CULTURE AND ENTERTAINMENT

 A bridge between Lucca and Eritrea in the name of international cultural exchange

Monday, 29 January 2018, 15:02

A bridge between Lucca and Eritrea in the name of international cultural exchange. The Banca del Monte di Lucca Foundation supports development projects in some African countries, especially in collaboration with institutions, associations, schools and universities, etc. who operate in the Lucca area or refer to it.

For the second year, the Banca del Monte di Lucca Foundation, together with the Lucca Sviluppo Foundation, with the "Participation and Development" associations and the "Lucca-Massaua a long bridge" non-profit organization, will again propose to the schools an initiative that last year has successfully registered the participation of the students of the Busdraghi and Nottolini institutes of Lucca: an experience of cultural exchange between students. With the important Italian school of Asmara, as with the other well-organized school of Massaua, run by Father Protasio, the students of the Lucchese Higher Institutes have carried out a cultural exchange, involving about twenty people between boys and professors.

The initiative was officialized in the auditorium of the Banca del Monte di Lucca Foundation in the presence of President Oriano Landucci, together with Alberto Del Carlo, president of the Lucca Sviluppo Foundation, with Donatella Buonriposi, provincial school manager, in the presence of the students who participated in the past campaign of exchanges and representatives of various local associations active in the African country.

In fact, in 2017 a program was launched in favor of Eritrea, composed of some research and application projects (such as the desalination of sea water by solar energy, the cultivation of indigenous plants for food purposes, etc.) and from some cultural projects, including the exchange of experiences between schools in Lucca and schools of Asmara and Massaua.

This last initiative, was also made possible thanks to the contribution of the provincial school management and, besides a good success among the students, also positive feedbacks from the institutions and the media of the two countries, so much so that a meeting addressed to the students and professors presented the 2018 edition, to create new exchanges.

In the port city that was the capital of the "Italian Eritrea" between 1890 and 1897 there is in fact an important Italian School, with which the students of the Busdraghi and Nottolini Institutes: Martina Buriani, Arianna Tessarolo, Giacomo Salvetti, Giulio Acunzo, Macro Chiocchetti, Rocco Solari, Aurora Baccilli, Tiziana Bini together with Professor Franco Grossi and Marcello Marchi of the Lucca-Massaua association have made a cultural exchange visiting the school and the city of Eritrea from October 25th to November 5th.

A new group of students selected from the schools of the territories they want to attend will travel to Eritrea in October this year.