The 2021 Festivaldeigiovani is now underway
The 2021 Gaeta Youth Festival is now underway
The sixth edition of Festivaldeigiovani® is now underway
Students from across Italy connect to discuss the present and the future
GAETA, NOVEMBER 8–10, 2021
The Festivaldeigiovani®, taking place from November 8 to 10, 2021, will be all about young people taking center stage. It’s sponsored by Noisiamofuturo, Luiss Guido Carli University, and the Municipality of Gaeta, with Intesa Sanpaolo as the main partner. After five editions that brought 100,000 young people from all over Italy together in Gaeta, and over 120,000 connected via streaming during the COVID period, the Festivaldeigiovani® is once again the gathering place for a major event. It will be produced and streamed live from Gaeta, with a large television studio set up in the Istituto Caboto’s Aula Magna. This will allow a limited number of students to participate in the auditorium, while an unlimited audience of young people can follow the live streams, take part in debates and interactive workshops, and connect with peers and schools from all over Italy.
“From the very beginning, the success of the Festivaldeigiovani® was driven by the decision to make it a platform for listening to and empowering young people. With COVID, it has become even more of a go-to place for students,”explained Fulvia Guazzone, the creator of Festivaldeigiovani® and CEO of Noisiamofuturo. “During months of social isolation and distance learning, these young people were able to keep meeting, talking with each other and with the business world, as well as with experts and figures from the worlds of sports, culture, and entertainment. They continued their PCTO programs and had fun together with music and games. During those months, as we kept talking with the young people, we realized we could reach them and encourage them to step out of their rooms. Now we’re ready to start again in person, with this phygital version. Then, in April, we’ll have an edition that will once again be the big meeting place that has been so successful over the years with young people from all over Italy.”
From now on, Festivaldeigiovani® will support students 365 days a year through the Festivaldeigiovani.it platform. This space offers training, guidance, debate, and showcases the talents of Generation Z, with a constant stream of new events available via live streaming and on demand. This format, fueled by the surge in digital usage during the lockdown, has blossomed into a vibrant community where hundreds of thousands of young people, teachers, and families come together.
“Today, more than ever, it’s crucial to understand the ambitions, needs, and dreams of a Next Generation seeking inspiration and tools to build their future,” said Giovanni Lo Storto, General Director of Luiss Guido Carli. “Luiss brings its educational model and the experience it has gained over the years in supporting university guidance to Festivaldeigiovani®—an extraordinary platform for gathering, sharing, listening to, and showcasing talent. The aim is to help tomorrow’s professionals understand their passions and gain a new awareness of the life and study paths they can pursue after high school.”
Indeed, the goal remains to empower the youngest among us—those who want to be heard, who want to learn, experiment, have fun, and freely express their ideas, aspirations, and talents. Especially at a time when they feel more deprived of space, freedom, and opportunities.
Over the three days, the events will address the most pressing issues facing the younger generation, shaping their development both as individuals in society and as professionals in the workforce.
What will you do when you grow up? That’s the question Luiss Guido Carli University will tackle during the opening event on Monday, November 8, at 9:00 AM. The event will present and analyze responses from a sample of students to a survey conducted by Noisiamofuturo®, thereby identifying emerging demands in the job market. Speakers for the event include: Giovanni Lo Storto, the University’s General Director; Professor Irene Finocchi, the Rector’s Delegate for Digital Transformation and Director of the Luiss Bachelor’s Degree Program in Management and Computer Science; and Professor Matteo De Angelis, Full Professor of Marketing, who will discuss with the students how failure can be a valuable asset, empowering growth experiences both educationally and professionally.
The focus will be on the dialogue between students and companies regarding sustainable development. Among the most popular topics: the Circular Economy, featuring an interactive lesson from Intesa Sanpaolo and the Museo del Risparmio; Eni's workshop on magnetic confinement fusion; stories from companies like Loacker, which are using sustainable business models to look to the future and embrace the challenge of combining tradition and Italian craftsmanship through innovation and digital development; and Cellularline, with its new approach to business, viewing the corporate world as a positive force that can create a virtuous impact on people and the environment.
During the Festival, Bayer will present the short film “l'Altra Terra” to students. The film was co-produced with Giffoni Innovation Hub and directed by Daniele Pignatelli. The screening will serve as a springboard for a discussion on the future of the agricultural sector, where innovation meets tradition.
