In the main chamber, the Sala del Tricolore was adorned with Italian flags and the Princess posed for a photograph with Marco Massari, the mayor, and Salvatore Angieri, the prefect of Reggio Emilia, before a short ceremony in which the mayor read out her credentials in the early years sector.
After hearing the translated version, the Princess put her hand on her heart and said: “Wow, what an honour. I’m very grateful, it’s very gratefully accepted.”
The mayor went on to explain the history of the chamber, speaking in simplified Italian as the Princess recognised some words (“molto”…“historia”… “importante”) and exclaimed in English in response: “Oh really, I can imagine! So much history.”
She then spent half an hour with local “nonnas” – Carla Nironi, Iona Bartoli, and Eletta Bertani – who told her of their work to spread the Reggio Emilia method through the community. All three women were born around the start of the Second World War, and are considered instrumental in creating the programme that the Princess was here to see.
They spoke in Italian with a translator sitting next to the Princess, who nodded and smiled as the women spoke, and laughed when they were heard to say they “asked our husbands for help”.
“I love that you put children and childhood at the heart of the community, and I’m really fascinated to learn more about it,” said the Princess.
At her second engagement, at the world-renowned Loris Malaguzzi International Centre, the Princess met teachers working in the “Reggio Emilia approach” and joined a clay modelling workshop.
While walking through the centre’s “light atelier”, a room filled with hanging plastic waves and ornaments on the walls, the centre’s president, Maddalena Tedeschi, explained how it encourages children to interact and play.
“It’s encouraging children these days to slow down because their world is so fast-paced now,” said the Princess. “It’s getting them to notice things, in their sensory environment as well.”
Shown a table covered with multi-coloured plastic objects for children to play with, she said she had put on similar activities for Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis at home.
“I did this in lockdown with the children,” she said. “We tried to find as many objects in the house as we could with as many colours in the rainbow as possible.”
Shaking hands with some of the other teachers, she laughed as they apologised for smearing her with clay. “Don’t worry! I have children, I’m used to it,” said the Princess.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.telegraph.co.uk ’
