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November 22, 2022

“Traditions of the Future” is a new collective interest project developed and supported by the Costa Crociere Foundation to support local communities that aims to give concrete help to traditional art crafts at risk of disappearing.

The ambitious project was created with the goal of passing on to new generations the ancient traditions of local communities, which are encountered in the various stops aboard Costa ships. A voyage of discovery of ancient craft trades, which unfortunately run the risk of disappearing if they are not rightly protected and promoted as a key economic resource.

Selected Art Professions and Destinations

Thirteen Historic Craft Shops were selected, in 13 different destinations visited by Costa Cruises ships:

Naples – cribs

Palermo – Sicilian puppets

Cagliari – Sardinian filigree

Venice – blown glass

Civitavecchia/Rome – stage costumes

La Spezia/Savona – risseau (pebble mosaic)

Trieste – textile restoration

Marseille – shipwright

Valencia- ceramics

Barcelona – artistic glassworks

Majorca – cabinet making

Ibiza – artistic restoration wall coverings

Malaga- textile restoration (sacred vestments)

The project then developed into 13 training placements aimed at students from all over Europe, who were selected with the help of the two Costa Crociere Foundation partners. These artisans were offered the opportunity to participate in a special training program, which is divided into two phases: a classroom-based master training program, which has already been successfully completed, and a six-month paid internship at a workshop or atelier, which is currently underway. Both are carried out again in collaboration with Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte, for Italy, and Michelangelo Foundation, for France and Spain.

The apprenticeships attended allow young talents to hone their vocation and studies in the field of artistic craftsmanship, learning the trade “in the field,” in close contact with great master craftsmen. This makes it possible to foster generational turnover in artistic crafts that would otherwise be at risk of disappearing, preserve a “savoir-faire” that has been handed down for centuries, and provide an important opportunity for young people.

Speaking of project developments, the workshops and ateliers at the center of the project may soon become destinations for the tours Costa offers its cruise guests. In fact, just recently Costa has been renewing its offer on the excursions/tours side, aiming more and more at a vacation experience that allows guests to discover destinations in an authentic and unique way.

To realize it, Costa Cruises Foundation relied on the collaboration with two important and authoritative entities, already active in this field: Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte and Michelangelo Foundation. Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte is a private nonprofit institution, established in Milan in 1995, that was created with the idea of inspiring a “new renaissance” of the art professions and saving them from the threat of extinction. The Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship is a nonprofit institution based in Geneva, Switzerland, that supports contemporary artisans around the world with the goal of promoting a more inclusive and sustainable future.

To support the Costa Crociere Foundation‘s initiatives and find out about all the initiatives you can log on to the Costa Crociere Foundation website In this way you too can help improve the social and environmental conditions of communities in Italy with concrete projects.

See also –> CRAFTS, ARTS AND THE FUTURE: COSTA CRUISES FOUNDATION

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Giulia Pasetto

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