For career guidance, Umana Spa, an employment agency, will be a valuable partner, engaging students in a training workshop focused on enhancing their skills. Coca-Cola HBC Italia will also focus on enhancing skills. Drawing from its 17th Sustainability Report, the company will explain to young people not only how skills are, now more than ever, a strategic lever for facing and managing the challenges of the post-Covid world, but also a key factor for personal growth and career development.
<p > This event, dedicated to health, well-being, and personal development through sports, is made possible by adidas. Following the full-day “Impossible is nothing” event at Festivaldeigiovani® featuring top athletes, adidas is once again offering students a special session with Ambra Sabatini, a Paralympic champion, who will share her story of rebirth after the life-changing accident.Then, FREEDA will use data from a survey conducted in collaboration with Festivaldeigiovani® to spark a discussion about the limited resources available to young people for taking care of their mental health, and how this affects their ability to manage their mood.
Among the training events for the start of the PCTOs, there will be “How TV series are made,” offered by Luiss Summer School to participants in Myos, make your own series, who will try their hand at writing TV series scripts alongside professional screenwriters; “A volte raccontano,” a training session organized with Scuola Holden in Turin for the young people participating in Parole Giovani, a short story contest for Generation Z, who will be guided toward the importance and awareness of the words they use to express themselves every day.
Of course, there were also the meetings between students and literature, which sparked discussions between young people and writers on current issues. The events featuring books and authors will include: “Non devi dirlo a nessuno” by Roberto Gazzaniga, “Io sono Jai, le prime impressioni sono spesso sbagliate” by Christian Hill, both published by Rizzoli; and “Io dico no al razzismo” by Viviana Mazza and Kibra Sebhat, published by Mondadori.
Speaking to the Gen Z audience will be characters who are highly popular with young people— influencers who can convey values and education on the most pressing issues: legality, inclusion, and empowerment through talent. From the story of Bellamy, founder of Afroitalian Souls, to Benedetta De Luca, one of the first fashion influencers with disabilities; from LawPills, social media lawyers, to Fabiana Manager, a true guru on TikTok and Instagram who teaches how to present yourself properly in job interviews; to travel blogger Valentina Miozzo. And finally, the unmissable story of Ahmed Malis, the young Egyptian who, by “drawing green parrots at the metro stop,” manages to get noticed for his talent and graduates with top honors from the Academy of Fine Arts.
The Festivaldeigiovani® will also be an opportunity to discover the city of Gaeta, a jewel on the Lazio coast and a Blue Flag destination for the sixth consecutive year. It has served as a film set for several Italian movies and, during the Festival, it truly shines thanks to the sixth edition of Favole di Luce.
“Gaeta, the city of young people! This statement has been with us since the very first edition, when a wonderful journey began. This year marks its sixth edition. We are ready to welcome with renewed enthusiasm a great event where the real stars are young people, says Mayor Cosmo Mitrano, adding, “We have always placed them at the heart of our administrative policies, which are designed to pay special attention to their needs.” Thanks to the Festivaldeigiovani®, Gaeta transforms into a vast cultural laboratory, a melting pot of ideas, with concrete actions that consistently aim to instill confidence in the talents of our youth. There's no doubt that the younger generations feel those socio-cultural changes more keenly than we adults do, thanks to their ability to perceive the nuances of a world in flux. Through the Festivaldeigiovani®, Gaeta becomes the focal point of a significant national dialogue, where thousands of students will engage in discussion. It will also be an opportunity to further promote and appreciate Gaeta’s historical, cultural, artistic, and scenic treasures, reaffirming our wish: “We believe in you; you are our future.”
During past in-person editions, over 5,000 students completed their School-to-Work Program in Gaeta, organizing and promoting the festival's events and contributing to the social journal www.noisiamofuturo.it with hundreds of articles, videos, posts, poems, and stories. Once again this year, throughout the event, our very young reporters will cover the Festival with interviews, commentary, and stories straight from the virtual newsroom, using the hashtags #festivaldeigiovani and #noisiamofuturo.
To view the program and event calendar, visit: www.festivaldeigiovani.it
Simona Icardi
Noisiamofuturo® Press Office
Tel. +39 0131 261230
Annalisa Pacini
Luiss Press Office
Tel. +39 06 8522 5284