The Princess of Wales received a rock star welcome to Reggio
Emilia, Italy, on Wednesday, marking her
first overseas visit since completing cancer treatment.
Catherine
arrived in the Northern Italian city as hundreds of citizens
flocked to the piazza outside the town hall for the chance to see
the future queen. Catherine’s visit is on behalf of the Royal
Foundation Centre for Early Childhood for a “fact-finding
mission to explore leading international approaches to supporting
young children those who care for them,” according to
Kensington Palace officials.
Catherine delighted the crowd as she spoke Italian to them, and
could be overheard introducing herself to children, asking them,
“Come ti chiami? Io sono Caterina.”
At the Town Hall building, Catherine met with Mayor Marco
Massari, Prefect Salvatore Angieri, and three women who helped
develop the world-famous Reggio Emilia approach.
The Reggio Emilia approach places “relationships,
environment and community at the centre of a child’s
development,” according to Kensington Palace, and creates
“nurturing, creative and responsive learning
environments.”
KensingtonRoyal / X / Fair Use
Catherine participated in a discussion on how the city’s
officials created the Reggio Emilia approach, discussing how the
history, culture and education of the area led to its
development.
At the end of her visit, she received the Primo Tricolore in
recognition of her work surrounding the early years. She told Mayor
Massari, “Wow, what an honour. I’m very grateful, it’s very
gratefully accepted.”
The future queen visited the Centro Internazionale Loris
Malaguzzi to learn from educators about the Reggio Emilia approach.
Catherine learned more about its core concepts and participated in
a clay-sculpting session as part of a practical demonstration on
the work of ateliers and atelieristas, fine-arts educators who
teach children to express themselves and learn about the world
through art and creative play.
On their Facebook page, the
Centro shared how Catherine’s visit as “a day that will stand
[as] one of the most remarkable in [our] history.
“It was a genuine honour to welcome Her Royal Highness in
such a warm and welcoming atmosphere.”
Catherine’s final engagement of the day was a visit to the
Scuola Comunale d’Infanzia Anna Frank pre-school to see children
being taught with the Reggio Emilia approach. Kensington Palace
shared that the Scuola focuses on creativity, relationships and the
learning environment.
The royal joined in classroom sessions, talking to the children
about her late dog Lupo, and sharing that she taught Prince George,
Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis sensory and creative
activities during the COVID-19 lockdowns to engage them.
According to The
Telegraph, while participating in an arts activity,
Catherine said, “The world children are growing up in is so
fast-paced and actually encouraging them to slow down and really
engage in these creative activities.
“It’s so important to explore language in the way that
you’re doing, creatively, in a really expressive way through
storytelling. It really connects to them.”
Catherine also met with parents and educators to discuss the
Reggio Emilia approach and toured the school to meet with its staff
before departing. Her visit continues on Thursday.
At the end of the day, Kensington Palace shared photos of the
future queen’s first day, captioning them in English and Italian:
“Championing the importance of presence and connection in early
years in Reggio Emilia.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source royalcentral.co.uk ’
