The place that hosts us, Villa Sanfelice di Monteforte, was built in the second half of the 1800s as part of the project of sea shore filling-in which would lead to the parallel construction of Via Caracciolo and Viale Elena. After many years in which the family that gives the Villa its name lived in this dwelling, until last year, these large spaces were occupied by the only employee of an insurance company that closed down in 1986 in a forced administration procedure that still hasn’t been concluded to this day. We are, therefore, in a place that is a symbol of planning, reorganization and innovation. Of history and nobility. But also of bureaucracy and wasted opportunities.
We would like it to become a place of meeting, of back-and-forth, but above all a place of encounter.
We would like to start working out a model of development that is not merely aligned with the rest of the country and Europe, but a model which, obviously in the context of its ties to a broader and now global context, would make use of the intelligence, skills and resources that our Italian South has always nurtured and conserved. It is necessary to think—or rather to rethink—the SOUTH as the center of the social, economic and cultural revival of our country. In order for this to be possible, it is first of all essential to renounce the logic of welfare dependency. By exalting our specific qualities, our art, culture, craftsmanship, scientific rigor, aesthetic creativity and manual skills, we must focus on our human capital, the YOUNG PEOPLE, and their ability to attract other young people from other latitudes, thanks to their natural aptitude for networking and working together.
“Marco Salvatore, Inaugural Address, June 18, 2019”