigo was aware (and convinced all of us on this topic) that "the balance based on mutual fear between the two blocks had disappeared": he often warned us about "a possible atomic war capable of destroying the planet ”. This is why he strongly believed in dialogue between believers and non-believers, essentially with humanists: he often repeated "I don't believe in God, but I know that the word of God has changed man!".
Many were his stories of his life. As when in 1999 he accepted the invitation to participate in the meeting in San Giovanni in Laterano for interreligious dialogue and with irony he said: "I think I am the first Jew after St. Peter to speak in this place".

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THE FOUNDATION PARTICIPATES IN THE BOLLANI CONCERT ON LAKE CAMPOSTOSTO

Lake of Campotosto | 22 August 2020
Parent Category: Iniziative (EN) - Category: Maison de la Paix (EN)

"An unforgettable evening, on the notes of 'Piano Solo', was the concert by Stefano Bollani on the waters of Lake Campotosto for the 2020 edition of the Abruzzo dal Vivo Festival".
This is the comment of president Capasso at the end of the concert.
It is the great event that the Abruzzo Region wanted to create, once again, a real focus on the territories affected by the seismic events of 2016 and 2017 which brings together the 23 municipalities of the crater led by the Municipality of Crognaleto for a project important and certainly unique for the prestige of the artist and the magical setting of the lake.
On Saturday 22nd August at 6.00 pm, sitting on the lawn, facing the lake, the public let themselves be carried away by the notes of Stefano Bollani in his “Piano Solo”. The artist performed on a floating platform on the waters of Lake Campotosto. The concert accompanied the transformation of the sky and the landscape until sunset, a unique emotion of colors and sounds between nature and music.
Stefano Bollani's great concert for Abruzzo dal Vivo marked the restart of a very hard year for the communities still marked by the earthquake, which thanks to their tenacity have never given up on enhancing and promoting their territory, a real treasure made up of places and traditions.
The Region, also thanks to the commitment of the mayors who wanted to organize a major event despite the problems related to the spread of Coronavirus, considers this event a first step to contribute to the rebirth of an entire territory as well as to the enhancement of an environmental context and naturalistic nothing short of fantastic.
Saturday 22 the municipalities of the crater all gathered in a symbolic place of the earthquake in Abruzzo, to signify the union free from the shirts and the desire to start again from these wonderful territories, rich in history and traditions exposed for the occasion in a great exhibition of typical products. 23 stands were set up in the dedicated area, one for each municipality (Crognaleto, Teramo, Barete, Cagnano Amiterno, Campli, Campotosto, Capitignano, Castelli, Castel Castagna, Civitella del Tronto, Colledara, Cortino, Isola del Gran Sasso, Fano Adriano, Farindola, Montereale, Montorio al Vomano, Pietracamela, Pizzoli, Rocca Santa Maria, Torricella Sicura, Tossicia, Valle Castellana), where it was possible for the public to stop and buy food and wine products and local crafts. A unique opportunity to retrace many territories, each with its own peculiarities and virtues.

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THE FOUNDATION PARTICIPATES IN THE CELEBRATIONS OF IGNAZIO SILONE

Pescina | 21 August 2020
Parent Category: Iniziative (EN) - Category: Maison de la Paix (EN)

The president of the Fondazione Mediterraneo spoke at the inauguration of the celebrations of Ignazio Silone and at the "Silonian literary drying rack".
Through Via delle Botteghe, where the writer's birthplace is, recently restored and close to inauguration, again through Via del Carmine where the Museum dedicated to Silone is located and then down towards the staircase, the route is June at the Fonti Vecchie, a place where Silone's tomb is located.
Along the way, it was possible to read the articles that the national and world press published on the occasion of his death and which were collected by Antonio Gasbarrini - curator - together with Annibale Gentile in the volume "Silone tra l'Abruzzo e il Mondo".
To enrich the evening, a series of other events that animated the town to the delight of visitors: Tamara Macera and Pietro Angelone, in Piazza dell’Orologio, were engaged in a series of readings with musical accompaniment; the CAI Valle del Giovenco, at 6:45 pm led the guests on a Silonian excursion; we have not forgotten the children who were involved at 9:00 pm in the review "Read me a story" which, through a series of activities, encouraged an approach to literature and theater. Then again the museum visits and the drafting of a collective story through “the suitcase of ideas”. On Saturday 22 August the program was even richer and more interesting from a cultural and artistic point of view; at 10:00 a "live painting" inspired by the splendid and painful stories woven into Silone's novels while at 16:30 another live, this time with a Silonian musical theme, enlivened the afternoon at the Cloister of the S. Francis; at 18:00 the highlight of the event: at the writer's tomb, some representatives of the Italian Red Cross, the Civil Protection and the P.T.A. they have read from Pescina - strictly without a microphone, as the writer's express will - some pages of Silone's novels. At 9.15 pm at the Silone Refuge, the Cultural Association Il Laboratorio presented a monologue, with musical accompaniment, by Lino Liulianella who recited "A dint of being wind".
President Capasso concludes: "The poignant ballad by Fabrizio De Andrè is moving: congratulations to the city of Pescina which, together with the heads of the Study Center, has made great efforts to honor the anniversary of the death of the illustrious fellow citizen; the lights do not go down and the curtain does not fall on his greatness as a writer who, like few others, was able to bet and win on the essential word and managed to make the lived experience and the local human universal”.

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THE FOUNDATION SUPPORTS THE RECOVERY OF THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF LEBANON DAMAGED BY THE EXPLOSION

Beirut | 20 August 2020
Parent Category: Iniziative (EN) - Category: Maison de la Paix (EN)

The Fondazione Mediterraneo has undertaken initiatives to recover Lebanon's cultural heritage severely damaged by the explosion in the port of Beirut.
President Capasso has started an inventory to understand the urgencies to which the interventions should be addressed.

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