«Today an alliance began between science and the local community, to study, know and enhance the territory according to the approach and model of OneHealth, founded on the indissoluble link between human health, animal health and ecosystem health.” Thus Professor Domenica Taruscio – president of the Kos Study Center, former director of the National Center for Rare Diseases of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità and recently honorary citizen of Cotronei (Kr), where she is originally from – commented on the launch of the first edition of the cultural event “Sila Scienza”, organized by the Municipality of Cotronei and the Kos Study Centre, sponsored by the Higher Institute of Health (ISS) and the Regional Council of Calabria, starting on the morning of 27 April in the council hall of the same municipality, with a busy program of scientific reports preceded by greetings from the authorities: the mayor Antonio Ammirati; the president of the LSS, Rocco Bellantone; the president of the city council assembly, Antonella Borza; the parish priest, Don Francescantonio Spadola; the scientist Amalia Bruni, regional councilor of Calabria; the provincial councilor Raffaele Gareri; the president of Uncem Calabria, Vincenzo Mazzei; the president of Gal Kroton, Natale Carvello; the president of Gal Sila, Antonio Candalise, and Domenico Cerminara, official of the Sila National Park. Mayor Ammirati underlined the connection between the specificity of the territory, health and well-being. Professor Alberto Mantovani, internationally renowned toxicologist and vice-president of the Kos Study Centre, has among other things anticipated observation and research activities in the municipal area of Cotronei, «with the aim – Ammirati clarified – of valorising and promoting its resources, from the cleanest air in Europe to quality water, from the landscape to biodiversity, to sustainable and non-intensive agriculture”. Followed by an attentive and large audience, the first day of “Sila Scienza” was dedicated to in-depth analysis of the relationship between ecosystem, biodiversity, health and well-being in the Sila area, a theme explored in various aspects and by leading scientists; also with references to the benefits for the human organism of the medicinal plants of Sila, the extra virgin olive oil of the area and the products of the undergrowth.
On Sunday 28 April, the scientific event will continue in the nearby town of Trepidò, at the Hotel del Lago, with in-depth sessions on the environment, biodiversity and agri-food chains and a guided excursion in the Sila National Park, organized by the “Il jar” group and the official guide Giovanni Vizza, also aimed at the scientific observation of the participants. «Next autumn – explained Mayor Ammirati – there will be the second part of “Sila Scienza” on different issues. This scientific event, on which we are placing great emphasis to raise the value of the cultural offering and for the growth of tourism, will be repeated every year, under the supervision of the Higher Institute of Health, gradually with new topics linked to the territory and studies on field”.
