On the night of Saturday 20 April, the young students of the “Viale della Resistenza” lower secondary school returned from an extraordinary journey, co-financed by the Legislative Assembly of Emilia Romagna, which led them through a profound exploration of the history of Eastern Italy and the former Yugoslavia, from the immediate post-war period until the 1990s.
This experience, planned as part of the project “The fire under the ashes: memory, the only hope for peace” developed over the course of these months also in the Aula Magna of the Malatestiana Library, offered the children a unique opportunity to meet industry experts and immerse yourself in the places that marked tragic historical events. The Cesena delegation visited iconic places, such as the Basovizza foiba, the San Sabba rice mill and Magazziono 18has also stopped in cities such as Zadar and Mostar, thus enriching their understanding of the complex historical texture of those territories.
Upon their return, Professor Serenella Rocchi, among the group’s companions, expressed her profound conviction that the school is doing significant work in cultivate a new awareness in young minds. “The trip – he comments – provided our students with a feeling of confidence in the future, comparable to what a farmer feels when he sows his field. The days that passed were intense: the girls and boys were able to see with their own eyes the walls still marked by weapons wounds, visiting museums that put them face to face with people and dates that touched the deepest chords of their roots family members. For many of them, the dates of historical events were the birth dates of their parents, uncles and relatives, thus making the war much closer than they could imagine.”
This trip was not only an opportunity to learn history, but also to internalize it and make it part of one’s personal baggage of knowledge and values. She taught the kids that memory is a precious resource that must be preserved and passed down, so that the tragedies of the past are never repeated.
