During the visit to the exhibition, the reading of the stories will serve to establish a dialogic workshop, together with the students, focusing on social issues that emerge also in relation to the cultural context of the Institute of the Pietà and the city of Venice.

Agata is the first story told by Letizia set in Florence at the Spedale degli Innocenti and in Venice at the Istituto della Pietà. It concerns other girls who have become famous for their voice and for their beauty, even being depicted by Tiepolo in the ceiling fresco of the church.

Together and with the help of historical stories, we will seek to delve into the events concerning these young girls who lived in a world so different from that of children today. We will understand the pain, the loneliness, the difficulty of living without knowing who wanted you or otherwise… but then an encounter takes place that changes lives and everything takes on a light and new perspective.

Stories of Children will thus become a wonderful opportunity to examine the difficulties of growing up in the past and those of today, through a study of literature, art, music and poetry. We will ask ourselves how can we open ourselves up to life and, in this, the sense of compassion that can be valuable today?

The tales of Stories of Children will be examined and read alternately with passages taken from “Stabat Mater” by Tiziano Scarpa, winner of the 2009 Strega prize and personal accounts extracted from the Pietà Archives.

Finally, there will be a guided analysis of the current Pietà church from an architectural and artistic point of view, including the Tiepolo frescoes, which will offer children the perfect synthesis of a history of refuge that has endured uninterrupted since 1335.