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Regione Emilia-Romagna Cultura d'Europa
Emilia-Romagna Cultural Heritage
The Region of
Emilia-Romagna, lying between the Po’s great course and the peaks of
the Apennines, offers a great variety of landscapes, traditional cultures,
and architecture. These provide a rich deposit of shapes and materials. The
Roman cities that run the length of the Via Emilia,
the coast that descends from the Po Delta to the Marche,
the ancient walled towns on the hills, the fertile plain, all make up part
of the densely woven fabric where culture, innovation, organizational skill
and flexibility within the institutions join forces with historical
heritage.
A wide, well-informed, and interested public is concerned with the
preservation and safe-guarding of the cultural fabric which is provided for
by legislation directed at a wide variety of operation of restauration and
maintenance throughout the territory. The Region works with specialized
institutions such as the Istituto per i beni culturali e naturali IBACN,
(Institute of Artistic, Cultural and Natural Heritage) which collaborates to
the implementation of the Region’s programmes in close collaboration with
Provincial and Municipal Authorities as provided for by the Regional law
18/2000. The institute is active in all cultural fields; from books to
historical city centers, from collection of scientific instruments to
paintings, from archival sources to photographic and cartographic
documentation.
Among the numerous activities are the great cataloguing campaigns aimed at
improving and updating the library services and gaining a better knowledge
of the extent of the cultural resources of the entire territory and its
museums. Equally important are the regular, ongoing restauration operations
carried out in collaboration with the State and the Local Authorities.
The organizations of cultural events, on the other hand, is managed by AICER,
(Agency for Cultural Events in Emilia-Romagna), a
company with 49% of shares in the hands of private investors. Since its
opening, AICER has organized and managed big expositions, complex cultural
events, and educational programmes in collaboration with the Board of
Tourism. In the field of live entertainment, the Region collaborates with a
number of production companies. The Region of Emilia-Romagna
is a founding member of the Fondazione del Teatro Comunale di Bologna (the
Bologna Municipal Opera Theatre Foundation), which keeps alive, together
with other theatres in Emilia Romagna, the classical
musical tradition so widespead throughout the territory. There is also The
Toscanini Foundation, which again boasts the Region as one of its founding
members; its successful productions are ranging from contemporary music to
opera, with new interpretations of Verdi in Busseto and in other ancient and
atmospheric towns.
In the field of drama and dance, the Region is involved with
Emilia-Romagna Theater (ERT), and the Centro della Danza (Dance
Center), better known as Aterballetto. Co-ordination and marketing are
handled by the Association of Theatres of Emilia Romagna,
ATER, which promotes and develops theatre throughout the entire territory
and abroad. The Regional Law 13 of 1999 provides the Region with effective
legislation, promoting artist expression and organization in this field. The
law provides for wide and detailed concertation at a local level, and
assigns the 9 Provinces the role of co-ordinators, in order to better
understand and promote harmonic development for all the diverse and
individual realities in regional entertainment.
Regional Law 37 of 1994 provides for cultural promotion, including
initiatives from deeply-rooted associations in the territory, and from Local
Authorities side by side with the Region’s larger scale programmes having a
wider impact on the cultural life of the whole territory.
The primary goals are to support initiatives that promote cultural,
historical and artistic awareness and effective management of cultural
resources. Particular attention is paid to actions that improve and update
facilities dedicated to cultural promotion and the enhancement of the
historical heritage. Of primary importance is the promotion of young artists
in all art forms, and to this and, specific support is provided.
The Region therefore is strongly oriented towards promotion of culture that
touches on all themes - from art to dance, from music to popular traditions
- to instigate co-ordinated actions and events and generate real growth
throughout the territory. For integrated policies, there must be systematic
collaboration between all the layers of government active in the cultural
field. In the first place there is a constant exchange with the State
Bodies; then there is an ongoing dialogue with the Local Authorities, who
are direct and invaluable partners in the growth process of the entire
region. The general public also continues to be a precious and invaluable
contributor, with suggestions and inspirations.
