Fidae reaches its eightieth anniversary with a program that brings together memory and perspective, without rhetoric. From 4 to 6 December Rome becomes the stage for a series of events designed to tell what the Catholic school has been and what it wants to be: a place that preserves the past and, at the same time, attempts to build the future.
We start on Thursday 4 December at 5pm, at the headquarters in Via della Pigna 13/A. The inauguration will see the presence of the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti, the Minister for Sport and Youth Andrea Abodi and a video link with the Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara. It’s not a detail: politics is trying to recognize these institutes as having a role that, like it or not, has a significant impact on the Italian education system. After the official greetings, the leadership will pass to Novella Caterina. Don Andrea Andretto will accompany the public on a journey through the decisive stages of Fidae from 1945 to todaywhile the song “The future is us”, performed by Valentina Ambrosio, will try to give a voice – and a face – to the idea of educational continuity. To close the evening, the opening of the 80th anniversary exhibition, a performance by Holy Dance and a convivial moment in the courtyard.
However, the heart of the celebrations will beat on 5 and 6 December, when the national conference “80 years of the future. Let’s generate hope. The Fidae between memory and prophecy” will take shape. Here the past meets the present: leaders, teachers, students and families will discuss a school that changes, often faster than the country can keep up with it.
On Friday 5th, one of the most awaited novelties arrives at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross: Fidaex – Ideas that deserve to be shared. A format that looks at TEDx but reinterprets them from an educational perspective, putting the students on stage. TEDx are local events, organized independently but under license from TED, which reproduce the format of TED conferences with the aim of spreading «ideas that deserve to be shared. The students will be the ones to talk about what happens in the classes: bottom-up projects, visions, attempts, intuitions. It will be an opportunity to look beyond the statistics and measure the vitality of the new generations. Among the interventions, that of Rosy Russo, founder of Parole O_Stili, and Barbara Nappini, president of Slow Food Italia, called to reflect on language, care and community as pillars of every training path.
On Saturday 6 December, again at the Santa Croce, the discussion will move on the priorities of the upcoming school, that of 2026. After the introduction of the national president, Eugenia Carfora will speak, the manager who made Caivano’s educational redemption a model. In the thematic forum we will talk about evaluation in primary school with Milena Piscozzo, conduct voting in secondary school with Piervincenzo Di Terlizzi, protection of minors with Emanuele Montemarano and high cognitive potential with Ilaria Benedetti. A mosaic of themes that reflects the complexity of the present and the immediate challenges.
Three intense days, which Fidae has built as a single path: solid roots, recognizable identity, but also the will to look forward without unnecessary nostalgia. This is, after all, the message of its 80th anniversary: traditions are only valid if they continue to generate the future.
