Maison de la Paix || Casa Universale delle Culture (EN)

 

CASA UNIVERSALE DELLE CULTURE

The Maison de la Paix - Casa Universale delle Culture is a place strongly representative, in which will convey the knowledge of the different identities and cultures, structuring permanently initiatives aimed at the spreading of peace, necessary for the shared development.

The Maison de la Paix - Casa Universale delle Culture (MdP) is a project conceived by Michele Capasso, approved by many Countries and international organizations. It is an architecture that keeps the memory of many Peace activities which created history, often more than the wars, but it is – above all – a space "to build” Peace.

The architectonical complex has an important symbolic worth: it represents the Countries of the World engaged in the Peace process and the Countries victim of the conflicts.

Proposed by the Fondazione Mediterraneo with the Maison des Alliances – together with the main adherent organizations, such as the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, the League of Arab States, the "Anna Lindh" Euro-Mediterranean Foundation and others, the MdP represents a referent point for all the ones who dedicate their lives to peace.

The symbol of the MdP is the "Totem for Peace", an artwork by the Italian sculptor Mario Molinari which the Fondazione Mediterraneo is promoting all around the world, creating the network of the "Cities for Peace".

The first seat of the MdP was inaugurated on the 14th of June 2010 (Maison de la Paix - Casa Universale delle Culture) in the historical building of the Grand Hotel de Londres in Naples.

The action of the Maison de la Paix - Casa Universale delle Culture aims at improving the main activities of the "Universal Forum of Cultures" in: Barcelona (2004), Monterrey (2007), Valparaiso (2010) and Naples (2013).

The Maison de la Paix performs most of the initiatives jointly with the Maison de la Méditerranée.

 

Since 6 July 2000, almost a quarter of a century has passed since the Fondazione Mediterraneo and the United States of the World presented their programmes, projects and concrete initiatives in Marseille on the issues of migration, integration, ecological conversion and respect for creation.
Jean Claude Gaudin, Vice-President of the Senate and historic mayor of Marseille from 1995 to 2020, supported our action by organising a solemn "Rentrée" with les "Assises de la Méditerranée": more than 1,500 representatives from various countries who for 4 days discussed the Foundation's programmes and projects.
Present at the "Mediterranean Meetings" organised by the Mediterranean bishops from 17 to 24 September 2023 - with the participation of Pope Francis - President Michele Capasso said: "I thought of those days in July 2000 when we returned from Marseilles full of enthusiasm and hope. And then the visits of Mayor Gaudin to Naples and Benevento, the award to "Marseille Esperance" presented in Naples, the inauguration of the 'Marseille Room' at the headquarters of the United States of the World.
So many protagonists reappearing: here is Pope Francis at the centre of the same stage where with Shimon Peres and other Heads of State we gathered the first adhesions to the United States of the World, here are Bishops and Cardinals of the Mediterranean countries at centre stage, as were then academics, university rectors, mayors of the main cities adhering to the United States of the World.
Here is the then Mayor Gaudin, tired and disappointed, next to the Pope as if to remind him never to leave the Mediterranean.
And then the room where the Pope meets President Macron: the same room where with Shimon Peres we signed the first draft of the Constitution of the United States of the World.
And then the driveway to the Pharo Palace, where in the same place where the President accompanies the Pope in his wheelchair we laid the foundations for a true interreligious dialogue with his brother and friend Father Paolo dall'Oglio a few weeks before his death.
So many memories entrusted to so many images - President Capasso concludes - with a sadness and a hope. The sadness is not having succeeded, despite constant efforts, in making the Mediterranean a sea of exchanges and knowledge, but a tomb of dignity, as Pope Francis said. The hope lies in this variegated mosaic of cultures and faiths that can, if properly coordinated, be the founding element of a new model of solidarity based on welcome and coexistence".

