{:en}Officially kicks off on Tuesday, October 23, the first “academic year” of the “LOA Reads in Every Corner” project, the initiative entirely dedicated to reading organized by the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the City of Loano in collaboration with Monica Maggi of “ATuttoTondo” and the Mondadori Bookstore of Loano.
After the success of the two days of street reading workshops held in May and last August, now the project launched by Mayor Luigi Pignocca's administration is ready to go directly into the city's educational institutions.
“Today's society offers children and young people a great deal of cultural stimuli, but these are mostly multimedia and technological in nature,‘ explains Mayor Luigi Pignocca. ’The culture of listening and reading is giving way to that of the Web, so reading is, for children, boring and useless. In this world that goes so fast, we thought, in countertendency, that the valorization of reading is not only a cultural proposal, but also an opportunity for personal and social growth. The book becomes the ”medium' to talk about important topics, about oneself, about one's community. The goal of the project is to stimulate the initiation of reading, relating and listening.".
Councillor for Culture Remo Zaccaria adds, “We believe that schools are the best place to ‘hook’ and enthuse young people with reading, intrigue them and bring them closer to literature by bringing out their needs and aptitudes. The project of ‘Reading is Understanding’ involves emotions, feelings, affective-relational and social experiences by transforming the book into a source of enjoyable entertainment and change and growth.”.
The “Reading is Understanding” project aims to propose reading as an opportunity to train pupils in conscious reading; to accompany them to listen, compare and respect the ideas of others; to arouse the desire to read for the pleasure of reading; to use books as a tool for integration, and personal and social growth; to bring to reading even those who due to economic difficulties cannot afford to buy a book and read; and to create public moments of shared reading on important and current issues.
The project will involve pupils from schools of all levels (the Valerga-Milanesi elementary school; the Mazzini-Ramella secondary school; the Falcone institute) in a logic of continuity and creation of “perennial” readers capable of giving life to their own personal taste and reading space as a practice of “cultural training.” The project includes, among other initiatives, book presentations, networking in the area, training for teachers, workshops to form a “team of reading facilitator kids,” public reading events.
As for elementary school, the goal is to push pupils to “get familiar” with the written word and its authors, stimulate creativity and critical sense (book choice, curiosity, genres, what and where to read, active reader). For middle and high school, on the other hand, the goal is to orient to the “taste” of reading as an everyday and enjoyable experience; to accompany to the awareness of the concept of reading as a means of information/education, interpretation/communication of reality; to train reading facilitators and readers aloud.
In conjunction with “Libriamoci. Days of Reading in Schools,” the event organized by the “Center for Books and Reading” scheduled for Oct. 22-27, on Tuesday, Oct. 23, a delegation of the “Pact for Reading” composed of Mayor Pignocca, Culture Councilor Remo Zaccaria, official Marta Gargiulo #cosavuoichetilegga group contact person Monica Maggi, Patrizia Leone from Mondadori Bookstore and journalist and mother-reader Grazia Noseda will meet with fourth and fifth graders from Milanesi-Valerga elementary school to read them excerpts from famous books, listen and collect boys' and girls' ideas about reading. Each fourth and fifth grade class will be given a book that will enrich the school library.
In conjunction with the initiative “I Read Because. Let's Donate a Book to Schools,” which will take place Oct. 20-28,” instead, the Mondadori Bookstore on Garibaldi Street in Loano will host a series of meetings with read alouds with elementary school students on Monday, Oct. 22, Tuesday, Oct. 23 and Thursday, Oct. 25.
On Friday, 26, however, a free meeting entitled “School and Study Method Parenting of 7- to 10-year-olds” will be held at the Mondadori Bookstore. It will be dedicated to all parents who wish to be supportive of their children in learning and who wish to make them increasingly independent. It will discuss the fundamentals of the study method (from text comprehension to keyword research) and come to find out how to approach math in a calm and pleasant way. The aim is to provide suggestions to parents who wish to coach each child, starting from the third grade, to gain awareness of their areas of strength and an increasingly robust self-esteem and independence, in school and in life. Paola Ricca, creator of the FreeNauta Method, talent coach, Dsa tutor, specialist in metacognition and positive learning and in finding individual areas of strength, will speak.
