CREMONA – The meeting was held today in the Aula Magna of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart – Cremona Campus Cultural heritage and territory. Cremona: the journey of a city and the challenges of contemporaneitya seminar organized as part of the Plan to Safeguard Traditional Cremonese Violin Making Know-how, which since 2012 has been registered as part of UNESCO’s intangible heritage of humanity.
After the institutional greetings, with a video intervention by Magda Landry, director of the UNESCO Office for Science and Culture in Europe, which underlined how fundamental the role of the Safeguard Plan and of heritage communities is in keeping intangible heritage alive, and an intervention by the Municipality of Cremona, the seminar was attended by international guests, linked to the UNESCO dimension of the valorisation and transmission of heritage , teachers and professionals, invited to describe values and research itineraries between immaterial, contemporary, cultures and development policies; it was he who introduced and coordinated the dialogue Stefano Salisof the Sun 24 Hours.
The meeting highlighted the fundamental assets for building a sustainable future that manages to bring art, history, tourism and craftsmanship into dialogue, with a view to continuing relationships and comparisons, also from a supra-local and international perspective.
The reflection began by highlighting the importance of the history of violin making to understand the present of the city, starting from community, identity and protection; it was then the turn of Liborio Stellino, Permanent Representative of Italy to UNESCO, to put the fundamental and universal role of cultural heritage at the centre, calling on populations to play an active role in recognizing the values of cultural heritage: “The intangible cultural heritage of humanity is also confirmed today as a privileged vehicle of both identity and social cohesion, as well as a natural inclination towards sharing and dialogue, increasingly urgent values in an era of worryingly increasing tensions and conflicts. It is therefore a reason for pride and hope to be in Cremona today to witness the renewed and active commitment of a community and a territory for the protection, promotion and transmission to future generations of such a unique heritage, appreciated throughout the world and representative of Italian excellence”.
Pier Luigi Sacco, Full professor of Cultural Economics at the University of Chieti – Pescara, illustrated the evolution of cultural districts in the face of contemporary challenges; intervention in close connection with that of the professor of Italian and comparative ecclesiastical law Anna Gianfreda, which focused on religious paths as a development of territories, an interesting example of immaterial tourism.
Followed by the professor Paolo Rizzi, of Applied Economics and Territorial Marketing, which has been operating for years in the fields of local development and territorial policies, social economy and tourism; his speech highlighted the salient stages of the transformation of the city of Cremona also as a destination for travelers attracted by music, violin making and culture. Closing the dialogue was Noemi Satta, expert in cultural innovation and strategic manager, who emphasized the relational dimension of the Cremona “laboratory”, where knowledge and cultures meet for the creation of cohesive and development policies.
Thus continues the process of rewriting the future of Cremona with a far-sighted, innovative and inclusive vision. International capital of violin making for five centuries, today the city presents itself as an excellent example of synergy between cultural heritage, craftsmanship, art and tourism, capable of investing in its community of violin makers and the quality of their knowledge.
For some time, in fact, the main Cremonese players have focused on culture as an opportunity to build social bonds and to think about a new type of development, more harmonious, richer, and in particular the work of recent years has been that of building of a city ecosystem that focuses on research, training, meetings between luthier and research laboratories, on the valorisation of the heritage of knowledge and culture as an opportunity for growth for artisan artists and for all those with whom Cremona builds relationships .
