30 January 2026
«The Meeting is the same age as me», Miriam says. «I was born in 1980 and I’ve always been here. Even though I’m not from Rimini, my dad was deeply fond of it — he never missed an edition». As a young girl she volunteered, sleeping in makeshift accommodation and walking across Rimini at dawn to reach the old Fair Centre. «Years later I realised that today I live exactly along that same road. Every now and then I think about it: without knowing anything, I was already here for this reason. My life has unfolded here».
The decisive turning point came with the PreMeeting, experienced as a young woman with university students from Bologna. «I fell in love with that way of working: concrete, done together». Today that experience returns in her commitment to the Kid’s Village, where since 2022 she has been actively involved above all in set-ups and exhibitions. «From the very beginning I headed there. It’s the area that suits me best». Miriam also brings her everyday work to the Meeting: she makes handmade accessories for children and sells them online. «I have a creative streak and I’m used to finding practical solutions, keeping the budget low, recovering materials and leftovers to build what’s needed». The Village’s exhibitions thus become “living fairy tales”, immersive and interactive stories designed for children and built throughout the year.
For Valentina, the Kid’s Village is a commitment that grows over time and becomes a fixed point in life. «This is the fifth year I’ve been involved in the preparation». The group — the girls from Rimini and friends from Milan — is for her «an important place for dialogue and judgement». Even when everyday life is full of school, work and family, stopping to build the Village remains essential. «By building the Village, I build myself. It’s time that helps me look more clearly at what I’m living».
«If the Meeting is important for the world, it’s because first of all it’s important for me», Miriam says. «It has always been the place where I encounter lives from the present and the past that, even while passing through drama, have been able to build beauty». These are stories that strike her and set her in motion. «They create a desire to emulate, to do something good myself». In a time marked by violence and tragedies, the Meeting for her remains «a place that gives hope, because it shows that another way of living is possible».
For Valentina, the Meeting is valuable precisely because of this human and cultural density. «Normally life is lived in a very superficial way, also because of the speed at which everything moves». At the Meeting, instead, every encounter, exhibition or performance «has behind it someone who, during the year, became passionate, thought things through and went deeper». Nothing is improvised. «Everything is offered as a gift», and this is what makes the Meeting an experience unlike many others.
«Supporting the Meeting is important to allow as many people as possible to have this experience», Miriam explains. «I see it very concretely in my children, who are between five and eighteen years old». It’s impossible to know which path they will take, but «there are many small seeds that help build the people they are becoming». An encounter, an exhibition, a week lived at the Meeting «can come back to your mind twenty years later, at the moment when something happens in life». For this reason too, she says, it’s worth continuing to invest in this experience.
There is also an aspect that, for Miriam, captures the meaning of support: shared work. «We spend a year designing, looking for materials, building. Then the PreMeeting arrives and the young people come to help». At a certain point she realises she’s no longer building something of her own. «At first I was thanking them because they were helping me. Then I understood that we were doing the same thing, on equal footing». That’s when the work truly becomes common.
For Valentina, supporting the Meeting means «safeguarding a free place, where there is a deep and attentive gaze on the whole of reality». A place that excludes no one and speaks to everyone, «from children to adults». «It’s a rare event», she concludes. «Precisely for this reason, it deserves support».
