The event was attended by:
Paolo Bonetti, President of the Portico of San Luca Restoration Committee
Fabio Cristalli, Head of the Project - Archdiocese of Bologna
Irene Priolo, Councillor for the Environment, Territorial Planning, Mobility and Transport, Infrastructure of Emilia-Romagna Region
Francesca Tomba, Superintendent for Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Metropolitan City of Bologna, Ministry of Culture
Maria Luisa Pischedda and Aldo Barbieri, Works Design and Management
Claudio Candini, executing contractor
Olivier Poisson, inspector for ICOMOS during the UNESCO nomination process
Monsignor Remo Resca, Episcopal Vicar for the Basilica of the Beata Vergine di San Luca.
The meeting was concluded by: Matteo Lepore, Mayor of Bologna and H.E. Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna
Among the various speeches was a contribution from Olivier Poisson, who highlighted that the challenge of enhancing and preserving heritage is above all one of transmission. “If there is no transmission, there is no culture and there is no social life at all.”
He went on to observe that “Every generation inherits a world it did not create, in which it finds representations of its history, its identity, its organisation and its beliefs. They may find these representations beautiful, useful and productive – or not. Preserving or prolonging them is their decision, a choice that each generation makes.”
He concluded the speech with a note of confidence, pointing out that tourism is an invitation to mutual discovery and dialogue between cultures. “In this regard, I would like to recall the Constitution of UNESCO, whose 80th anniversary we celebrated a few weeks ago. I quote: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the spirit of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed”. My perhaps excessive but certainly sincere optimism is that the universal sharing of heritage values can contribute to this.”
