Mattarella: "If politicians listened to the world, things would be better."

It was a conversation filled with hope and aimed at fostering openness towards others and dialogue, as took place in Milan between the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and the renowned architect and life senator, Renzo Piano. With a recommendation to politicians to practice listening more, which is the path to peace, and also to the "beauty of coexistence." An exceptional audience at the Polytechnic University, where the Renzo Piano Foundation is also located, consisting of approximately 20 young students who listened to the lecture by the Genoese architect, "The Art of Building," which then evolved into a dialogue with the Head of State about young people, the meaning of knowledge, the value of error and doubt for personal growth, and more. The President wanted to begin his day in Milan with a face-to-face meeting in the presence of the young people, "who are full of passion," followed by celebrations for the 80th anniversary of the reopening of the Teatro alla Scala, after the damage caused by the bombings of World War II. And today, in an international context still marked by tensions and wars, Mattarella urged politicians to listen more. "Listening is the path to peace," the President emphasized. "Even in the international arena, if they listened a little more, we would have a great advantage." What should be a "simple" attitude, listening, "has always been incomprehensibly a difficult art," he added. "Listening should be one of the most practiced attitudes. Listening to everyone, always, is not a courtesy, but an indispensable enrichment." Among the tables and models of the projects that Renzo Piano oversees around the world, especially in the suburbs, the President of the Republic urged young people to challenge themselves, to "constantly subject themselves to self-assessments" in the spirit of valuing doubt. "Constantly subjecting oneself to the benefit of the doubt helps to find the best path because there is nothing worse than the presumption of moving forward in an obtuse manner: doubt avoids the risk of being fossilized in appearances," said Mattarella, who once again brought his remarks to the topic of politics. "Undergoing constant checks is one of the fundamental ingredients of democracy," he added. Renzo Piano, who often invites prominent figures to attend his lectures, explained his teaching method to the Head of State, in which students are called upon to observe his projects in order to improve them and find errors. "Inevitably, they find one," the life senator observed. "In doing so, the professor discovers that he, too, makes mistakes." And it was on the meaning of error that Piano invited Mattarella to reflect. "A quantity of fundamental discoveries that have advanced knowledge are due to research errors," he explained. "Therefore, making mistakes is valuable, because there is the courage of perseverance, and because it often opens up different paths and makes you reflect." Renzo Piano has also dedicated his profession to "repairing" the suburbs in an attempt to heal those social fractures that have been created in cities, even due to the way they were designed. "It is necessary to bring beauty to the suburbs," Piano reasoned. And Mattarella agreed with him because "beauty is truly the measure of life." That is what politics should also do, "because there are differences between a beautiful project and a bad one," he concluded. "And it is true that the goal of politics is the beauty of coexistence." Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA