The Italian Government’s plan
The inspiring principle of the Italian plan is the recovery of the historical memory, which also passes through the rediscovery, the restoration and the enhancement of sites, monuments and of the “commemorative landscapes” that were the theatre of events involving civilians and the army.
A major role will be played by the “infrastructures of the memory” throughout the territory, which will represent an “Ecomuseum” of national history and identity, also from a European perspective.
The overall programme of events, based on a synergy with the main Italian Research Institutes and Archives through suitable memorandums of understanding, also includes a set of cultural and dissemination activities, such as exhibitions, conferences, publications, photographic campaigns, concerts, documentaries and cinema productions.
The activities proposed will be developed according to the following pathways:
- The restoration and renewal of the sites that were the theatre of operations, as well as the setting up and/or reorganisation of museums;
- The cataloguing of WW1 Memorials all over Italy, and the enhancement of the sites of memory within the national territory.
- The involvement of schools in an educational pathway conveying to young generations the meaning of war, also with a view to the perspective of a construction of a renewed European identity;
- The communication of the meaning of commemorations through mass media and activities entailing a strong media impact.
- The enhancement of national culture and folk memory, through the retrieval of stories, documents and objects related to the life of the Country and its citizens, besides exhibitions, restoration of art objects or documentaries, digitalisation campaigns, conferences and publications.
The objective for 2018 – representing the year in which commemorations will come to an end – is to set up a historical, cultural and territorial path, made up not only of physical spaces – although recovered and included in a pathway of knowledge -, but also of the results obtained through researches and works on new or already-existing documentary Archives. All the above will be included in the “Virtual Memorial of the Great War”, a sort of “portal of portals” preserving the memories of the events that we will recall, also for future generations.