The initiative intends to safeguard one of the symbolic sites of Monferrato, the Sacro Monte di Crea, a place of art and Marian devotion since the early Middle Ages, as well as a UNESCO heritage site.
The association was born by the will of a group of entrepreneurs deeply connected to the territory and is governed by a Council and a Committee d'Honor of which they belong the Bishop of Casale Monferrato, Monsignor Gianni Sacchi, and the Rector of the Sanctuaryof Crea, Monsignor Francesco.
L'Association has for President Angelo Miglietta e aims to activate public and private contributions for the restoration and conservation of architectural works of the territoryorium. The interventions onthe chapels of the Sacro Monte they will inaugurate these activities, which the Association Recreate Create intends to define, develop and implement within the first meyes from 2019.
President, when did the idea of to give life to the Association?
It was a quick process, where the territory itself participated and generated attention and supported the launch of Ricreare Crea; consider that this type of experience has already been carried out by other small associations which over time have worked to safeguard the historical and cultural value of these places, and all of them have always been proactive for their skills.
It is also thanks to the commitment of FAI and local entrepreneurs that we have thus decided to continue this project, let's say that we have found something more than financial support: a shared sensitivity is a great "intelligent love" for the territory. I also want to underline that thanks also go to the Park Authority, a very open interlocutor.
These are significant and cult works, once the works are completed, do you intend to also pursue a cultural-tourist promotion in order to fully enhance the Heritage?
Our goal is to do activities that can revive the territory, thus avoiding being confined. The original vocation was expressly that of worship, of sacredness, but today there is more need to rediscover a spirituality of people. Here is the importance of having a place of cultural attraction full of meanings that can give a profound meaning in the contemporary world. The association wants to present itself with an integrated sense of all the components present: the beauty of the places, the Sacro Monte and the sacred works, but also the contiguity with food and wine and its precious products. Even spirituality should not be seen as "penitent" but instead "joyful". A glorification of well-being for cultured tourism, but never elitist, made of real things and a desire to regain possession of beauty and "slowness".
What was the response of the local people?
Absolutely positive, even before starting the project, several local realities spontaneously approached us asking how they could help us. The Sacro Monte di Crea is first of all a heritage of those who live there and of those who have had to or have chosen to leave, because their hearts always remain here. We want to work on the Piedmontese tradition in the world, because it is popular culture that emerges over time.
A great commitment worthy of merit, but also an operation to bring young people closer to themes that are not necessarily contemporary. Do you have any plans in this regard?
Perhaps it is the most complex part but also one of the most important ones to which we want to dedicate time and listening. We will try to get closer to young people through schools, high schools, and give voice to their opinion, their creativity, their way of contaminating history with reality. And with them try to understand how to pigs for the future, where the main theme will be "experience".
Recreate Crea, an ambitious name and a demanding project with the participation of private individuals, do you also intend to open up to foreign lenders as well?
The first step will be to introduce ourselves to Lombardy and Milan, which is currently experiencing an extraordinary phase of relaunch and internationalisation. From here we will then try to do crowdfunding, fundraising and more.
The first fundraising initiative will be destined for the chapel of Nactivity of the Virgin, built in 1590 by the Duke of Mantua and Monferrato Vincenzo I Gonzaga to a design by Giovanni Francesco Baronino and rich in decorations attributed to Giorgio Alberini: fifth on a course of twenty three, is la more vispossible because it overlooks the square of the Sanctuary and ideally joint, along an ideal axis, with the chapel of the Madonna di Crea allinside the church. Together with this, others are planned interventions immediately on two other chapels of this extraordinary route, damaged by time and neglect, to whose creation contributed the greatest local architects and painters over a period of three centuries, such as Guglielmo Caccia known as Moncalvo, the potters Tabacchetti or the sculptor from Savona late nineteenth century Antonio Brilla. In this task, the Ricreare Crea association, which intends to issue the first calls for tenders by the summer, will be able to enjoy not only the support of the Diocese, but also of a monastery of nuns of the Dominican order, which for two months has settled in the Sanctuary of Crea: a small contemplative community but with a high professional profile (one of them is an accountant), which represents a further driving force for the area of the Sanctuary and the Sacro Monte.
The Sacred Mount of Crea
Located on one of the highest hills of the Monferrato, near Serralunga of Create, in tryanceof Alexandria, the Sacred Mount winds along the slope that leads to the Sanctuary in a forest of oak and ash trees between chapels chapel of Paradise, located at the top of the hill. Inserted since 2003 in the list of Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy as heritage of thehumanity, the Sacred Mount of Crea develops its own history jointly with that of the convent and church of Santa Maria, a destination for devotional pilgrimages since the Middle Ages.
Angelo Miglietta he is full professor of Entrepreneurship and Start up for Art at the Iulm University of Milan, where he is also Pro Rector for Innovation and Research. He founded Iulm Lab, the University's innovative start-up for the incubation of entrepreneurial ideas in the fields of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Industries. He acquired specific experience in the field of cultural heritage and territorial management during his tenure as General Secretary of the Crt Foundation, when in particular he set up the Crt Development and Growth Foundation and, among other things, planning, at the request of the then Mayor of Turin, the OGRs. He is the author of over 200 international publications, the most recent on the topics of Economics and Management of cultural heritage and crowdfunding and fund raising. He has been a member of prestigious boards of directors of the main Italian groups (Assicurazioni Generali, IMI, San Paolo) and still holds positions in Italian subsidiaries of large international groups (Eon, Aviva, Bain Capital).
