18 February 2025

Presented the programme of the week dedicated to the culture of childhood and the 100 Languages on the 105th anniversary of Loris Malaguzzi's birth

From 17 to 23 February, Loris Malaguzzi's birthday celebrations with films, Storytelling Night, proposals for teachers and workshops open to the city

Loris Malaguzzi would have been 105 years old next 23 February: for 30 years, that is, since the year following his sudden death, that date has been an occasion to remember, with joy and gratitude, this visionary figure, central in the history of the infant-toddler centres and preschools of Reggio Emilia. It was precisely one year after Malaguzzi's death that it was decided to turn this anniversary into an opportunity to reflect on themes central to this educational experience and so dear to him: the rights and potential of children and adults, learning, and the strategic role of education.

Once again this year, in the week from 17 to 23 February, the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, Preschools and Infant-toddler Centres - Institution of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, Reggio Children, and Fondazione Reggio Children - Loris Malaguzzi Centre wish to reaffirm their commitment through a calendar of initiatives, meetings, and training events that, under the title Not Just Anywhere - Education, Rights, and 100 Languages, have as their common thread the pedagogical experience of Reggio Emilia.

HAVE SAID - ‘Scrolling through the programme, we could call the days ahead of us “Malaguzzi week”: a week that goes well beyond celebratory purposes and is rather defined as a dense moment of reflection, in-depth study and research, both on the eminent figure of Loris Malaguzzi, and on the crucial themes of education, or rather the common heritage of our city and that our city offers to the world, from the early 1960s to today and certainly in the future,’ said Mayor Marco Massari when presenting the programme to the media. ‘We have commemorated Romolo Valli and Renzo Bonazzi in these days, with two other moments of deepening and listening on the centenary of their birth: together with Loris Malaguzzi, they are children of those same years of rich cultural and social ferment in our city. Years in which culture and education were placed at the centre of public policies, remaining there solidly as a point of reference, as a source of thought, knowledge and social inclusion. ‘Malaguzzi,’ the mayor concluded, ‘used to keep the focus on childhood and education, arguing that the culture of childhood is always at risk. I believe that Reggio Emilia has made this appeal its own, with investment choices on people and structures, but first and foremost on content, on the knowledge that the educational experience produces to the benefit of children and families, and ultimately of the entire local and global community'. Francesco Profumo, who is professor emeritus at the Polytechnic University of Turin, described himself as a ‘student president’ of Fondazione Reggio Children and with respect to all the knowledge generated by the educational world of Reggio Emilia. His first acquaintance, President Profumo reconstructed speaking at the press conference, dates back to 2012, when he, Minister of Education, arrived in the city during the days of the earthquake in Emilia. ‘I had the opportunity to spend some time with the children,’ he said, ’and, rereading the poem of the 100 Languages today, I remember how those children were extremely stimulated by different languages, passing through those of the ateliers, then art, food... Today more than ever we need to go back to the ideas of Malaguzzi, who acted since the post-war period in a country that needed to find a future, dedicating itself to the youngest citizens. Grandfather of a little girl who attends a Reggio Approach school in Amsterdam, Profumo recalled this experience in the world, ‘a network that should be further enhanced, since Reggio Emilia certainly has the highest concentration of this thought, but Reggio Approach, thanks to the great work done, is a reality not only in Reggio Emilia. And I am curious to see its future developments'. ‘Building critical thinking through the 100 languages,’ concluded the president of Fondazione Reggio Children, ’is important and of great value, for example in tackling Artificial Intelligence. We need a new ethics and a new humanism, in which the 100 languages become central, especially in the first phase of children's education. That would be a sign of great foresight'.

