Lerici is the leader for 2024 of Colors for Peace, the association founded in Sant’Anna di Stazzema which promotes peace through the art and creativity of children. Over five hundred drawings by the students of the Lerici comprehensive institute exhibited in the Padula Gallery on the occasion of the exhibition inaugurated today, April 16, in the presence of the president of Colors for Peace, Antonio Giannelli; the display will remain until tomorrow afternoon at 3.00 pm. One of the designs will be selected for the international events while a larger selection will stop at the national events.
“Colors for Peace is an international reality that through the drawings and creativity of children brings a message of peace that crosses the five continents – explains Giannelli -. This year Lerici will be the leading municipality and consequently a selection of the drawings of Lerici children will accompany us in this year’s Colors for Peace events. After this short exhibition the drawings will belong to the world and we will see them often on the most important occasions; for example next April 21st in Rome in the Campidoglio for the birthday of the eternal city or on August 12th in Sant’Anna di Stazzema to commemorate the massacre”. The grand finale will then be held in September in Rome, at the Colosseum, on World Peace Day on 21 September.
Colors for Peace is supported, among other bodies, by the Robert Kennedy Foundation for Human Rights and by Panathlon International, whose general secretary Simona Callo was present at this morning’s inauguration. “Since 1951 our association has been promoting the values of peace and respect through sport – comments Callo -. We will be promoting the Olympic Truce for this year’s Paris Olympics and we are honored to collaborate with Colors for Peace.”
Among the small artists who designed for this occasion there is also Chiara, a primary school girl who has already drawn for Color for Peace in Bolivia a few years ago and who is now participating again for Italy; Her mother is Bolivian and her father is from La Spezia, she spent the first part of her life in Bolivia and then moved to live here. “This is the greatness of this project which has involved our kids in something truly important that goes beyond our small village reality to look at the world – he observes Laura Toracca, Councilor for Education of the Municipality of Lerici -. Collaborating with Colors for Peace for Lerici is a window on the world and for our children an important reflection on the meaning of peace, a concept that is learned at school, in relationships, learning respect for others and loyalty to oneself” .
“I am really happy with this initiative which, among the many that we have organised, is aimed at taking Lerici out of its nature as a small village and projecting it into the world. Our children were the protagonists of this possibility and with their drawings they will bring the name of Lerici beyond national borders with a more urgent universal message than ever: let’s defend peace”, concludes Leonardo Paoletti, mayor of Lerici, who concludes: “I thank the president Antonio Giannelli for Colors for Peace; for Panathlon International the general secretary Simona Callo; the comprehensive institute and the principal Rossella Capozzo and my education department which Laura Toracca has led with passion for a decade now”.
