On January 31st, students from the school “Istituto Tecnico Commerciale, per Geometri e Turistico Enrico Fermi”, and the Erasmus+ students along with their teachers were invited to the park Jalari in Barcellona Pozzo Di Gotto. Arriving on site they were able to enjoy the Sicilian Street food buffet with wonderful live music. Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese students had the opportunity to immerse themselves deeply in Sicilian culture.
After this generous meal, we were fortunate to meet the very talented Emilio Casalini who gave a lecture supported by Nino Pietrini, the school director Antonietta Amoroso, and Giusy Scarpaci.
Emilio Casalini is an unconditional lover of his country and its heritage. Above all, he’s a well-known journalist, writer, with his book “Rifondata Sulla Bellezza”, and narrator with his TV show “Generazione Belleza”. Also, with his radio show, his conferences, and seminars. But he was involved across the world as a photojournalist, documentary maker, filmmaker, and with numerous projects around the world.
Emilio told us about his life and what he experienced in his last years and what he got out of it. He considers that everything in life should be taken in a positive way. He said a brilliant sentence: “Failure doesn’t exist, if you believe in something, it’s possible”. These words full of ambition resonated in some students ‘minds, who have been interviewed right after the lecture. His speech was also an open dialogue with students and teachers on how we can work together to build a better school for the future, which was rewarding for the audience.
The issue of open-mindedness was raised. Confronting different generations, such as teachers and their students, is a matter of patience and communication. For Emilio Casalini, teachers must give rooms for children to express themselves, and students must switch their mindset on what is good about learning from the oldest, rather than focusing on what’s wrong.
The reason we chose Emilio Casalini for this intervention is because he has the experience and precious advice to give to the next generation. This afternoon may have changed the minds of these students on how they perceive their environment and perhaps gave them ideas to pursue a dream or a career they never thought of.