Learning to be resilient: an intergenerational project to coping with the consequences of an earthquake

Older adult education in Italy is a wide and rich world involving many educational fields. From the very beginning, this educational sector has been conceived as a strategy for fostering active participation among the elderly. In the past few years, due to social and demographic changes and the consequently increasing coexistence between generations, older adult education is focusing more and more on increasing active citizenship and intergenerational dialogue and solidarity (Ripamonti, 2009). Many educational contexts for older adults are designed as intergenerational learning environments, where people can meet and share significant living experiences among generations and social groups. Moreover, the promotion of positive intergenerationality (Saraceno, 2008) is a very powerful personal tool for empowerment, especially when facing difficulties. This is the case of the project “Il pozzo della memoria” (The well of memory), designed to foster sustainability through the recovery of environmental memories and participatory social planning (Oltheten 1999) among intergenerational communities, in small villages in the Bologna countryside (Emilia-Romagna, Italy). When this project was set up, a severe earthquake shook and shocked some of the villages involved. As a consequence of this dramatic experience, the project was re-planned to answer the new learning needs of the population. Intergenerational dialogue became an opportunity for teaching and learning resilience (Bronfenbrenner 1979, Burns 1996). Older adults’ memories of the Second World War and post-war reconstruction became a fundamental heritage, an asset for the younger generations and for all the community. This paper focuses on the analysis of two different but complementary aspects of the project: on one hand, the methodology, micro- and macro-planning, and on the other hand the project contents and results. We intend to describe this unexpected and innovative learning experience.