"50+ 1" Reggio Emilia celebrates the anniversary of "Grammatica della Fantasia"

"… In Reggio Emilia, at the invitation of the municipality, I had a series of meetings with some fifty teachers from nursery schools (formerly nurseries), elementary and middle schools, and I presented all my trade needles in a conclusive and official way. Three things make me remember that week as one of the most beautiful in my life..." so wrote Gianni Rodari in the introduction to his Grammatica della Fantasia, a book published in 1973 "dedicated to the city of Reggio Emilia", telling of the days of the Fantastica, after which the project of a «manual for inventing stories» took shape, It has become a true cult over the years.

2024 will be the year of the "50+1", an occasion to celebrate the anniversary of that book, an irreplaceable reference point for those who, in Italy and in the world, are involved in education and literature for children and, At the same time, propose a calendar of cultural events to recognize and enhance the capacity for cultural processing, creative and innovative of the city of Reggio Emilia, which over the years has been constantly recognized and renewed in the educational field.

The meeting between Gianni Rodari and Loris Malaguzzi is one of those "fantastic binoms" of Rodarian memory, in which the writer and the pedagogue, each following their own path, arrive at a common feeling. Unique source that has generated ever new paths and that over the years have been able to completely change the view of adults on the world of childhood.

' It is Rodari himself who explains this correspondence of thought, when he was invited to Reggio Emilia on 17 April 1974 for a conference entitled: Because I dedicated my last book to the city of Reggio Emilia.
In introducing his Grammar of Fantasy he talks about "an offer of tools to help create in school a new role for the child, a role for a child creator, producer, researcher, instead of the traditional passive role that the child has always had in school".
Words that resonate familiar in this city, which has made education one of its distinctive features, where schools are places of experimentation, democratic invention thanks to those, like Loris Malaguzzi, but also as many men and women, administrators, pedagogues, teachers, never doubted that childhood should be at the center of the city polis.

The seminar of Friday, March 22 Like a stone thrown into the pond... 50 years of the Grammatica della Fantasia, curated by Federico Ruozzi and Cinzia Ruozzi, from the Department of Education and Human Sciences of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, opens the calendar of initiatives, which continue the next day with a series of workshops  (edited by Elisa De Sanctis, Beatrice Bramini, Magda Indiveri) for teachers, educators and students. Also on the agenda are lessons-show, readings and meetings (Paolo Nori, Susanna Mattiangeli) and the presentation of the regenerated space of the former Caffarri to welcome children, students, young people, families, citizens, creative. And then the opening of the exhibition A fantastic combination. Gianni Rodari and Reggio Emilia, Wednesday 17 April at 5.30 pm, at the International Loris Malaguzzi Centre, by Istituto Scuole e Nidi d'Infanzia, Reggio Children, Fondazione Reggio Children’s Centre Loris Malaguzzi, Pino Boero and Vanessa Roghi.The exhibition will be aimed at young and old alike and will cover, thanks to several sessions, a number of topics from Rio de Janeiro: the child as protagonist, the "fantastic binomial", theatre, puppets and puppets, the relationship between fantasy and logical thought, the art of inventing stories. Some highlights of the Rodarian text will be made visible through projects and artifacts made by children of schools and nests from the 70s to today. The inauguration of the exhibition will be followed by the lesson-show by Max Collini that will close the calendar of events.

THEY SAID - "Reggio Emilia continues with tenacity to work for children and education, as in the days of Gianni Rodari, who was inspired by the cultural humus diffused by the city on these issues and by an educational experience already relevant in the seventies. Municipal administration and the city’s educational system continue their commitment, even with the events we present today, despite these times, in which education and childhood are outside the political priorities of the country, testifying to a strong disengagement on this matter", said Mayor Luca Vecchi presenting the '50+1' programme to the media.

"The project of 50+1 - said the Councillor for Education, Raffaella Curioni - is certainly a tribute to the Grammar of Fantasy and an opportunity to reflect on the relationship, very important, between Rodari, Loris Malaguzzi and Reggio Emilia, but also expresses the desire to meet and discuss education together, to innovate and continue to develop one of our city’s most distinctive public policies. I believe that all this emerges very well from the '50+1' programme, which includes an exhibition of absolute importance and the opening of a regenerated space such as the former Caffarri dedicated in particular to education and creativity. " together with Rai Scuola, Rai Kids and Teche Rai, will be media partner of '50+1'.

Cristian Fabbi, president of Reggio Children and director of the Reggio Children Foundation has stressed that the exhibition on the programme A fantastic pair - Gianni Rodari and the city of Reggio Emilia "is destined to break the patterns and surprise, talking about Rodari’s relationship with the Reggio Emilia of that time, but also declining that thought and that climate in today, helping to question and build new educational thinking in our contemporaneity". And 'Caffarri': "We can talk in this case of Architecture for the 'Fantastic'. It has regenerated and created a space that was not there, dedicated to research, experimentation, exchange between languages, play and learning with experiences such as those of Remida and Scintillae".

