The Municipality of Piacenza’s need was precise: to promote the Great River as a natural and scenic resource, rebuilding and giving new life to its relationship with the city. This need was fulfilled with a two-day event in the heart of the Scalo Pontieri with a programme of guests and topics designed to attract the interest of a broad swathe of the public: an evening show for all ages, workshops and readings for the little ones and thematic panels on environmental issues related to the Po River and the Piacentino territory.

Opening the event on Friday 29 September was actor Valerio Aprea with Aspettando l’Apocalisse [Awaiting the Apocalypse], a series of comedic and ironic monologues commenting on our relationship with nature, written for him by illustrator Marco Dambrosio aka Makkox. During the day on Saturday 30, a workshop for children with entomologist and writer Gianumberto Accinelli, who accompanied the participants on a journey through time, retracing the river’s history and the environmental transformations of which it has bore witness over the course of millions of years, followed by two presentations of books for young people, Gaia degli Alberi [Gaia of the trees] with author Alessandra Spada and Custode di cuori [Custodian of hearts] with writer Mia Canestrini.

Then on the agenda were two thematic panels to discuss “Shared urban space as a place of welcome and integration” with Rai News correspondent for Ukraine Christian Elia. To follow, a focus on the river “from the natural and anthropological perspective”: a dialogue between journalist Stefano Liberti and environmental engineer and writer Annalisa Corrado, moderated by journalist Natascha Lusenti.

Closing out the two days dedicated to the Po, was an encounter on the topic of “I choose my words with care” between Gino Castaldo, Repubblica’s music critic and Rai host, and Reggio Emilia rapper Murubutu, whose lyrics weave together literature, history and philosophy.

Also curated by Elastica was the entire visual identity of the project, an identity which will be maintained for future editions of the event.

Photos by di Carlo Pagani