“Arena di Janine”
in Rondine, Citadel of Peace
Chimet supports the “Arena di Janine” project, to create a natural arena in the village of Rondine that aims to welcome thousands of young people from all over the world, particularly those most affected by wars and unresolved conflicts, to experiment with and promote a method aimed at the peaceful transformation of conflicts at all levels.
The Arena di Janine is the natural amphitheatre of Rondine, a place symbolic of the commitment against indifference, dedicated to Liliana Segre, Life Senator of the Italian Republic, who handed over her memory of pain and peace to the young people of Rondine on 9 October 2020 so that they could transform her memory into concrete actions for the future.
The inauguration of the peace-promoting project could only take place in the presence of the river of peace of young people who have chosen to walk with Rondine for Peace. The Arena di Janine is, in fact, a meeting area for young people from all over the world, a space for discussion and civic engagement. Moreover, it represents a collective recognition of the value of Liliana Segre’s testimony and a place where the memory of her French friend Janine lives on, to whom she remembers not saying a last goodbye as she was sent to the gas chamber due to the dehumanisation of the death camp. Her story has inspired Liliana Segre throughout her life to fight against indifference.
An impetus carved into the threshold with Liliana’s words recalling her undying choice to renounce hatred and revenge in the face of the possibility of taking justice into her own hands:
“I chose life and became free”.
In the Arena di Janine, moments of authentic youthful celebration are experienced, not consumed in oblivion, daze and alienation, but generated in the awareness and will of a commitment to peace.
The pursuit of harmony with the environment is a fundamental element: the green spaces preserve the existing vegetation (tree and shrub species), integrating it into the overall design. The aim of this choice is to create a permeable and accessible green art trail, characterised mainly by vegetation consisting of typical species hardy for the type of terrain, seeking to give as natural an appearance as possible and to encourage visitors to reflect on the conflict-environment dynamic as a facet of the culture of peace.
The Arena di Janine is, in this way, the threshold for regenerating relationships, a “place of care, which heals and needs to be healed”: a special place of harmony, entirely usable and accessible, capable of stimulating socialisation and the use of space, and going beyond mental and physical barriers (including architectural ones).
“Chimet con Te” (Chimet with You) was created to support projects with high social value, assistance for the elderly, disadvantaged families, people with reduced mobility, and the academic world, but also cultural initiatives with a recreational and sporting background. Learn about the projects that receive and have received Chimet’s support.
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