‘This anniversary represents, year after year, an important occasion for reflection for all those involved in the 0-6 education system, for families and for the entire city community - explained the Councillor for Education of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, Marwa Mahmoud - It is a moment to renew perspectives and reaffirm the approach that has inspired and continues to animate the educational experience of our city, reaffirming the importance of recognising the essential contribution of the world of childhood in the construction of a collective vision capable of evolving and enriching itself over time. An educational approach that was already recognised at an international level in the 1990s and which, even today, continues to attract attention and interest, as demonstrated by the recent attention that the New York Times dedicated to us on the occasion of the exhibition dedicated to Gianni Rodari's ‘Grammar of Fantasy’, hosted within the International Centre that bears Loris Malaguzzi's name’. ‘Loris Malaguzzi was not only the founder of this experience, but the soul of an educational project born from the choral nature of work on early childhood,’ said Federico Ruozzi, president of the Istituzione nidi e scuole d'infanzia. ’It is in fact from collective work - as the architect Giovanni Michelucci said in the original preface to Lettera a professoressa, a work that grew out of the experience of Don Lorenzo Milani's Barbiana school - that works of art are born. We see this very well in films, for example, which are the result of a choral work, where different roles and tasks intertwine and merge. It is therefore fundamental today to celebrate an educational experience carried out by all those Malaguzzi had around him and by those who today work in schools and in the Childhood-City dialogue'. Simone Caprari, board member of Reggio Children srl, emphasised how ‘the possibility of experiencing the events of this special week is a gift for the city and beyond, as it allows us to approach and discover a common heritage, rooted and flourishing here, and which never ceases to have a worldwide impact. It is a wonderful opportunity for parents and children to live together; a celebration that is not static, but generative of shared wisdom'.

THE MEETINGS - While at the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre study groups from Naples, Sweden and the United States of America will alternate, engaged in training courses on the Reggio Emilia Approach, at the Catomes Tôt on Monday 17 February at 8.45 p.m., there will be a screening - admission free and open to all - of the film ‘The Man from Reggio Emilia’, by the recently deceased director Carlo Barsotti, dedicated to the history of the municipal infant-toddler centres and preschools of Reggio Emilia, told through the voice and testimony of Loris Malaguzzi. Wednesday 19 February at 6 p.m., at the school at the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre, the culture of childhood and the strong alliance that the 0-6 educational services have built over time with the city will be the focus of the meeting (by invitation only) Girls and children protagonists of the city.

Friday 21 February at 9 p.m. The Night of Tales returns, which will light up stories in every home in the world. This edition, the first step towards Reggionarra 2025, will have as its theme: ‘Everything is possible | Fairy Tale Footsteps’. Homes, schools, libraries, apartment blocks, social centres, living rooms, and bedrooms all over the world will become places in which to share readings and narratives that participants will choose autonomously, becoming part of a collective rite that will light up the skies of the five continents with stories. The Reggionarra website will provide information from the Laboratorio Rodari, advice from Monica Morini, Reggionarra's artistic director, and reading suggestions from the Panizzi Municipal Library and Casa delle Storie. But there will also be an eve of the Night of Tales, which many schools, crèches and public places are organising for the evening of Thursday 20 and the afternoon of Friday 21 February: among the scheduled appointments, Councillor for Education Marwa Mahmoud will tell stories to the children of the municipal kindergarten Andersen (Thursday 20 February at 5.30 p.m.).

Finally, on the occasion of Loris Malaguzzi's birthday on Sunday 23 February, the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre and Caffarri open their spaces with proposals for educators, teachers and students (https://www.reggiochildren.it/domeniche-al-centro/) and for children and families (https://www.reggiochildren.it/centro-internazionale-loris-malaguzzi/visita/bambini-e-famiglie/)

PROGRAMME

Monday 17 February 8.45 p.m.

C.S. Catomes Tôt

𝘓'𝘶𝘰𝘮𝘰 𝘥𝘪 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘰 𝘌𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢

Screening of the documentary film by Carlo Barsotti Free entrance

From Monday 17 to Friday 21 February

Loris Malaguzzi International Centre

Training courses on the educational experience of Reggio Emilia with groups from Naples, Sweden and the USA.

Wednesday 19 February at 6 p.m.

Municipal preschool and state primary school at the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre

‘It could become a city with more confidence’

Beatrice 6 years old - Girls and children protagonists of the city.