Press conference to present the new building in the auditorium of the ancient Macerata village with Special Commissioner for the Reconstruction, Giovanni Legnini, Mayor, Giuliano Ciabocco, and Laura Biancalani, ABF President, in attendance.
Three adjacent blocks, three “science boxes” created to be used for school, workshop, sports, and recreational-creative activities, as well as outdoor activities, designed over a total surface area of more than 2,800 square meters. A modern, anti-seismic building equipped with a 40-kWp photovoltaic system and certified as a Class IV facility, i.e., the rating applied to important public or strategic buildings. This is the reconstruction project of the new “R. FRAU” Vocational School for Industry and Craftsmanship in a nutshell, located in the ancient medieval village of San Ginesio (MC), which will see the building of a school complex designed and developed according to the guidelines of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation’s team of experts together with the Offices of the Commissioner for Post-Earthquake Reconstruction for Central Italy, which directly conferred the Foundation with the role of designer and project manager.
The initiative – which comes after the construction of three other similar projects that the Foundation of the famous Italian tenor has supported and implemented in Central Italy following on from the tragic earthquakes in 2016 – was illustrated with the sharing of the project rendering in the Sant’Agostino Auditorium in San Ginesio, during an information event with the locals who were invited to participate.
The “R. FRAU” Vocational School for Industry and Craftsmanship in San Ginesio is being presented as a permanent research and innovation laboratory, in line with national and international guidelines regarding Vocational Education and Training. The agora of the school will be a multipurpose space that, in addition to accommodating all the students for an assembly or a concert, will also feature niches and spaces for study and research that continue on from all the connecting spaces of the structure. Indeed, the corridors and common spaces naturally branch out from the classrooms, which are not intended to be closed spaces but rather places open to dialog and planning, multipurpose work areas capable of accommodating multiple strategies and teaching approaches. Lastly, the laboratories form the basis of the identity of the school. Their organizational structure defines functionally distinct settings that have been specifically designed on the framework of expected skills for the realization of “Made in Italy Industry and Craftsmanship” and “Maintenance and technical assistance” courses, which may potentially become places of experimentation and training (Makerspace and professional HAAS training) outside of school hours.
March 21 represents a symbolic date. It is the first day of spring, attesting to a desire for rebirth, to restore confidence and hope to these places and, above all, the opportunity to cultivate the talents of the young people of a region that has traditionally been a hub and a point of reference for the Italian manufacturing industry.
“We could say that today is truly the beginning of a new spring for San Ginesio given the moment we are all sharing together. First and foremost, I feel the need to give a special thanks to the Special Commissioner for Reconstruction, Giovanni Legnini, because it is thanks to his determination, expertise, and commitment that a Special Order was issued to us that has finally cleared a serious situation that had been holding us back for too long. I also find myself unable to truly express the gratitude and affection that links me to the Andrea Bocelli Foundation and dear friends, Laura Biancalani, ABF President, and Paolo Bianchi, with whom we instantly established a relationship of esteem, friendship, and mutual collaboration. The professionalism of the team made available by ABF for the project will allow San Ginesio to have a highly innovative and unique school, thereby making the town attractive within the province, region and beyond. These are the real building blocks that allow us to form a future – yet clear – vision for the rebirth of our territory from a social, economic and cultural perspective: the new school will attract many new students thanks to its design, who will restore vitality to the village and repopulate it full time thanks to the establishment of a boarding school. Furthermore, the reorganization of services based on bolstered sharing between all the main actors involved will create a strong school that is able to have a decisive impact on the future of our communities. I would like to extend one last thanks to all the staff of the municipal technical office and to the people of San Ginesio for the patience they have had to bolster after truly difficult times”, Giuliano Ciabocco, Mayor of San Ginesio.
“San Ginesio has chosen to adhere to the simplified procedure by drafting a framework agreement that sees the public institution and the private institution of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation as project partners, with well-defined and equally shared roles”, – said Special Commissioner Legnini during a conference call in which he expressed satisfaction for the initiative that he hopes may be an example for further action – “And so I join in the applause of the audience that I heard, which makes me confident in the choices made. I hope that the entire community, and especially the students and teachers, will be able to seize upon the opportunity to benefit from a structure that I am certain will become a point of reference for the area and a hub for talent”.
Civil engineer Paolo Bianchi, who heads up ABF’s rebuilding projects, architect Massimo Alvisi from the Alvisi Kirimoto studio, the school principal Ida Cimmino and ABF’s educational projects lead Serafino Carli were also present.
“During the last three years, the Renzo Frau educational project was founded on the objective of reform, materializing as an “open regional school of innovation designed to be a research, experimentation, and innovation laboratory”. From this perspective, alongside the opening of fruitful communication channels with local institutions, universities, and manufacturing companies, we focused on integrating the methodology of experimentation and research within the teaching, proposing it as a point of reference for projects and actions aimed at the growth of the local area from an economic and social point of view. The stunning building designed by the ABF Foundation represents the perfect place to create an ambitious educational project, which is already underway. Stimulating physical spaces and state-of-the-art laboratories will allow us to promote vocational training not only as a dynamic, flexible response to the training needs of the territory, but also as a customized pathway that allows every student to express their potential to the fullest and enter the working world, or to continue training, equipped with agile and robust knowledge and solid skills. It also represents an important step towards starting to reflect on the future structure of the school in the area and on the actions required to enlarge the catchment area as much as possible, also by carefully studying the transport plan”, – Ida Cimmino, school principal.
“In keeping with our mission of empowering people and communities – said Laura Biancalani, ABF President –“we firmly believe in the fundamental role that educational environments and settings can play in the growth and development of communities, even more so if they are disadvantaged, which is why we promote it with conviction. Therefore, being able to offer a tangible contribution and a better future to an extraordinary community such as San Ginesio makes us particularly proud. We are therefore deeply grateful, not only to our supporters and our technical team, but also the local authorities and in particular to the Mayor of San Ginesio, Giuliano Ciabocco and to the Special Commissioner Giovanni Legnini, for placing their trust in us. Trust that is repeated over the entire territory of the Marche region that is so near and dear to us”.
It is within this special relationship of closeness and planning in which ABF’s project are created and developed that the reception and integration project for Ukrainian families (23 mothers and children) who arrived at the weekend is rooted: houses and spaces to live in, the ABF schools are always ready to welcome new students and to initiate a system of psychological and cultural support within an intervention project with which the Foundation hopes to provide its contribution for a future of peace and opportunities.