The Founder || Michele Capasso, architect of Peace
06 May 2010
Fondazione (EN) -
Who We Are - History
Michele Capasso was born on 14th of June 1954 in Torre del Greco (Naples). When he worked as engineer-architect (1978-1994) he realized more than 500 projects in different Countries of the world.
At the beginning of the war in the former Republic of Yugoslavia - Country that he used to visit with his family since childhood – Michele Capasso was strongly struck by the slaughter of innocent victims. Therefore he decide to stop his professional activity in order to dedicate himself to helping the populations in this Country. Aiming to build dialogue and peace in the Euro–Mediterranean area, he created in 1994, together with Caterina Arcidiacono - psychoanalyst and community psychologist - the Fondazione Mediterraneo: an important Euro-Mediterranean network for dialogue between societies and cultures with its headquarter in Naples and different offices in other Euro–Mediterranean Countries.
International Institutions and men and women of culture and science from many Countries joined the Fondazione: Predrag Matvejevic', Nullo Minissi, Claudio Azzolini, Wijdan Al-Hashemi, Wassyla Tamzali, Manuel Vazquez Montalban...
The Fondazione is composed of a Scientific Council and International Committee.
Among the most important actions of Fondazione Mediterraneo are the “Maison de la Paix – Casa Universale delle Culture”, the MAMT Museum, the “Totem for Peace” and the Maison des Alliances.
The activities of Michele Capasso for dialogue and peace are described in his book “Nostro Mare Nostro”.
Michele Capasso grew up in the village of San Sebastiano al Vesuvio near Naples. His father Raffaele was the Mayor of San Sebastiano al Vesuvio for over 37 years. During that period he did a lot to rebuild the village after its destruction after the eruption of the Vesuvius on 19th March 1944.
The drive to learn more about the world and the desire to be independent from his family led him to pursue the life of photographer (1967 – 1972), gallery owner and director (1972 – 1978) and painter (1972).