By Chiara Sebastiani
In a present marked by global crises, geopolitical tensions and new cultural and social challenges, questioning the meaning of borders – physical, symbolic, political – is becoming increasingly urgent. It is precisely to this theme that the twelfth edition of the Conversations in San Francesco is dedicated, promoted by the Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca Foundation, which this year bears the title “Borders”.
From 7 to 30 November 2025, the Church of San Francesco in Lucca will once again be the scene of four events, open to the public, designed to explore the many forms that borders can take: geographical, cultural, existential. Leading this path will be a group of exceptional guests who are very different from each other in terms of training and sensitivity: the historian and popularizer Michela Ponzani, the writers Edoardo Albinati and Francesca d’Aloja, the journalist and geopolitical analyst Dario Fabbri, the photographer Francesco Anselmi and the journalist and photo editor Renata Ferri.
The cycle will open on Friday 7 November, at 9 pm, with the intervention of Michela Ponzani, Beyond the borders. A homeland called freedom. Through the words and stories of emblematic figures such as Camilla Ravera, Sandro Pertini, Ada Gobetti and Ursula Hirschmann, the experiences of men and women of anti-fascism and the Resistance who imagined an idea of homeland based not on blood and lineage, but on values of solidarity and social justice, will be told. An opportunity to reflect on how it is possible to overcome not only physical barriers, but also ideological divisions.
On Sunday, November 16, at 6 p.m., with Edoardo Albinati and Francesca d’Aloja they will propose Pending lives, a story born from years of travels together with humanitarian organizations such as UNHCR and INTERSOS, in countries such as Niger, Afghanistan, Uganda, and in the Balkans, but also within the most marginal contexts of Italy.
Through testimonies and observations collected in the field, the two authors give voice to those who are forced to cross dozens of borders in search of a possible life. An invitation to address the migration phenomenon with a deeper look, beyond emergency rhetoric and repressive responses.
On Friday 21 November, at 9 pm, Dario Fabbri will offer an original reading of history and geopolitics with The destiny of peoples. A vision that shifts the focus from the elite or leaders to the collective, to their fears, desires, ambitions. A reflection to rethink our time in the light of the great movements of peoples, which, often unconsciously, have generated languages, religions, cultures and ideas, helping to shape the present.
The exhibition will end on Sunday 30 November, at 6 pm, with Francesco Anselmi and Renata Ferri, who will present the photographic project Borderlands. An American journey. Anselmi’s work explores the border between the United States and Mexico, overcoming emergency rhetoric to return a complex and profound portrait of a land crossed by contradictions, but also by humanity and relationships. A liminal territory that is configured as an autonomous reality, distinct from the nations it separates.
This twelfth edition of the Conversations in San Francesco will therefore be an opportunity to question the frontiers that mark our time, visible and invisible, material and symbolic, and to try to rethink them not only as limits, but also as places of passage, confrontation and transformation.
Info: All meetings are free admission. To participate, you must book online at www.fondazionecarilucca.it
Organization: Elena Aiello
Information: www.fondazionecarilucca.it
Communication and external relations: Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca
Andrea Salani Tel. + 39 0583 472661
e.mail: comunicazione@fondazionecarilucca.it
Press office: Davis & Co. / Lea Codognato e Caterina Briganti
Tel. + 39 055 2347273 / e.mail: info@davisandco.it / www.davisandco.it