Vanessa Roghi, education historian: "When I learned that the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, in those years, had hired a puppeteer, Mariano Dolci, with educational purposes, I realized the educational culture completely new I was approaching. In the past, there were patrons; at the time of Rodari as today, there is the entire city of Reggio to be 'patron' of education. I think this detail is enough, not secondary, to say so much".

Maddalena Tedeschi, pedagogue of the Institution nests and kindergartens: "The proposed events will make us 'catch our breath', stopping to reflect on the creative power of the hundred languages, interconnected in each person’s mind. Rodari and Malaguzzi clearly understood this universal concept. What emerged from their meeting, Not surprisingly in our city, it will be at the heart of our work towards those who await us and already constitute an important wealth of knowledge for today and for the future".

Federico Ruozzi, lecturer at the Department of Education and Human Sciences of Unimore and Cinzia Ruozzi, representing the Association of Italianists of Reggio Emilia - curators of seminars and workshops dedicated to languages, learning, writing and creativity aimed at teachers, educators and students in the programme - they stressed the openness of the various initiatives to the city, that they offer opportunities for deepening and at the same time disseminating and experiencing directly a knowledge which has always belonged to the whole community. The concept of the Laboratory, said Cinzia Ruozzi, "is very dear to Rodari, who looked at the school as a place where we are inextricably linked by thought and action, research and experience in the field".

In short, a spring that borrows a significant anniversary and that does not want to be a showcase, but a wide-open window on the future of a city and its citizens adults and children.

"50 + 1 Intorno alla Grammatica della Fantasia di Gianni Rodari" is a project promoted by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, Schools and Nurseries, Reggio Children, Reggio Children Foundation and the Department of Education and Human Sciences of UNIMORE, in collaboration with MCE - Movimento di Cooperazione Educativa and ADI-SD - Associazione degli Italianisti-Sezione Didattica; under the patronage of the Emilia-Romagna Region and the Regional School Office for Emilia-Romagna - Reggio Emilia Area; with the support of Iren and Fondazione Manodori, and with the contribution of Assicoop Emilia Nord and Coop Alleanza 3.0.

The scientific supervision is by Pino Boero, curator of works by Gianni Rodari, former professor of Literature for children at the University of Genoa and Vanessa Roghi, education historian.

CALENDAR

• 22 March 9.00, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Palazzo Baroni

Like a stone thrown into a pond... 50 years of the journey of the "Grammar of fantasy", seminar by Federico Ruozzi and Cinzia Ruozzi, promoted by the Department of Education and Human Sciences of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.



• 22 March at 8.30 pm, Teatro Cavallerizza

Hello. The words of Gianni Rodari, lecture show by Paolo Nori, writer and translator.
Free entry on reservation https://bit.ly/3Izsyfx



• 23 March 9.00, Loris Malaguzzi International Centre

Workshops dedicated to teachers, educators and students of different orders and degrees, by Movimento Cooperazione Educativa and Associazione degli italianisti didactic section

- The pleasure of writing together, edited by Beatrice Bramini, Gruppo Nazionale Lingua, MCE;

- In the seas of the Moon, by Elisa De Sanctis, National Group for Research on Pedagogy of the Sky, MCE;

- A knowledge that flows: practices of rewriting, edited by Magda Indiveri, Association of Italianists-Didactic Section.

Entry on reservation at the following links: https://bit.ly/3UPrtHA - https://bit.ly/3SFhiTC - https://bit.ly/48h08Bj


• 23 March 11.30 and 15-18 ex Caffarri, via Gioia 24

An architecture for the Fantastic, presentation to the city with the institutions of the regenerated space of the former Caffarri and afternoon activities to welcome children, students, young people, families, citizens, creative, who want to find the alphabets of fantasy and the joy of creating together. Curated by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, Stu Reggiane, Fondazione Reggio Children, Remida-Centro di Riciclaggio Creativo.

Free entry

• 24 March at 11.00 Loris Malaguzzi International Centre

Grammatically correct, meeting with Susanna Mattiangeli, writer, named Italian Children’s Laureate 2023/2024 by the International Board on Book for Young People.

Free entry

•  17 April at 5.30 pm Loris Malaguzzi International Centre

Opening of the exhibition A fantastic combination - Gianni Rodari and the city of Reggio Emilia, curated by Istituzione Scuole e Nidi di Infanzia, Reggio Children and Fondazione Reggio Children, with Pino Boero and Vanessa Roghi.

Free entry

• 17 April at 6.30 pm International Center Loris Malaguzzi

Fables on the microphone. Reggio Emilia and Rodari without rhetoric lecture show by Max Collini

Free entry on reservation https://bit.ly/3PjT14q

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