From March 11 to 13 in Florence, a series of events placing education, relationships, and the future at the center.
Florence, March 4, 2026 – The Andrea Bocelli Foundation launches the first edition of “ABF Educational Workshops,” a series of events open to the city that promotes the idea of education as a generative space for dialogue and the construction of the future. The initiative was inspired by ABF’s participation in Didacta Italia 2026, held during the same period in Florence and representing one of the main national events dedicated to training and innovation in the education sector.
“ABF Educational Workshops” is conceived as a meeting place where relationships, ideas, and contemporary languages become living material. These are shared experiences in which artists, thinkers, scientists, and young people inhabit the same space, beyond conventional roles, to question the present and open up new possibilities.
This first edition takes shape in a particularly significant year for the Foundation, which in 2026 celebrates 15 years of activity in pursuing its mission, “Empowering people and communities,” through educational programs that integrate art, music, and digital tools as instruments for individual and collective growth. The program of “ABF Educational Workshops” is structured as follows:
March 11 – “BEYOND THE SPECTATOR”
The event will take place at the Teatro Nazionale in Florence with “Beyond the Spectator. Youth, Irony, and New Possibilities.” The protagonist is actor Paolo Ruffini, in an open dialogue with young participants from ABF Globalab, the structured program for guidance and active citizenship that combines cultural experiences, project work, travel, and community engagement.
This is a discussion without rigid scripts, addressing themes such as digital transformation, choices, the future, sensitivity, and intergenerational relationships, where the audience is not merely a recipient but an active part of a shared experience of listening and exchange.
The event is organized in partnership with UP Impresa Sociale, founded by Ruffini, with whom ABF shares a commitment to pathways where culture and participation become tools for inclusion and growth. Hosting the event in this prestigious venue, recently restored to the city, is architect Marco Casamonti, a long-time friend of ABF.
March 13 – “BEYOND SCIENCE: Humanity, Consciousness, and Artificial Intelligence”
The Sala della Musica at the Complesso di San Firenze will host this event featuring Federico Faggin, the Italian-born, naturalized American physicist known, among other achievements, for designing the first MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) integrated circuits.
In conversation with Stefano Aversa, President of ABF, and with the participation of ABF Globalab students, Faggin will lead a discussion exploring the boundary between technology and consciousness, raising a fundamental question: beyond code, what idea of humanity do we want to build?
“With ABF Educational Workshops, alongside Didacta, we are opening a space for cultural and civic engagement where education once again becomes relationship, listening, and the construction of shared meaning. Bringing art, thought, and digital innovation into dialogue with young people means not speaking ‘about them,’ but ‘with them,’ recognizing them as interlocutors of the present,” says Laura Biancalani, Director General of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation.
“This direction also includes the institutional and educational experience that, from March 17 to 19, will bring ten young members of the San Firenze Committee to the European Parliament: an opportunity to circulate educational practices at a European level, grounded in transversal skills and active citizenship.”
“The Workshops stem from the idea that education is not a ‘topic’ but a collective responsibility, a place where relationships generate the future and where culture becomes social infrastructure,” states Stefano Aversa.
“In 2026, ABF celebrates 15 years of activity, and at such a symbolic moment, we chose not to focus on self-celebration, but to open spaces for discussion on what matters today: the role of young people, the meaning of community, and the impact of technological transformations on how we live and make choices. It is an invitation to think together, seriously and openly, about the future we want to build.”
“Today technology is an integral part of our lives, and artificial intelligence is changing the way we work, learn, and communicate,” says Federico Faggin.
“For this reason, it is essential not to stop at machine performance, but to question what remains irreducibly human: consciousness, intentionality, and responsibility. In ‘Beyond Code,’ we will explore this threshold without opposition, asking a question that concerns us all: what idea of humanity do we want to cultivate in the age of algorithms?”
“‘Beyond the Spectator’ is based on the belief that the stage is not a place to watch, but to cross,” says Paolo Ruffini.
“I am interested in creating a genuine encounter, without rigid scripts and without the usual caricature of generations. With the young people of ABF Globalab, we want to engage with the questions of the present with irony, but also with sincerity. If by the end of the evening someone feels less alone in their questions, then something important has already happened.”
As part of Didacta 2026, the Andrea Bocelli Foundation will also participate in two thematic meetings. On March 11 at 4:30 PM, Ruffini and ABF Globalab participants will present the development process behind “Beyond the Spectator,” highlighting the importance of dialogue and exchange. On March 12 at 9:30 AM, in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Education and Merit, ABF will host the workshop “Beyond Walls: Hospital and Home Education Services as a Bridge to the Future,” at Fortezza da Basso.
Speakers will include Laura Biancalani and Francesca Favi, Program Manager of ABF Educational Care and ABF Educational Italia, who will share the Foundation’s experience in promoting educational contexts that, even in hospitals, enhance continuity of learning, relationships, and well-being through methodologies integrating art, music, and digital tools.
