Just a great way to learn. Certainly to learn biology, chemistry, physics and history you have to put your hand to books and notebooks. But it is certainly more fun and undoubtedly unforgettable (in every sense), when you do it literally "getting your hands dirty" together with the dear ones “Vegetable grandparents”.
That's what some children do primary schools of Caserta with the Horticultura project, while they look after their educational gardens located in the parks of museums and archaeological areas the area.
We learn while having fun with Horticultura
Thus, many children at risk of "educational poverty", and who have never entered a museum even if they live next to it, know archaeological sites and artistic buildings rich in history. By cultivating the land they learn to respect it. They understand that it gives us so much of its fruits, while discover their historical cultural roots and take care of a common heritage together with adults. As Paola Pascale, the project manager, explains, there is even more: in addition to learning in a very practical way "the whole path that goes from sowing to harvest", they speak of chemistry, physics and biology, but also of history. “We also learn to express ourselves better in Italian, to socialize with other children and to work together”.
Agriculture, art and archeology. And not only…
The project develops in the park of the Palace of Caserta, in that Archaeological of Pompeii, in the amphitheater and archaeological museum ofancient Capua and at the Casale di Teverolaccio del Atellano Archaeological Museum. About 400 pupils from the “A. Calcara ”, of Marcianise,“ Alessio Simmaco Mazzocchi ”, of Santa Maria Capua Vetere. And of the Didactic Direction of Orta di Atella and of the second Didactic Circle of Pompeii, in the heart of the Land of fires. A place where it is particularly vital to educate in beauty, in an ecology that is truly at the service of the person, and in "responsibility towards community values".
The gardens are also a precious opportunity to stay in touch with "Grandparents gardeners", elderly people who take care of their constant maintenance. The intergenerational marriage between children and the elderly it is another very important educational area.
The “vegetable grandparents” created Horticultura
An area rich in learning, human warmth and new vitality for those who have lived a lot behind them and can put it to good use again even when society threatens to "discard" it. And indeed the project it was born from the elderly. Since 2010, alongside the Casale del Teverolaccio, a seventeenth-century building of nobles spent in that of Succivo, there is a good number of social gardens. They are cared for by retirees in fragile conditions. "When the children of the Caserta schools came to visit the Casale", Ivan Esposito, head of communication at Horticultura, told VaticanNews "and they met these gray-haired gardeners, they were admired by their work, they asked questions about how the land is cultivated, how it is sown, as a soil is prepared. Thus they received practical teachings but also discovered stories with an ancient flavor, which to their ears sound like wonderful fairy tales ”.
Children and the elderly learn
Today the local elders are Horticultura's “Gardening Grandparents”. And without their constant work “there would be no usable garden where the little ones could carry out their activities. They teach children everything. They are retired, far from inactive, indeed motivated and generous, of that generosity that generates social innovation ". But even children teach. Digital natives, “bring the elderly, with the same patience and love, to the world of information technology. They initiate them to use the Apps for the care of a vegetable garden or for a healthy diet ".
Horticultura then expanded to other museums. The interdisciplinary education of the project continues even when the soil rests or the products are incubating, explains Esposito. In those moments, “we work on environmental education, on healthy nutrition. A series of experiments in physics or botany are carried out so that children understand, for example, what is chlorophyll photosynthesis or composting. And they make themselves aware as much as possible of what they eat or how nature works around them ". And then, when the time comes, you can imagine yourself what a party to collect and bring home the vegetables seen being born and growing under your loving care!
A day of horticulture
A small example of the project's activities is illustrated by a Facebook post. "The fourth classes of the Sant'Andrea and Mascagni complexes of the Alessio Simmaco Mazzocchi Institute of Santa Maria Capua Vetere, were welcomed by the director Ida Gennarelli and involved in educational activities in the outdoor spaces of the Archaeological Museum of ancient Capua, an archaeological garden in which are exposed evidence of ancient Capua: sarcophagi, statues, mosaics, architectural elements from public buildings. The day continued with the arrangement in a seedbed of the legume and cereal plants, basic foods of the gladiators' diet ".
Ortobus: Horticultura in the square
The project was born, as the website explains, from the consideration that “Economic poverty is often caused by educational poverty. Both feed each other and are transmitted from generation to generation ". It is the work of the social enterprise with the children and the Terra Felix social cooperative in partnership with the Geofilos Atella association, Legambiente and with the museums and educational institutions and the public administration of the municipalities involved. Thanks to the Fund for the fight against juvenile educational poverty set up by the Government and financed by foundations of banking origin.
Today the educational effects of Horticultura are maximized by theOrthobus. This electric van brings to the squares of the populous villages of the area the necessary to create educational games interactive. Thanks to this, comments Ivan Esposito, many pupils from other schools visit the museum gardens and many teachers contacting the project with the intention of replicating it.
Article photo: Facebook @Horticulturaterrafelix
