ITALY "N. Zingarelli" Classical High School

Nicola Zingarelli Classical High School participates in the ERASMUS PROJECT

Don't look from the balcony of life!

I am asking  you to be builders of the world, to get to work for a better world. Dear youth, please don't look from the balcony of life! Pope Francis, 2013.

The Erasmus Project, which will inspire workshops and cultural exchanges between first and second level secondary schools until 2022, is called Juliet and  obviously it evokes and takes inspiration from the many women who have contributed in different ways to make our countries great.

We speak about “Our Countries” because this Project, in which we  partner with G. Pavoncelli Middle School, will involve  us in a virtuous circuit of comparative discussions with other European schools, i.e. from Portugal, France, Finland and Rumania.

 This will be a challenge to our personal commitment, in which, nevertheless, the feeling of  community will mature toward the sharing of lively and creative experiences, which will surprise us since we will discover that our own  cultural heritage represents only a piece  of an even  greater framework.   

Guests of our High School will be  Penelope, determined in her role of wife and mother, Sappho, the first female love poet of the Western world and, also, Alda Merini with her melancholic madness.

Artemisia Gentileschi, a contemporary of Caravaggio’s, who exploited and turned the unspeakable offense she received as a teenager into extraordinary artwork, appreciated in all European royal courts . Other women, wounded by history, will be able to show to our pupils that it is possible to rise up again, and choose to live and witness their resilience in their life. We are referring to Felicia Impastato, Peppino’ ever-mourful mother, and Liliana Segre, from Auschwitz to the Senate of the Republic.   

 Women of peace and hospitality such as Giusy Nicolini  but also indomitable and pugnacious lionesses like Oriana Fallaci. Women who have given luster to their country by dedicating themselves to the very high mission of upbringing and educating,  such as Maria Montessori, and to medicine, such as Nobel Prize for Medicine, Rita Levi Montalcini. But then again, also  many figures from the star system like the beautiful and talented  women such as Sofia Loren and Monica Bellucci who have left their imprint into the collective imagination.                                         

Young fencer Bebe Vio will be the world sports guest while clothes designer S. Venturini Fendi will represent fashion.

Our rich and articulated exhibition will continue with other important figures in order not to forget the contribution of many other female figures who, in Italy and Europe, have interpreted our history as protagonists and are inspiration for our future.

For obvious reasons linked to the present contingency, our cultural exchanges, in this first phase, will  take place online in order to prepare  us all for a  comparison  and  exchange of real experiences, as soon as it is feasible.

The activities will include the involvement of students in creative writing workshops with various techniques, in designing  articles and advertising slogans, fashion logos and song lyrics ... experiences, jargons and above all, our languages which must deal  and live with the dimension of cosmopolitanism.

This, in fact, is the challenge that inspires the Erasmus Project: to encourage creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in our students by promoting access to and participation in education based on  permanent and lifelong exchanges and sharing of learning experiences.

Now, it is our kids' turn!

Guys, I hope you will make a lot of noise! Pope Francis, 2013.