On 3 May 2017 in the Aula Magna of the Liceo 'E. Quirino Visconti', the final day of the XII edition of the Heritage Olympics will take place in Rome, 1917 War, Revolution, Avant-garde – 2017 Italy to be saved, which also involved Archives and Libraries in the regional selection phase pursuant to the memorandum of understanding between the Directorate General for Education and Research and ANISA.
The theme
On the occasion of the centenary of the First World War, ANISA has chosen to dedicate this edition of the Olympics to 1917, the most dramatic year of the Great War. In April, the United States intervenes in the conflict; on 24 October our army was overwhelmed in the battle of Caporetto by the Austrian and German armies; about 500,000 civilian refugees from Friuli and Veneto abandon the cities and countryside occupied by the Austrians and flee south. Almost simultaneously, the October Revolution broke out in Russia.
Despite this, 1917 was a particularly fervent year for the artistic avant-garde movements: in the countries overwhelmed by the conflict, the process of creating and experimenting with new artistic languages did not stop. Meetings and exchanges know no interruptions.
The students were asked to deepen their study of some of the movements that have most interacted with the figurative culture of our country. Once again a transversal path from history to art history, dance and music is proposed, which wants to demonstrate how not even war can extinguish the desire to create, design, dream of new expressive and poetic dimensions: from Moscow with the new role of the avant-gardes, in Ferrara with its metaphysical season, in Rome with the unforgettable season of the Ballets Russes which saw Picasso, Cocteau, Strawinsky, Larionov and Gontcharova Balla and Depero in an unprecedented collaboration for our country.
One hundred years later, 2017 proposes a similar scenario of destruction caused by natural events. The recent disastrous earthquake, a century after the ruinous defeat of Caporetto, once again makes us witness events of destruction, fleeing populations, homeless refugees, churches, historic buildings, ruined works of art.
In this case, the study is aimed at the fragility of our territory and of our extraordinary cultural heritage. Becoming aware of the artistic and landscape wealth of our country is a path of citizenship education which in these moments of crisis strengthens the civil and cultural identity of young people.
The competition
The initiative is aimed at upper secondary school students in the field of literary, historical, historical-artistic and artistic disciplines or transversally with other curricular disciplines.
The 85 institutions that took part in this edition of the Olympics selected the students who took part in the regional selections on 6 March 2017.
The competitions were held in schools, museums, archives and libraries.
After the test, the students were able to take part in guided tours at:
– Turin, Albertina Academy
– Milan, Sant'Ambrogio
– Treviso, State Archives
– Rovereto, War Museum
– Rome, MAXXI
– Caserta, Restoration Laboratory of the Palace
– Bari, National Library
– Cosenza, State Archive
– Catanzaro, De Nobili Library
A total of about 4,000 students participated. Among these, 250 - from 15 different cities (Turin, Milan, Treviso, Rovereto, Florence, Ancona, Spoleto, Rome, Caserta, Pescara, Bari, Catanzaro, Cosenza, Palermo, Catania) - faced the regional selections. In this phase the students of the Liceo Scientifico 'Lioy' of Vicenza obtained the highest score, while the region that achieved the best results was Molise.
The final test
The first classified teams in each region prepare a report, the result of the research and documentation work around the theme chosen for this edition of the Olympics which will be submitted to the examination of a specially appointed jury during the final day scheduled for the next 3 May.