What is the PInAC Foundation all about? Including children in enjoying local tangible and intangible heritage

The purpose of this contribution is to present the «In the Woods» (transl. «Nel Bosco») project concluded in 2023, which involved the Fondazione Pinac, Pinacoteca Internazionale dell'Età Evolutiva Aldo Cibaldi of Rezzato and some primary schools in Rezzato and Brescia. The goal of this project was to bring children closer to the landscape and more specifically to their living environment through the enhancement of the tangible and intangible local heritage. Starting from the folk tales, central theme of the exhibition of children's drawings at the Fondazione Pinac in the year 2023, children have worked on the tale of the «Mostasù», which means «big face» in Brescian dialect. This tale, that belongs to the intangible heritage of the local community, led to the participatory creation of the Land Art installation «The Mostasù family» on Mount Regogna by artist Damiana Gatti. The work, an ongoing work in progress, keeps on being nurtured and renewed through workshops that the Fondazione dedicates to schools. Finally, it was decided to enhance the path that connects the Pinacoteca to the Mostasù stone and the Land Art installation, passing through some points of interest that symbolize the identity and history of the village, with the creation of six illustrated signs. These signs were designed specifically for children to be accessible: it is to them that the maps, photographs and historical reconstructions of the sites are addressed at the very moment of reading. Indeed, the texts invite children to explore the environment and ask themselves questions. The «In the Woods» project, winner of a Fondazione Cariplo grant, promoted children's expressiveness and sense of belonging to their own living context through the fusion of these two aspects: on one hand the attention to the originality of the individual in the elaboration of an element that would enrich a collective work, and on the other hand the very realization of the work situated in everyone’s space. This experience demonstrates how local cultural institutions can, through harmonious collaboration with schools, activate educational paths aimed at bringing children closer to their environment by enhancing the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of their community.