A month of events to celebrate the Italian Port Days initiative, launched jointly by the Port Network Authorities, and coordinated by Assoporti, (the Italian port association –Translator’s Note), to bring citizens closer to port life and culture.
The sea and the port, in all the various ways it interacts with its urban context is the common theme linking the fifteen or so events scheduled from Friday 10 September to Friday 8 October.
The event will kick off the fifteenth edition of the Porto Aperto initiative; a project designed by the North Tyrrhenian Port Network Authority to open up the Network ports to their cities.
The programme opens in tandem with the European Fireball Championship, a major sailing event, which will be held in Piombino from 11th to 17th September, with Salivoli marina as the centre of the event organized by the Centro Velico piombinese, (Piombino’s sailing centre- Translator’s note) in collaboration with Salivoli marina and the participation of the Italian Sailing Federation, CONI and the Piombino Municipality.
All the theatrical and musical performances, meetings, and guided tours that have been chosen to make up the local Italian Port Days event, now in its third year, follow the maritime identity theme in all its various forms.
The first event in Livorno, on Sunday 12th September, is “Allegro Andante con Moto Ondoso“, an acrobatic-musical show that will be staged at the Andana delle Ancore, at the end of the “Con-Fusione” Festival.
One of the most important things will be the inauguration, on 21st September, of the UNICEF Baby Pit Stop at Livorno Port’s Passenger Terminal facility. The project, the result of a collaboration between UNICEF and Soroptimist International d’Italia, launched in Livorno, includes areas designed for nappy–changing and breastfeeding.
The very rich program also includes a series of wide-ranging cultural initiatives organized as part of the “Port Center Thursdays” initiative, during which books dedicated to the Palio Marinaro (Palio. I cavalieri, gli armi, le imprese. Dalla Meloria allo Stretto di Piombino, by E. Campanella, R. Fiori), the history of Livorno (Io Michele, nativo di Scio, negoziante e suddito toscano, by D. Vlami) and Manù e Michè , a literary work by author F. Niccolini will be presented.
The event will not only be held in Livorno and Piombino, but also on the island of Capraia, where, on Saturday 18th September, the play Otto Con by F. Brandi (directed by G. Benucci), dedicated to the history of Livorno’s rowing crews, will be presented.
The Island of Elba will also be the absolute protagonist of the Italian Port Days initiative: on 1st October, on the occasion of the guided tours of the port organized by the Port Network Authority and run by the Gruppo Guide Turistiche Isola d’Elba, the Port-City Instawalks project will be presented. This project, inspired by the Rotterdam experience, invites students to explore the areas around port cities and collect stories, pictures and testimonies from local citizens in the various waterfront scenarios.
Lastly, there will be a special day focusing on equal opportunities for women in port work, Women in Transport, an initiative coordinated by Assoporti, which will take place on Monday 4th October as a web-conference.
“I am very pleased with the initiatives that have been organized as part of the Italian Port Days initiative,” said the President of the North Tyrrhenian Port Network Authority, Luciano Guerrieri. “They don’t only represent an exciting opportunity for the local people’s social life , but they also of major symbolic importance.
“Even in difficult times like the ones we are still going through, ports do not give up their commitment to promoting integration and inclusion,” Mr.Guerrieri continued. “Giuliano Gallanti was absolutely right when he used to say that ports are not only measurable in terms of TEUs: for those who know how to go beyond the problems of noise and pollution, ports are beautiful places.”
Translation by Giles Foster
