- Ventotene
A plunge into the dream of the founding fathers, toward a Europe of culture.
The Ventotene Natalonga for Europe returns on Saturday, July 15, 2023.
A hundred sportsmen and women tackle the 1,700 meters that separate the island of Santo Stefano from Calanave beach by swimming. As is now customary, it is an opportunity to reaffirm the founding values of the EU on the island where Altiero Spinelli, Ernesto Rossi and Eugenio Colorni wrote the "Manifesto for a Free and United Europe" in 1941.
On the eve of the race, on the main square of Ventotene on the evening of Friday, July 14, the public meeting titled "The Future of Europe Passes through Culture" with writer and journalist Corrado Augias, who after the participation of writers Edith Bruck in 2021 and Helena Janeczek in 2022, is the guest of honor of this new edition.
The event once again symbolizes the desire to continue to be inspired by the authors of the Manifesto who in the midst of the conflict had the strength to imagine a new Europe. Convinced that in the face of the many challenges of the present, from the war in Ukraine to the climate, to globalization that is changing world balances, we need to rethink our societies, to become promoters of a change that in particular goes beyond only economicist logic in favor of greater investment in education and culture, to reduce inequalities and territorial disparities that exist in the Union. In all of Romania there are fewer than 100 cinemas, in France there are still dozens of "white zones" with less than one cultural venue per 10,000 inhabitants, and 60 percent of Italians are more than a 30-minute drive from a bookstore. We should have the courage to set minimum standards of supply to ensure greater access to culture for all European citizens, a kind of Maastricht parameters of culture.
Organized in collaboration with Acmos and the Benvenuti in Italia foundation, Natalonga for Europe is held under the patronage of the European Commission Representation in Italy, the Lazio Region, the Municipality of Ventotene, and is supported by Sidra (DEME Group), and ADR Center.
