They come back, like every year, the FAI Spring Days: spring has just arrived, and even if the weather is still winter in a large part of Italy, on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 March the Fondo Ambiente Italiano opens as usual to the public a thousand historic, artistic and environmental sites throughout Italy. The event has come to 26esima edition: every year, since 1993, the third weekend of March is a great celebration dedicated to the beauty of the Belpaese.
A party to which everyone is invited and which over the years has been attended by over 10 million people who have been able to visit 11.000 locations in 4.700 cities, with the involvement of over 35.000 "apprentice guides", middle and high school students who accompany the visits.
In 1993, in the first edition, 50 places were opened in about thirty cities. In the upcoming weekend, however, there will be a thousand throughout the peninsula and on the islands. “You protect what you love and you love what you know”, remembers the founder of the FAI, Giulia Maria Crespi.
EARTH HOURS
In conjunction with the FAI Spring Days, Saturday 24 at 20,30 snaps Earth Hour – Earth Hour, WWF's global event dedicated to the environment and climate, which predicts that right at that time the lights are turned off simultaneously all over the world for an hour. The energy saving of the gesture, which has the effect of lower carbon dioxide emissions, the main climate-altering factor on the planet, is entirely symbolic but has the purpose of raising attention to the issue of climate change. In Italy, 200 Municipalities participate.
Like every year, the iconic monuments of the most important cities in the world will also be symbolically shut down. It will be in Rome Paolo Nespoli, ESA astronaut, protagonist of ASI's VITA mission (Italian Space Agency) returned last December from the last space expedition which lasted almost 5 months, to turn off the lights that illuminate the Colosseum together with the WWF.
“From up there you lose the detail but you see the beauty and feel the fragility of our planet: they call it an overview. The atmosphere looks like a light mist that envelops the planet and an incautious blow from the space station seems to be enough to sweep it away. At night all the continents light up like a Christmas tree and from the station you observe as we human beings are in every corner of the globe. From up there it seems impossible that our aggressive omni-presence is not altering the conditions that allow our life on this planet”, commented Nespoli.
From 20.30 in front of the Colosseum will also start the "Cycling for the Climate”, a totally free event to which over 500 citizens have already joined. The bike parade will wind along the historic streets of the capital and will reach at 21.30 St. Peter's Basilica, also shut down for Earth Hour, where it will be restarted. In Italy, in fact, in addition to the symbolic shutdown of churches, palaces, monuments, the WWF has organized special pedal rides from north to south in collaboration with FIAB (Italian Federation of Bicycle Lovers): so far Padua, Turin, Vicenza, Bologna, Livorno have joined , Terracina, Chieti, Pescara, Teramo, Naples, Brindisi, Lecce, Potenza and Catania. In Milan, an evening dedicated to bats, as a symbol of a threatened but precious biodiversity.
