In 2026, Reggio Emilia Celebrates Milestones in Education

Memory is not meant merely to preserve, but to help build. It is with this idea in mind that the year of anniversaries for the Reggio Emilia educational system takes shape, promoted by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia – Istituzione Scuole e Nidi d’Infanzia, Reggio Children, and the Fondazione Reggio Children – Centro Loris Malaguzzi.

2026 marks a special year for Reggio Emilia’s educational system, offering an opportunity to reflect on the past, engage with the present, and imagine new futures. This year brings together several significant anniversaries: twenty years since the opening of the Loris Malaguzzi International Center, twenty years since the first edition of Reggionarra, twenty years since the founding of the Reggio Children International Network, alongside fifty years of several historic nidi d'infanzia (Arcobaleno, Salvador Allende, Gianni Rodari, Pablo Picasso, Pierino Rivieri, Peter Pan, and Sole) and thirty years of the Iqbal Masih scuola dell'infanzia.

Guiding the entire year is the theme of the 100 languages, the vision developed by Loris Malaguzzi, which recognizes in every child, and in every adult, a multitude of ways to think, express, and know. In 2026, this concept returns as a lens through which to understand the present and as an invitation to imagine different futures. Celebrating this year is a way of affirming that education is never neutral, but always a conscious choice. In a world that often narrows horizons, Reggio Emilia continues to expand them. For memory, when it is alive, does not hold back: it opens. And as Loris Malaguzzi reminded us, nothing is possible without joy.

Starting in February, a series of interwoven initiatives will accompany these anniversaries, not simply to celebrate them, but to inhabit them as a new beginning. Workshops, meetings, conferences, and activities for children, families, and educators will offer opportunities for dialogue, exploration, and reflection.  

Official statements:

Federico Ruozzi, President of Istituzione Scuole e Nidi d’Infanzia of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia:
«For the Institution, the Municipality, and the entire educational system of Reggio Emilia, 2026 represents a special year, full of anniversaries. In 1976, fifty years ago, when the Italian Republic was born and Jobs and Wozniak founded Apple, Reggio Emilia was investing in nurseries, inaugurating seven of them in fact (in ’75 the Picasso, and in ’76 the Rodari, Peter Pan, Rivieri, Allende, Sole, and Arcobaleno); in 1996, the Iqbal opened, and from the schools and nurseries came the Re Mida project. In 2006, Sergio Spaggiari, with a brilliant and radical intuition, invested in Reggionarra, placing at its center the value of storytelling as a form of empowerment, and in the same year the International Center was inaugurated. All these events have their roots in nurseries and schools, the essential lifeblood that nourishes the entire educational system. These are events worth celebrating, but without falling into nostalgia for anniversaries: above all, they speak to us of the courage that was shown. Even today, we must continue to dare, aim high, and invest in the educational system: in this symbolic year, opening a new childhood center in Parco Ottavi is certainly an important signal that continues this long tradition of courageous choices». 

Maddalena Tedeschi, President of Reggio Children:
«The Loris Malaguzzi International Center did not come into being by chance, nor as an external recognition. It originates from a long history—the history of Reggio Emilia’s schools and nurseries, of the people who built and inhabited them over time, and of the educational questions that have traversed the city for decades. The Center is a product of this history, not its starting point. It is the result of a pedagogical thought formed through daily work with children, relationships with families, and shared research among educators, teachers, and pedagogists. Without this deep weave of experiences, practices, and collective choices, the Center would have made no sense. Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Center today thus means recognizing the value of a living memory that continues to generate the future. It also emphasizes that Reggio Emilia’s international dimension has never been an addition, but a core aspect of an educational system that, from its origins, has envisioned schools as places open to the world». 

Francesco Profumo, President of Fondazione Reggio Children – Centro Loris Malaguzzi:
«Faced with these anniversaries, which remind us of the global significance of Reggio Emilia’s educational quality, our first thought is for the people who made all of this possible, among whom certainly Carla Rinaldi, to whom we owe our gratitude. The second thought asks how we can be more effective in the world to make the right to quality education increasingly available from birth for everyone and throughout life. As Fondazione Reggio Children, we have addressed this issue also through the recently concluded Play Explore Research project with The LEGO Foundation, included in the calendar of initiatives, combining field research and academic research. The third thought concerns today’s challenges, including the contemporary application of the Hundred Languages of Children, Loris Malaguzzi’s revolutionary vision, in the era of artificial intelligence, which can open interesting avenues for innovation».

The Calendar

The First Events of 2026

• February 20 – Notte dei Racconti: adults and children together, sharing stories and narratives across Italy and around the world. 

• February 21 – Literature Day: readings and workshops for secondary schools dedicated to Stefano Benni. 

• February 22 – Domeniche al Centro e Bambini al Centro: atelier and storytelling activities for children, families, and educators at the Loris Malaguzzi International Center and at Caffarri.

• February 23 – The Hundred Languages as a Right to Knowledge: international online meeting with Vea Vecchi, Howard Gardner, Barbara Quinti, and Matteo Bini. 

• March 2 – Spiegare serve?: a dialogue between children and adults on complex topics, featuring musical performances by the string quartet of the Conservatory of Reggio Emilia and Castelnovo né Monti “A. Peri - C. Merulo.” 

• March 6 – Play Explore Research: study day at Caffarri on the international research project by Fondazione Reggio Children and The LEGO Foundation. 

• March 23 – La poesia c’è già: conversation with Silvia Vecchini, dedicated to children and adults exploring poetry and the languages of childhood. 

Discover the full calendar and download the press release: