Living Heritage Across Borders
ICH in Italian Schools Abroad
The initiative
To mark the International ICH Day, the UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Comparative Law at the University of Rome UnitelmaSapienza is launching the first edition of “Living Heritage Across Borders: ICH in Italian Schools Abroad”, an educational initiative specifically addressed to Italian schools abroad.
The initiative aims to bring the principles and values of the 2003 UNESCO Convention into Italian schools abroad and to encourage students to discover, rediscover and critically reflect on Italian intangible cultural heritage as a living, dynamic and shared heritage across borders. For many students attending Italian schools abroad, Italian culture is part of their family history, personal identity or everyday educational experience, even when they live far from Italy. Some may have Italian parents, grandparents or relatives who transmit memories, stories, practices, recipes, songs, celebrations or ways of speaking linked to Italy. For others, Italy may be encountered mainly through school, language, teachers, classmates or cultural references, without a direct family connection. In both cases, intangible cultural heritage can become a meaningful bridge: a way to reconnect with Italian traditions for those who have Italian roots, and a way to discover them for those who approach Italy from outside.
The initiative is based on the conviction that younger generations, especially those growing up in multilingual and multicultural contexts, should be actively involved in recognising, safeguarding and transmitting the knowledge, practices, expressions and traditions that communities identify as part of their cultural heritage. In this perspective, Italian intangible cultural heritage is not presented as something fixed, distant or confined within national borders, but as a living heritage that travels with people, is transmitted through families and communities, and can be rediscovered, reinterpreted and kept alive in different cultural contexts.
Educational toolkit
For this first edition, the UNESCO Chair has developed a dedicated toolkit for participating schools. This toolkit has been specifically conceived to help students reconnect with, rediscover and explore Italian intangible cultural heritage in an international context. It opens with an introductory section explaining what intangible cultural heritage is, what safeguarding means, and why it is important to integrate living heritage into formal education.
It includes activities for three educational levels:
Primary school
Lower secondary school
Upper secondary school
For each level, one activity is designed to help students reconnect with Italian living heritage and with the traditions, memories and practices that may be transmitted within families and communities; one activity introduces intercultural diversity and respect for the heritage of others; and one activity explores music not only as cultural content, but also as a tool for learning, participation and intercultural dialogue.