Simone Bolzonaro, first class student at the Paleocapa scientific high school and resident in Anguillara Veneta, took part in the eighth edition of the Italian geography championships in Marchdedicated to lower and upper secondary schools and also open, with a special open session, to everyone.
The event was promoted by SOS Geografia, Aiig and “Zaccagna, yesterday and today”, with the patronage of the Tuscany Region, the Province of Massa and Carrara and the Municipality of Carrara.
Approximately 2,800 students, from 119 schools, 64 provinces, 19 regions, plus one Italian school abroad (Pola-Croatia) connected online with the IIS “Domenico Zaccagna” of Carrara to answer 300 questions, divided into 10 thematic blocks, relating to the tools of geography, physical and human geography, environmental protection, silent maps, human rights, geopolitics, the history of exploration and flags.
Simone Bolzonaro defeated all his competitors to the open section (“Adolfo Masetti” Award), surpassed only by a teacher of the subject, Cesare Targher from Folgaria (Tn).
The first three classified of the two sessions, together with the runners-up of their institute, with their teachers, they will be guests in May, respectively, of the Regional Park of the Apuan Alps, in Aqui Terme, and of the National Park of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines at the Montagna Verde center of Apella (Licciana Nardi ).
“The interest in geography – Simone’s comment – was passed on to me by my dad, because he too has always been passionate about this subject. Ever since I was little, we looked at geographical maps and leafed through the atlas, challenging each other on capitals and flags, competing to see who could recognize the most.. In my opinion, geography is a vast subject that is connected to many other disciplines and has always stimulated my curiosity and my desire to know. This passion continued in middle school, when my geography teacher, realizing my interest, proposed that I participate in the national geography championships for middle school students. This year, not being able to participate in the section dedicated to high school students because I was on a trip, I signed up for the open category open to all ages”.
“Beyond all expectations, I placed second behind a geography professor. The awards ceremony took place in Carrara, Tuscany and on that occasion I discovered that the first place winner was giving up the prize (a three-day stay in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines) and giving it to me. I will thus have the opportunity to visit the park accompanied by a naturalist guide. The test was structured into three hundred total questions divided into 10 blocks of 30 questions each covering many topics, including human geography, maps, geographical coordinates, places, environment and energy, geopolitics, human rights, history of exploration, flags”.
