In Fumane (a municipality of Verona in the area of Valpolicella) the first festival of Veneto entirely dedicated to the importance of lifelong learning. It is ApprendiFestival and it will bring to Verona on June, 10 a way of learning focus around the three areas: imagine, develop and enjoy.  

The idea was born a year ago by a 23-year-old Veronese student: Virginia Nocca, a graduate in Management of Educational Services and Continuing Education. The appointment is Saturday, June 10 from 10 am in the structure “Terre di Fumane”, in via Ponte Vaio. During the morning there will be a talk with ten experts from various sectors and in the afternoon, there will be 24 free workshops suitable for all ages. The initiative was presented yesterday by Virginia Nocca, Andrea Porcarelli, professor of general and social pedagogy, and Simone Perina, president of the social cooperative Hermete.  

“In my university career – explains Virginia Nocca – I was interested in continuous learning, which is the founding element of Learning Cities, a network of learning communities and cities established by UNESCO. According to the organization we live in a rapidly changing world, where social norms are continually redefined, economic and political. Anthropological and social studies have shown that people who acquire new knowledge, skills and attitudes in various contexts, are better able to adapt to social and environmental changes. At the same time, continuous learning has many benefits at the psychologist and physical level. I found it interesting to make these issues available to everyone”.  

Prof. Porcarelli points out: “The idea of the festival has found much interest in the territory and this has supported the idea of continuing the organization of the initiative. Lifelong learning is an important issue that has accelerated significantly thanks to new technologies. In an increasingly complex and global society, culture and, more generally, knowledge of reality, should always grow to ensure an adequate response to new problems”.  

On Saturday, June 10, there will be a talk with university professors and other professionals who will talk about learning in three thematic areas. The first one will be related to active ageing and how to cultivate it, a second theme concerns learning and training within the public administration and in companies also in relation to the development of artificial intelligence, and finally, a third focus is on all the different learning contexts and the respectively forms to learn. The goal will be to analyze what it means to be resilient and how many forms of communication exist.