Main areas of work related to the Convention:
UNPLI departments
Young policy and school - Mr Angelo Lazzari
Information technology and legal assistance - Mr Mauro giannarelli
Cutlure and territory - Mr Fernando Tomasello
Organization, programming, SIAE - Mario Barone
Social Clubs, marketing and conventions - Mr Sebastiano Sechi
Civil Service and training - Mr Mario Perroti
Library of Civitella d'Agliano - Mr Marco Pacella
Publishing, Information, Europe - Mr Claudio Nardocci
The President is Claudio Nardocci.
Secretariat: Mrs Francesca Faviere - Mrs Edi Florian - Mr Valerio Bruni
Project manager: Mr Gabriele Desiderio
Collaborators: Mr Riccardo Ponzi - Mrs Laura De Meis - Mr Luca Caroselli - Mrs Alessandra Alpini.
The staff that works on the intangible cultural heritage is leaded by Gabriele Desiderio, with a degree in contemporary history at "La Sapeinza" in Rome. He's the responsable of the projects on the intangible cultural heritage. He worked with many anthropologists in order to go in to more depth in the knowledge of the cultural heritage. He has a great experience for working on field with many visits in all the italian regions. Luca Caroselli and Riccardo Ponzi are technicians with more than 4 years of experience in filming, photograpy and editing images.
In the last 7 years, UNPLI worked for the safeguarding of intangible heritage with different national projects("Aperto per Ferie" and "Sos Patrimonio Culturale Immateriale". the last project of UNPLI is "Abbraccia l'Italia" under the sponsorship of the Italian National Commission of UNESCO, which objectives are: safeguarding the italian intangible cultural heritage; ensuring respect for the intangible cultural heritage of the communities, groups and individuals ooncerned; raising awareness at the local, national and international levels of the importance of the intangible cultural heritage. UNPLI founded a unique Library in Italy (Bibliomediateca di Civitella d'Agliano) in which is collecting documents (book, dvd, cd, etc.) and interviews about the italian intangible cultural heritage. The personnel is composed by 8 persons. The projects are followed by a staff
composed by 4 person that make the following activities:
a. In according with the regional committee, select the italian localities (at least one for each region)
b. the staff visits the localities in order to: make to intangible cultural aspects of the territory; take pictures of the people, of the tools and the manufactured products; collect all the material (book, cd, dvd) produced by the inhabitants on their own cultural heritage (rites, traditions, events, songs, proverbs, legends)
c. the staff cooperates with the local schools in order to promote researches about the local traditions
d. make aware the local authorities about the great importance of the intangible cultural heritage and promote.
UNPLI created an on-line database where is cillecting interviews and documents about all the domains of the italian intangible cultural heritage. The link is the following http://www.youtube.com/user/ProgettiUNPLI. The website of the project is: www.abbraccialitalia.it
Objectives
UNPLI with 5.500 Pro Loco associations registered (the frist Pro Loco was born in 1881), is the only national landmark of these associations with about 600.000 members.
(art. no. 2 - UNPLI's Statute)
UNPLI is a no-profit association and can exercicse any activity or provide itself with any structure to realize its purposes in range of cultural, environmental,t ourist, ecological, natural, social, and in range of solidarity, voluntary work, and youth policy according to European Community's advices.
UNPLI with its central national structure:
a. ccordinates all its peripherals structures;
b. implements all of the enterprise for Italy's promotion and development in every department, including information and tourism welcome.
UNPLI in its central structure, within its peripherals structures realizes:
a. coordination for all of Pro Loco's activities;
b. representation of Pro Loco towards State institution and all of the associations working on an international, national, regional, provincial and municipal level;
c. protection of Pro Loco's interests;
d. information, consultancy, technical support for Pro Loco associations also with its proper communication and information media.
UNPLI is composed by regional and provincial Committees. It's headed by a National Council composed by 30 components representing Pro Loco from every Italian region. Pro Loco associated to UNPLI can manage club for its members.
Members can join Prol Loco through UNPLI card, a card which also let owners have some important national and regional conventions. UNPLI and Pro Loco's governing board, thanks to specific training projects financed by Department for work and pensions, have a constant support which is very important for the increase of this movement.
UNPLI is the second italian asociation for the number of volunteers management. Every year more than 1000 volunteers work in Pro loco's associations carrying out projects about territory promotion and the immaterial cultural legacy protection.
UNPLI works for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage with many national projects. UNPLI cooperates with schools, local authorities, educational and reserach organizations in order to build a network of good practices in the safeguarding of Italian Intangible cultural heritage. UNPLI is the italian association of more than 5.500 Pro loco (latin, meaning "for the place") associations. Many Italian towns and small cities have a Pro loco, a civic membership organization, that works with local authority, schools, university and tourism officials to devise ways to enhance the town and attract visitors. Since the birth of first Pro loco in 1881, this kind of associations also worked for the safeguarding and promotion of the cultural aspects linked to the town or the entire region. The safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage is tightly linked to UNPLI's objectives. Pro loco associations are well distributed on the whole italian districts where there are still many living traditions and often they are the safeguarding and the sustainable promotion of the cultural aspects of these towns.
Every year UNPLI organizes training courses for the volounteers of the Pro Loco associations in order to improve their capacity of management.
Cooperation
The national federation of 5.500 Pro Loco associations is a great resource for the collection and the safeguarding of the italian cultural intangible heritage.
UNPLI makes coordination between the Pro Loco activities for the safeguarding of the intangible heritage and promote the networking and the exchange of best practices beetween the localities involved in the national project activites.
The field in which UNPLI is working are the identification, documentation, research, preservation, protection, promotion and transmission through formal and non-formal education (as indicated in the Convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage) especially for traditional musics (popular and religious), knowledge about nature and universe (with farmer and people living in peripheral communities), traditional medicine, handcrafts and languages.
UNPLI works closely with local cultures because Pro Loco associations are well ramificated on the whole national territory.
UNPLI is ccoperationg also with Universities, municipalities and local authority in order to raise awareness of the importance of the intangible cutlural heritage. UNPLI always worked in a spirit of mutual respect with communities, groups and individual. the reason of this way of working is due to the nature of Pro Loco associations that are expression the local communities. In every town where Pro Loco exists all the population
is involved in the organization of events or rites. UNPLI improve and support the Pro Loco activity for the promoting and safeguarding of rites, traditions, events and handicraft through its national projects. Every Pro Loco involved in these national projects are invited to cooperate with the loca lauthorities and the other associations of the territory and to involve the individuals in their activities. UNPLI aims to share the questions from its research on intangible cultural heritage management and policy implementation thus making its experience available for the development of pioneering porjects.