The collaborative spirit and the rational integration of resources provide
guidelines for the cultural policies in Emilia-Romagna, policies aimed not
only at preserving traces of a glorious past, but also at promoting new and
modern cultural forms in an invigorating exchange between ancient tradition
and contemporary interpretation. Vera Negri Zamagni Vice President and
Councillor for Arts, Culture and Entertainment
Image description 1An imagery for future memory
The Region of
Emilia-Romagna is a recent invention in the long history of our
country. Its birthdate is that of the political unification of Italy, when
physically and politically diverse territories were joined together with a
happy outcome. It was certainly a political invention–creation, but also an
invention-finding at a cultural level. Within the numerous differences, a
cultural singularity was discovered and reinforced, a sense of self and
unique skill and know-how. The conjuncture found a structure, a
civilization, which means a deep and lasting way of life and inestimable
patrimony of economical, artistic, scientific and technical products.
The boundaries drawn are, at the same time, places for exchange. From the
Apennines valleys – mountains crossed with many passes – to the main
navigable river, the Po, down to the courses of the Adriatic Sea, they
contain an archipelago of cities linked by a Great Road, the
Via Emilia, which passes through them and makes them porous. If I may
use a metaphor, it is like a great, ancient, inhabited bridge, crossed
through by other roads run along by pilgrims, such as the Via Romea along
the Sea and the Via Francigena across the mountains.
A thick urban cobweb where the cities – like clearings in the forest during
the Middle Ages – seems to be immersed in a complex territorial fabric -
mountain plantation and “filled” geometrics, grain and fruit orchards, stock
farming and its products, among the richest and most civil in Europe. Large
and small cities with their gates and ports, always knotting together with
many threads their local tradition and Northern Europe and Orient.
Thanks to these characteristics, the important industrial settlements become
part of the territory avoiding the unmanageable phenomenon of the
metropolis. An open, or at least an ajar localism acts as a conscious
counterbalance to the impulse towards globalization.
Men make the places which will make them. The Region has merged the Romagnas,
with their Byzantine heritage, Bologna and Ferrara, with their papal past,
Modena and Parma, with their “laic” duchies - territories gathered in many
different ways by history into cities and signories, into fiefdoms and
monastic territories. Each real political project makes a community,
ceaselessly provides a way to stay together, but must take into account the
character and life-style of its citizens - as idiomatic as their dialect.
Undoubtedly few people in Europe are so attentive to the quality of the
earthly nourishment we find in domestic architecture and public living
spaces, from public buildings and noble palaces to rural houses, from
squares to porticoes. Hence the quality of its hospitality and the
privileged welcome to tourists. We must not forget that the national flag
was invented in Emilia and that the only project of
unified Italian cuisine was attempted in Romagna. But
flavors are not alternative to learning, nor Arts and Sciences to the Art
of Living. From the Etruscan and Greek vases to the painters
(Correggio, Carracci or Morandi), from the cathedral
sculptors (Wiligelmo) to the film directors (Fellini and Antonioni), this
Region gave itself and those who have eyes for seeing an Imagery, that is an
incalculable index of images which represents its great “game”. Over time,
the Muses have joined hands. Here Verdi’s music resounds with the joyous
words of Boiardo and Ariosto, and the mysterious words of Pico della
Mirandola and Savonarola. In the original heritage of Italian culture,
Poetry and Science (Marconi) are part of the great
pedagogical tradition of Bologna, the first of the European universities.
The multi-cultural reality peculiar to Emilia-Romagna
Region’s past and present cannot be depicted once and for all, but must be
continually redefined through its images, music and writings. The new
languages of the modern age - from technology to fashion, are also involved,
so that its traditions become “future memory”. To live the present we can
look at the future problems using the certain resources of the past.
Paolo Fabbri
CULTURE IN EMILIA-ROMAGNA -
INSTITUTION AND SERVICES -
RESOURCES
ON STAGE -
LINKS -
VIDEO
Intro -
Beginnings -
Towns and cities -
Handicrafts -
Museums -
Visual arts -
Libraries and archives -
Natural heritage -
Music -
Festivals -
Theatre -
Children's theatre -
Dance -
Cinema
Courtesy of
Council for Culture - Emilia-Romagna
(c) 1997-2008 E. Massetti
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