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The United States of the World - with its autonomous sections "Fondazione Mediterraneo" and "Accademia del Mediterraneo" - expressed its deep condolences to King Mohammed VI and the Moroccan members of the institution for the thousands of victims caused by the strong earthquake in the Marrakech region.
The Marrakech office of the United States of the World - directed by Prof. Lhassan Hbid in collaboration with Prof. Mohamed Knidiri - under the coordination of Secretary-General Prof. Michele Capasso, is activating the best synergies to "rope in" and provide concrete aid to the earthquake victims.
It is precisely Secretary General Capasso who expressed his deep emotion for a people to whom he is strongly attached and for a city, Marrakech, that he considers his "second homeland".

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President Michele Capasso, Chairman of the International Committee Massimo Pica Ciamarra, Director General Pia Molinari, members of the Board of Directors, the Scientific Committee and the Council of Ambassadors pay tribute and express deep condolences for the passing of Prof. Domenico De Masi, a member of the Foundation and 2018 recipient of the "SUM Mediterranean Award for Innovation and Quality of Life".

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A delegation from the Fondazione Mediterraneo led by President Michele Capasso took part in the funeral of Giovanbattista Cutolo, the 24-year-old musician killed in Piazza del Gesù on 31 August by a 17-year-old from the Quartieri Spagnoli who shot him dead with three gunshots for trivial reasons connected with parking his moped.
City mourning in Naples for the last farewell to Giovanbattista: at 2pm the funeral chamber, then the start of the service by the Archbishop of Naples, Don Mimmo Battaglia, said:
"We all huddle around Daniela, Franco and Lulu. We are here not to pray for Giò Giò, but to pray with him because he lives'.
Full Piazza del Gesù for the musician's last farewell, the crowd welcomed the coffin as it left the Gesù Nuovo Church amidst applause and tears, as a sign of condolences and closeness with the family, while the Scarlatti musicians sang the Ode to Joy to the rhythm of the funeral march.
Many Neapolitan singers and musicians joined the appeal of Giò Giò's mother, Daniela Di Maggio.
After his father, the mother of the 17-year-old from the Spanish quarters who killed Giovanbattista Cutolo, 24, a musician, also asked the family for forgiveness.
"Naples must rid itself of this havoc," said Michele Capasso, "and for this it is necessary to 'rope in' civil society and institutions, involving young people in particular in a difficult but not impossible task of redeeming the city, as has happened so many times in the past.
"It was and is an enormous pain because it is an absurd death, for no reason, and this affects everyone in the depths of their hearts, but it must also be an opportunity to have more and more civic participation in the city. This terrible death is only the latest, we must remember Francesco Pio, who died only a few months ago and in similar circumstances, and the many other innocent victims of violence and the Camorra, but if we manage to react, if we give a positive perspective to our city then it will mean that these deaths were not in vain'.
At the end of her son's funeral, Daniela Di Maggio, Giovanbattista's mother, announced that she would be at Palazzo Chigi tomorrow, received by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni:
"Tomorrow I will go to Premier Meloni especially for this, because she is very close to me, the institutions have all come. Giovanbattista's innocent death must serve the redemption of humanity, it was a crime against humanity to kill my son".

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Elisabetta Baldi Caponnetto, widow of Judge Antonino Caponnetto, has ascended to heaven.
To all of us she was simply "Grandmother Betta," as was "Grandfather Nino."
The United States of the World and the Fondazione Mediterraneo remember a woman who had taken up her husband's meritorious and courageous battle and over the years had gone to great lengths to meet boys and girls in schools, with the aim of spreading an anti-mafia culture among the new generations.
How can we fail to remember the visit to her home to present the "Mediterranean Award for Legality" to the memory of Nonno Nino and her delicacy in placing the "Totem for Peace, the Award, among her most cherished things.
And then the many meetings, the generosity in writing the preface to the volume "La Grande Méditerranée," the meeting at the Senate with President Pietro Grasso to support the "United States of the World" and the "Totem for Peace."
His example and spirit will remain as an inspiration and motivation for all of us and for those engaged in the front lines of the fight against all mafias.

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