Grand Opening of the 11th Edition of DIDACTA ITALIA

Exhibitions

Florence, March 12th, 2025. The 11th edition of DIDACTA ITALIA officially opened this morning at Fortezza da Basso, with the participation of the Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara. The event saw a strong attendance from educators, school administrators and professionals from across Italy.

“We are not just inaugurating the 11th edition today,” said Lorenzo Becattini, President of Firenze Fiera, in his opening remarks. “This is, above all, the most beautiful and largest edition ever since Didacta Italia was born in Florence in 2017. I would like to thank all the institutions involved, especially the Ministry of Education and Merit and the Ministry of Universities and Research, our shareholders, Didacta International, Indire (celebrating its first 100 years) with its new president, Prof. Francesco Manfredi, the 520 exhibiting companies, the sponsors and Giovanni Biondi, Paola Concia, and the entire organizing team who made this important fair possible. It highlights the strategic role of teacher training for a rapidly changing school system”.

“An important edition of Didacta begins today, celebrating a key anniversary for our city, the 100th anniversary of Indire,” emphasized the Mayor of Florence, Sara Funaro. “As always, this edition will focus on innovation, the school of the future and everything we need to do to make our schools better and provide quality teacher training. In our city, we are making significant investments in schools, new sustainable structures, as well as in teacher training and educational pathways for our children. Those who invest in education invest in the future of our country and we will always maintain a strong focus on this”.

“I thank the organizers because, year after year, we can truly see how Didacta benefits the school system, giving attention to themes that are particularly dear to Tuscany, such as teaching, training and culture” said the President of the Tuscany Region, Eugenio Giani.

“With regard to the Tuscany Region, the message we are sending is that education is a fundamental public service that needs strong support. I think about free nursery schools, already benefiting more than 14,000 families, with plans to expand next year. At the same time, we are developing other initiatives, such as free books – this procedure has already been activated to provide this benefit to families with an ISEE income of less than €15,000 for all students up to high school,” Giani added. “In short, here at Didacta, we represent the centrality of a school system with services and educational perspectives that go beyond the models of the past and look optimistically towards innovation and the future”.

“The need to align supply and demand in the labor market is reflected in the fact that in the Florence area, businesses are struggling to find workers, with shortages exceeding 50%, and up to 70-80% in specialized fields such as IT and the environment. For this reason, Didacta Italia has become an extraordinary tool for improving and orienting the educational training of young people” highlighted Massimo Manetti, President of the Florence Chamber of Commerce.

“This year, Didacta takes on special significance as it is dedicated to the centenary of INDIRE, an important milestone for our organization,” said Francesco Manfredi, President of INDIRE. “It invites us to look to the past with pride and to the future with renewed commitment. At the fair, we are offering 150 training events and two exhibitions that retrace the history of education preserved in our institute’s archives, which contain more than 200,000 documents. Particularly, the exhibition on female pedagogies highlights the crucial role of women in the history of education and their ability to humanize educational pathways in Italian schools”.

“For the second consecutive year, the Ministry of Universities and Research (MUR) and the Conference of Rectors of Italian Universities (CRUI) play a key role in Didacta, coordinating the scientific program that universities present at the fair, offering a showcase for the most innovative projects through meetings, seminars and roundtables,” said Alessandra Petrucci, Rector of the University of Florence and CRUI Delegate for Education. “The goal is to present to the public of teachers and educational professionals the most cutting-edge insights on issues related to university education, ranging from digital education to the application of artificial intelligence in teaching and micro-credentials”.

“Our greatest responsibility,” stated Theodor Niehaus, President of Didacta International, “is to put education at the center of our society. Thanks to Paola Concia, the soul of this fair, who has made Florence the center of education in Italy for three days”.

“I warmly welcome the initiative from the German authorities present in Italy. In the presentation of Didacta Italia, I found words like innovation, education, cultivating relationships, exchanges, and being pioneers, which are the key terms of cultural diplomacy. Today, we are all here as diplomats working for culture” commented the Honorary Consul of Germany, Federico Di Salvo.

Among tomorrow’s (Thursday, March 13) notable events is the 9:30 workshop “Blockchain in Schools: Learning Digital Citizenship Through Play” (Immersive Hall I13 – Spadolini Inferior), where participants will use physical blocks to simulate how a blockchain works, encouraging reflection on digital citizenship and cybersecurity.

At 11:00, at the INDIRE stand (Spadolini Attic Floor), the results of a national survey, conducted by La Tecnica della Scuola in collaboration with INDIRE, will be presented, titled “Use of Artificial Intelligence in Teaching.” The study revealed that out of 2,700 respondents, 1,035 teachers regularly use AI tools in their teaching.

At 2:00, the seminar “Do Gender Stereotypes Still Exist? The Psychosocial Dimension of Violence Against Women and Femicide” (Seminar Room S2) will feature Elisabetta Camussi, author of the RadioRAI podcast “Femicide,” in conversation with Anna Paola Concia (coordinator of the organizing committee of Didacta Italia), addressing gender violence and femicides from a social psychology perspective.

At 5:00, during the seminar “STEAM Teaching with Digital Cultural Heritage” (Seminar Room S3), tools for integrating European digital cultural heritage into educational activities will be presented.

Didacta Italia is organized by Firenze Fiera, with the scientific partnership of INDIRE and in collaboration with Didacta International. The fair features a high-level program supported by an organizing committee that includes: Ministry of Education and Merit, Ministry of Universities and Research, Conference of Rectors of Italian Universities, Tuscany Region, City of Florence, Unioncamere, Florence Chamber of Commerce, ITKAM, and Destination Florence Foundation.

 

Press releases from the Sponsors and Supporters of Didacta Italia 2025 area available at this link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/103MeSosMbI5dlmj70K8tiVSUVIRTrCE2

 

 

www.fieradidacta.it    

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Ufficio Stampa Firenze Fiera – Fiamma Domestici M 334 1446710 domestici@firenzefiera.it