Colourful, diverse, dramatic – this is the start of our Interpret Europe conference in Pisa.
A fanfare to start the conference.
This is Italy, bright, beautiful ..
… and man enough to wear tights, as only men can.
This is an opportunity to get up close to European heritage traditions.
I am working hard to make the most of this opportunity.
It is an opportunity to see things differently, hear perspectives of shared history that we have not heard, to see how people’s relationship with the land and their ancestry evolves in different places, over thousands of years.
It is an opportunity to talk, as Patrick Lehnes did in his opening keynote, thoughtfully and eloquently, about the links between classical Humanism, the Enlightment and, possibly, the roots of European interpretation. He spoke of Galileo Gallilei “The critical mind from Pisa”, highlighting how he overcame dogma, offering new, profound, world changing ideas that took our planet out of the centre of the universe. He also translated scientific papers into Italian so more people could read them and science could become accessible. This is all very relevant to our work as heritage interpreters. Siting here in Pisa, I felt a sense of continunig tradition.
And we have only just begun …