20th Cittadinanzattiva 'Vito Scafidi' Award

Good practices, schools from Trescore Balneario (Bg), Savignano (Cn), Genoa and Reggio Calabria on the podium

Presented five civic recommendations for a school focused on e-safety, inclusion, global health and community connection

by School Editorial

15 April 2026

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The winners of the twentieth edition of the Vito Scafidi Award for Good Practices at School, promoted by Cittadinanzattiva and presented today in Rome at the Spazio Sette bookshop, are the students of the Lorenzo Lotto Institute in Trescore Balneario (BG), the Cravetta Marconi Institute in Savigliano (CN), the Glicine kindergarten in Genoa, and the "Fantasilandia" kindergarten in Reggio Calabria.
This year's edition of the Award was dedicated to a photo contest and the winning images were selected from the 160 submitted by a jury of experts in four areas: 'safety at school, on the territory, in the network', 'global health', 'active citizenship', and 'environmental, social and economic sustainability'.

Photography

The photograph "E tu, restare a guardare o fare la differenza?" by the Istituto Istruzione Superiore "Lorenzo Lotto" of Trescore Balneario (Bergamo) tells the story of the fight against bullying, through the portrait of a girl in a mirror composition: on one side, hands pulling at her tresses with papery insults; on the other, kind words and a hand caressing her cheek with empathy.

Sports as a union

"Where sport becomes union" by the I.I.S. Cravetta Marconi of Savigliano (Cuneo) is an image that, portraying from above a group of boys and girls holding gymnastics hoops, recounts sport as a universal language of inclusion and a source of physical and mental wellbeing.

A thread against prejudice

The image 'Leg-Ami: a single thread against every prejudice' of the 'Glicine' Kindergarten in Genoa was created using an aerial technique and depicts a group of boys and girls united by a blue thread and meaningful words emphasising the importance of the sense of community, a community made up of 'Others', in which listening, friendship, sharing, respect and empathy are the fundamental pillars of the citizen of today and of the future.

The Rhythms of Nature

Finally, the photograph "From the earth to the children's hands" by the "Fantasilandia" Preschool in Reggio Calabria documents a grape harvesting and crushing activity carried out directly with the young pupils. The objective is to bring the children closer to the rhythms of nature, seasonality and the rediscovery of the agricultural traditions of the Calabrian territory.
Other special mentions were awarded to the Istituto Severi - Scuola Secondaria di I grado of Arezzo, the De Amicis - Maresca Scuola Secondaria di I grado of Locri (RC), the Istituto Camillo Golgi of Brescia, and the Istituto Sanseviero of Padula (SA).

Civic recommendations in 5 areas

"This edition of the Award, which in twenty years has collected 2785 projects from schools all over Italia, draws a clear map of the educational urgencies and at the same time of the answers that students, as well as school staff and the entire educating community, provide to the same urgencies. Digital safety, the quality of relationships among peers and with adults, self-care - both from a physical and psychological point of view -, the environmental and climate crisis, are priorities with respect to which boys and girls do not always possess the critical tools for interpretation and prevention. At the same time, the affirmation of a sense of belonging to the territory, intergenerational dialogue and the value of youth participation emerge as fundamental levers for building more cohesive and aware school communities," says Adriana Bizzarri, Cittadinanzattiva's national school coordinator.

Here are the Civic Recommendations

1 PREVENTION, SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LITERACY, SOCIAL MEDIA

A paradigm shift is needed to address the increase of violence in schools and in the digital world. Instead of adopting a purely punitive logic, a structured prevention is proposed based on socio-emotional literacy and psychological support for students, as well as with social and educational volunteer paths or experiences in favour of the community. At the same time, it calls for stricter regulatory intervention on social media, including raising the age of access and more effective tools for the immediate removal of harmful content for minors.

2 INCLUSION, AN ENFORCEABLE RIGHT

Inclusion for students with disabilities can be a right that can be concretely demanded if action is taken on three fronts: the removal of architectural and sensory barriers in schools through the use of universal accessibility criteria and assistive technologies; the guarantee of teaching continuity for support teachers and specific training for all school staff; and, finally, truly inclusive emergency management that provides for customised protocols and specific aids for each student with disabilities in the Emergency Plan.

3 GLOBAL HEALTH, HEALTH LITERACY, SOCIO-AFFECTIVE EDUCATION

It is proposed to integrate into school curricula the scientific and interdisciplinary 'One Health' approach, which recognises the link between human, animal and environmental health, and to include in civic education the knowledge of the National Health Service, with its services, reference professionals, and citizens' rights and duties. Finally, it is requested to guarantee relational and mental wellbeing through the structural presence of the psychologist at school, as a preventive garrison against bullying, eating disorders and youth discomfort.

4 NATURAL RESOURCES, CLIMATE CRISIS, YOUTH CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

With respect to the challenge of environmental democracy, the school must transform itself into a garrison of civic monitoring of the territory. The objective is to make young people actors of change through: the monitoring of local risks and the state of implementation of municipal civil protection plans; the direct management by students of a share of school funds to implement 'green' micro-projects; the acquisition of a 'toolbox' with legal, technical and scientific tools to intervene in sustainable decision-making processes.

5 BELONGING TO TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES AND INTERGENERATIONALITY

The overall objective is to strengthen the link between young people and the territory, creating opportunities that act as a brake on the depopulation of small villages and inland areas. How? By transforming, for example, schools into intergenerational hubs where adults and the elderly run manual workshops (such as cooking, vegetable gardens or handicrafts) to pass on practical knowledge to the new generations; by supporting youth micro-entrepreneurship projects in the tourism, cultural and environmental sectors, designed specifically for secondary school students.

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