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.

 

FESTIVAL “PESCASSEROLI LEGGE”

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Pescasseroli | 06 August 2025
Parent Category: Iniziative (EN) - Category: Maison de la Paix (EN)

The United States of the World and the Fondazione Mediterraneo participated in the 2025 edition of the “Pescasseroli legge” Festival, curated by Dacia Maraini.
In particular, the meeting with Monsignor Paglia and Cardinal Zuppi addressed the topic of artificial intelligence and the challenges associated with it.

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GAZA, SHAME OF THE WORLD

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Napoli | 28 July 2025
Parent Category: Iniziative (EN) - Category: Maison de la Paix (EN)

On the occasion of the completion of the Shrine dedicated to Pope Francis - the "Totem for Peace" by the sculptor Molinari, inaugurated on 7 June 2025 in the Port of Naples - there was a moment of reflection with yet another heartfelt appeal by the "United States of the World" and the "Fondazione Mediterraneo" for what is happening in Gaza, where humanity has resigned, giving way to barbarity, indifference and the use of hunger as a weapon of war.
In front of the large colour image of Pope Francis placed on the Shrine and in front of the shroud of poor Alaa, who months ago saw 9 of her 10 children and her husband killed, the voices of the participants rose high towards the world's rulers to stop a massacre that is becoming a genocide with its 60,000 victims, including many innocent and defenceless children.

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SARAJEVO: JOURNEY THROUGH THE REBORN CITY MEETING AMELA AND KANITA

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Sarajevo | 14 July 2025
Parent Category: Iniziative (EN) - Category: Maison de la Paix (EN)

Accompanied by Amela Zec Filipović - an official from the cultural office of the Italian Embassy in Sarajevo - Michele Capasso and Pia Molinari visited the city that was the victim of the greatest siege since World War II.
In the “reborn” city, there are signs of the sad past but also plans for a future of peace and shared development.
On this occasion there was a moving telephone conversation with Kanita Fočak: the architect guide and interpreter of the Italian language during the siege, to whom the Fondazione Mediterraneo has dedicated the book ‘Kanita’ written by Federico Bugno.

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RETURN TO THE LIBRARY IN SARAJEVO

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Sarajevo | 14 July 2025
Parent Category: Iniziative (EN) - Category: Maison de la Paix (EN)

There was great emotion for Secretary-General Michele Capasso, accompanied by Pia Molinari, as he returned to the National Library and University of Bosnia and Herzegovina (NUBBiH: in Bosnian Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Bosne i Hercegovine): the national library of Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in the city of Sarajevo.
'I first came here on 12 September 1992: everything was destroyed,' Michele Capasso said movingly, 'and the rubble was still smouldering, caused during the night between 25 and 26 August when, during the siege of Sarajevo, the army of the Serbian Republic attacked the Vijećnica building that housed the National Library with firebombs and cannon fire. The attack lasted for three whole days, while dozens of firefighters, librarians and volunteers tried to rescue the two million books from the flames, despite the fact that snipers and anti-aircraft guns continued to target the building.
On that occasion, a young librarian, Aida Buturović, lost her life at the age of 32 after being hit by shrapnel while trying to save some of the books stored within the walls of the Vijećnica. In the end, only a tenth of the books stored in the National Library managed to escape the flames. From that moment on, my life changed and I decided to lavish all my efforts, all my resources for the destroyed Library and for the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I called that act a "Genocide of Culture".
Accompanying Michele Capasso and Pia Molinari on their visit to the Museum and the section dedicated to the Hague Tribunal were Amela Elezovic' and Ismena Causevic', who witnessed the war and the destruction of the Library.
On this occasion, it was decided to dedicate a space in the Museum to the actions of the Fondazione Mediterraneo and the United States of the World in favour of the Library of Sarajevo, starting with the initiative ‘A book for a library’ and the ‘Appeal for the Library of Sarajevo’ launched worldwide in 1993.

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A PLACE BETWEEN MEMORY AND FUTURE

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Srebrenica | 12 July 2025
Parent Category: Iniziative (EN) - Category: Maison de la Paix (EN)

The town of Srebrenica is not only the memory of Europe's greatest genocide of the 20th century. It is also nature, tourism, hope and the future.
Michele Cpasso and Pia Molinari were accompanied by Hamdija Fejzić and Sadeta Suljić on a tour of Srebrenica, with particular reference to the extraordinary, world-famous curative water springs.
Then a visit to Sadeta Suljić's house where there are still signs of the 1995 bombing.

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