Educational programmes on democracy, peace, and human rights
10/09/2026
Within the framework of the FORTIC project, the Municipality of Cervia realized educational activities addressing local lower secondary schools, aimed at engaging younger generations with the themes of peace, human rights and conflict management, while connecting classroom experience with the local historical and defensive heritage related to the Second World War.
Nr. 8 third-year classes of Cervia’s IC2 and IC3 Comprehensive Schools have been involved, for a total of 154 students, through two complementary programmes: the “Human Rights Education” laboratory, organized by Teatro del Drago Social Cooperative, and guided tours of Cervia’s Second World War defensive heritage, organized together with the cultural association CRB 360.
The workshops, held from March to June 2026, engaged students in experiential learning activities, such as the “The Battle of the Oranges”, through which students experienced how a situation initially perceived as competitive can, through dialogue, be transformed into a positive outcome for everyone involved.
Another topic explored was how events taking place in other parts of the world can also affect our own lives. Most students showed a strong awareness of how distant wars and crises can have global humanitarian, economic, and environmental impacts.
The workshops concluded with a reflection on peace not simply as the absence of war, but as an active process, based on respect for human rights, cooperation, and the ability to manage conflicts through communication.
To complement the classroom activities, students also took part in a programme of guided tours of Cervia’s Second World War defensive heritage, with a particular focus on bunkers and “dragon’s teeth” located in the seafront of Milano Marittima. Direct contact with these sites helped connect the themes of peace and human rights with reality and local history.
The activities carried out with local schools thus contributed to one of FORTIC’s key objectives: enhancing the Adriatic’s fortified heritage by transforming it into an opportunity for learning, historical awareness and the promotion of a culture of peace among younger generations.