November will see the “In the Classroom with the Author” project, which aims to “read a book, learn more about a topic, get to know the author.” The proposal, in continuity with the activity carried out last year, involves the presentation of a book together with its author to the students of the fifth grades, who will be able to ask the writer questions and requests for further study. It will begin with “La valigia di Adour” by Zita Dazzi (Il Castoro editions), a short story that touches on fundamental themes such as migration, friendship, diversity and equality, acceptance and human rights.
Following the presentation, journalist Grazia Noseda will hold a writing workshop entitled “How do you write a book review?” A select group of about 15 pupils identified by teachers will be able to participate in two-hour workshop during which they will learn how to write a book “review.”.
Also as part of “LOA Reads in Every Nook and Cranny,” the eighth edition of “Books Under the Tree,” the book review that each Christmas presents the best literary productions of the latest period, will take place between December 2018 and January 2019.
It begins on Sunday, December 2 at 6 p.m. with a “marathon” dedicated to Elena Ferrante: after the
episodes broadcast on TV and premiered at the Venice Film Festival, the “Brilliant Friend” quadrilogy will be presented. This will be followed by an aperitif and “spectacular” readings by the spontaneous group of readers #cosavuoichetilegga. On Sunday, Dec. 9 at 4:30 p.m. there will be a presentation of “Gli ultimi passi del Sindacone” by Andrea Vitali (Garzanti) while on Saturday, Dec. 15 at 4:30 p.m. it will be the turn of “Un lavoro sporco” by Bruno Morchio (Garzanti). Saturday, Dec. 22 at 4:30 p.m. will be “Barchezandu in te Loa” with Riccardo Ferrari who will recount the figure of Professor Antonio Arecco, his activities as a historian, researcher, scholar and devotee of the local dialect. On Saturday, Dec. 29 at 4:30 p.m., it will be the turn of “Poems and Music,” with readings by classic, contemporary and local authors in the sweetness of the Christmas season, with music by maestro Roberto Sinito.
Last appointment Saturday, Jan. 5, at 6 p.m. with the presentation of “L'ultimo giorno di sole” by Giorgio Faletti (Baldini and Castoldi). Roberta Bellesini will present her husband's posthumous book, which before being a book was (and is) a play written and conceived for actress Chiara Buratti. This will be followed by an aperitif and the play “L'ultimo giorno di sole,” written by Giorgio Faletti and performed by Chiara Buratti. Graziella Frasca Gallo (the Gazzetta gieffegi of Loano) will conduct the meetings, with musical and vocal accompaniment by maestro Roberto Sinito. All meetings will conclude with an aperitif.
During 2017, Loano obtained the status of “City that Reads,” a recognition issued by the circuit of the “Center for Books and Reading” (Cepell) in agreement with Anci and aimed at promoting and enhancing municipalities committed to continuously carrying out public policies to encourage reading in their territory. In addition to Loano, only Cervo, Ameglia and Genoa are “Cities that Read” in Liguria.
Last March 9, Councillor for Tourism, Culture and Sports Remo Zaccaria participated in the “Rethinking the City through Books” convention held as part of the international publishing fair “Tempo di Libri” in Milan. In addition to the Loano alderman at the fair were the other representatives of the 400 Italian municipalities that received the “City that Reads” designation. The initiative was an opportunity to illustrate the results of the first “Pacts for Reading,” present the winning projects of the 2017 calls for proposals dedicated to municipalities that have been awarded the status of “Cities that Read,” and introduce the new public notice that will allow interested municipalities to participate in the network and join forces in the revitalization of reading.
And this is what the City of Loano also wanted to do, which on May 15 presented to the area's cultural associations the new “Pact for Reading” approved by the Pignocca council. By adhering to the Pact, the intervening associations confirmed their willingness to support and participate in the cultural projects promoted by the administration and in particular the project of “LOA Reads in Every Corner,” which is perfectly in line with what are the guidelines of the “Center for Books and Reading” on “Cities that Read.”{:}
