04) Luigi Maramotti

Thank you for being so quick. I'd like to hear from our professionals who accepted the invitation of the Optimist Foundation, whom I thank. First of all, I thank so many people — I can't name them all — the Optimist association and all the associates who have volunteered for this initiative for many years, now somewhat institutionally. I also thank the many professionals in our group who have supported teachers and students of these two institutes in this work we're experiencing here today. I must make a special thank you to the professor, because I have rarely heard such a clear and direct statement of the importance of a strong connection between the world of making, the world of enterprise, and education — the world of training. Very rarely have I heard it made in an academic, university environment. So for me these things are a great sign of hope. I especially liked the word 'joyful' you used, because this is a bit like a peaceful invasion that has been made into a forest like the Aula Magna of a university — a somewhat stuffy place — by people who brought clothes, drawings, and colors here. It's also a way to destructure the academic world — obviously with its centuries of history, as you just recalled — the difficulty of fostering communication that over the years hasn't always been easy. And I must say this is a shame and one of the problems we have in our country: the difficulty of dialogue between higher schools and universities on one hand, the world of work on the other, and technical-professional schools that prepare young people for trades. I believe this activity we've done together with the Foundation, and the fact that the University hosts and supports us this way, demonstrates that things can be done differently. This competition doesn't want to revolutionize the world, but it wants to systematically show every year very young people starting life that there is a way to approach things, there are opportunities, but also responsibilities. Even just facing the work this competition requires — commitment, discipline, enthusiasm — they are all the DNA of work and of life too, because these are also the rules that help a person live. While watching this morning's work, I must congratulate both the teachers and the students. I noticed great growth, including the introduction of real models. We always say in our craft that drawing is very important, having ideas is very important, but the great magic in our fashion craft is the passage from two-dimensionality to three-dimensionality. It's like a chemical process — succeeding in guessing, in inventing, not simply by chance but with great mastery, what rules allow us to pass from a two-dimensional drawing to a three-dimensional garment. And here it was done beautifully — particularly the work the Galvani technical school students had to do. You see the idea from the outside, how it's born, there are paper models, white card patterns realized as garments in their complexity and details. This is the magic of our work, which is certainly very complicated. Also the work of the Classical High School students, more focused on the creative and representative dimension, where perhaps there's greater expectation of creativity — I found it extremely interesting and very strong. So I don't have much more to say except to address the students in particular: by participating in an initiative like this, they give great dignity and value to their school and their teachers, and they begin to experiment with the rules of life — which are the only rules, in any time, in any century. The rules are always the same. The other day I came across a phrase by Confucius that struck me tremendously: the way to act is to be oneself. The simplest rule in life. Many times one asks, what approach should I have? One must be oneself. The construction of being is extremely important, and the part of life spent building oneself — and school is a fundamentally important part of that. If these students continue on this path they've started, it doesn't matter if they all become great models — they will have understood the fundamental rules. Congratulations to them.

But I'd say there's no better way to comment on the words I've said. You students have two possibilities: one is this work you've done, the second is...

Thank you.