Emilia Romagna Castles

Novecento in riva al mare | Young, free, partisans. The story of the generation that gave us the Italian Republic
Michela Ponzani in dialogue with Giulia Penta

What does it mean to have the courage to choose? And how radical can the desire for freedom be for a boy or girl whose future is to be taken away? This encounter with Michela Ponzani proposes a journey into the Italian Resistance through the lives of young people who, when all seemed lost, decided to 'disobey' and take their destiny into their own hands.

With 'Giovani, liberi, partigiani' (Young, Free, Partisans), her first work for the new generations, Michela Ponzani restores - eighty years after the birth of the Republic - a vivid account of the Resistance as seen through the eyes of the youngest. From the stories of Ughetto Forno to those of Giorgio Marincola, Teresa Mattei, Tina Anselmi and Bianca Guidetti Serra, there emerges a web of choices, affections, fears and responsibilities that mark the passage to adulthood, held together by a profound tension towards freedom and the collective good.

The meeting is thus in line with Article 9 of the Italian Constitution, which entrusts the Republic with the task of promoting culture and preserving memory as a common good, making it alive for the new generations.

In dialogue with the author will be Giulia Penta, a young journalist from Riccione, in a discussion that makes concrete the passing of the baton between generations and the continuing relevance of the memory of the Resistance.

Admission free while places last.

Michela Ponzani teaches Contemporary History at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Author and television presenter of cultural programmes for Rai Storia and La7, in 2024 she was awarded the title of Officer of Merit by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella.

Giulia Penta is a journalist specialising in investigation and data. She collaborates with Dossier for Today's Romanian newspapers. A graduate in Italianistics, she has written about literature for the magazine Il Mulino and cultural policy for Lucy. She holds theatre criticism workshops in secondary schools for Emilia Romagna Teatro.