Italy’s cultural heritage is certainly among the most evident signs of the deep connection between citizens and their territory. Artistic expression has always embodied one of the most genuine manifestations of our identity. This vital energy has contributed significantly to the progress of our society, thanks to its ability to make us imagine new worlds that are possible, new goals and new horizons to explore.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the official inauguration of the extraordinary year of Pesaro Italian Capital of Culture 2024, of which our Group is a proud gold partner, was a community celebration, evidenced by the 8,000 people who packed the stands of the Vitrifrigo Arena on Saturday, January 20. The crowd included 2,000 students from 15 schools from the province, more than 200 journalists from home and abroad, and approximately 300 volunteers. These volunteers have already agreed to contribute by helping to put on a packed calendar of shows, exhibitions, concerts and other initiatives destined to enliven the city and the municipalities of Marche throughout the year.
The sold-out show had a various audience that participated enthusiastically in the celebration, which opened to the notes of the Italian and the European anthem performed by the Olimpia Orchestra, and all-female ensemble. The evening culminated with thunderous applause for the speech given by Italian President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. It was an event in which Institutions, businesses, citizens, music, video art, tradition, science and entertainment all came together to symbolize the unifying and universal power of culture.
Not by chance, the theme “The nature of Culture” was chosen to summarize the mission of Pesaro 2024. The aim is to explore the relationships between nature, sustainability, art and technology, all elements on which the main challenges of present-day humankind are centered.
These values perfectly reflect our Group’s commitment, as demonstrated by the participation in the ceremony of Riccardo Amoroso, Apennine Area Territorial Manager, Gaetano Evangelisti, Head of Associations and Stakeholders, and Emiliano Maratea, Head of Apennine Area Institutional Affairs.
This mission was evoked countless times by the various representatives of the institutions who took turns on stage, from Mayor of Pesaro Matteo Ricci to President of the Marche Region Francesco Acquaroli, to Deputy Mayor and Councilor for Beauty Daniele Vimini, to Italian Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, and finally Pesaro 2024 Creative Director Agostino Riitano. All the speeches focused on the fundamental balance between humans and the environment as well as the growing role of innovation as an enabling factor for integrating different sensibilities. The hope is to move towards a new ideal of inclusive and mindful culture that is responsive to the needs of nature and people and capable of removing physical and intellectual distances and dismantling social, economic and gender disparities.
The poet Mariangela Gualtieri took the stage at the inauguration of Pesaro 2024 to recite per poem, “Esortazione urbana e planetare” an evocative and profound reflection on the ability and necessity to let ourselves be influenced by beauty in order to improve reality. Then Liliana Segre delivered her well wishes in a message in which the city of Pesaro (of which the Senator for Life is an honorary citizen) is described and lauded as a musical ecosystem, created around Composer Gioachino Rossini, where “everything resonates in a special interweaving of memory and future”.
Music, along with science and technology, was also the focus of the video performance “The Human Cell ATLAS,” curated by Ouchhh in collaboration with CERN Geneva. It presented an artistic portrait of human cells created by combining artificial intelligence and big data that literally came to life in the arena.
Among the most moving moments during the ceremony was the speech by Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who stressed the fundamental importance of culture in his address. “At this moment, talking about culture, thinking about culture and transmitting culture means raising our gaze for a far-reaching task” - said President Mattarella - “Because culture is patient sowing, especially in the younger generations. Because culture is mutually contagious and allows us to reflect on history, so as not to fall back into the mistakes of the past. It allows us to admire art, beauty and ingenuity, aware that aesthetics cannot be separated from the ethic of respect for the individual.”
And if culture is knowledge, it must also be awareness, specifically oriented towards the necessity to regain balance with nature and to reconcile with the environment, objectives that are urgent to ensure our youth a future of civility and prosperity. Because, as President Mattarella emphasized, “Sustainability is a name for peace.”