Directing institutional events for Italian schools

Each year, the Italian Ministry of Education and Merit organises the national opening ceremony of the school year, choosing, together with the Presidency of the Republic, a symbolic city from which to launch the new school year. For the 2026/2027 edition, the choice fell on Amatrice, in the province of Rieti, exactly ten years after the earthquake of 24 August 2016 that struck Central Italy, causing 299 victims. The ceremony took place on 21 September at the "Sergio Marchionne" Omnicomprehensive Institute, the rebuilt school in the hamlet of San Cipriano that today welcomes over 500 students. After Naples (2025) and Cagliari (2024), the event returns to the heart of the central Apennines, entrusting the school with the task of telling the story of a territory's rebirth.

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Directing a ceremony of this scale means holding together the protocol rigour demanded by a State event with the sensitivity required by a territory that, ten years on from the earthquake, is still on a path of reconstruction. Every choice, from the spaces to the timing, is calibrated to give the ceremony the solemnity the occasion demands.

Lattanzio KIBS organises the event alongside the Ministry of Education and Merit, handling the logistics, the setup and the on-site coordination needed to ensure the ceremony takes place in the presence of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, the Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara, the President of the Lazio Region Francesco Rocca and the Mayor of Amatrice Giorgio Cortellesi, in a context broadcast live nationwide on Rai. The programme also included a conversation with students moderated by Alberto Angela.

The project is part of the framework agreement with the Ministry of Education and Merit, under which Lattanzio KIBS organises the opening ceremony of the school year for the second consecutive year, following the 2025 edition in Naples.

It was in this context that President Mattarella laid a laurel wreath in memory of the earthquake victims and, in his address, recalled the constitutional value of education - schools “open to everyone”, able to build social cohesion - while also reflecting on the irreplaceable role of teachers in the age of artificial intelligence. Minister Valditara stressed the importance of a full command of the Italian language for genuine integration, while the day also provided an opportunity to present updated data on the seismic safety of Italian schools, compiled by Tuttoscuola based on the Ministry's unified portal.

Project Impact

Directing a national event of this significance allows the Ministry of Education and Merit to turn a memory-laden anniversary into a public moment of confidence in the future, able to speak to the entire Italian school system and to the citizens following the ceremony live.

For the community of Amatrice, hosting the event means seeing the reconstruction path of the past ten years nationally recognised.