The literary marathon arises from an idea by professor Mario Allegri, teacher of Italian literature at the University of Verona and member of the scientific board of Fondazione Aida.

In 2002 Fondazione Aida organised the first public reading dedicated to Dante and The Divine Comedy. Hundreds of citizens were involved to read this masterpiece entirely and non stop. It was a great success!

This experience was repeated the following years: in 2003 we read “Orlando Furioso” by Ariosto; in 2004 the Italian classical translation of Homer’s “Iliad” by Vincenzo Monti; in 2005 the “Canzoniere, or Rerum vulgarium fragmenta” by Petrarch.

After this successful initiatives we decided to involve in the project other countries and cities across Europe and give the Literary Marathon a European echo.

Objectives

The European Literary Marathon would like to emphasise the European cultural heritage and its richness, spread its knowledge among the citizens and involve them directly in the promotion action. Furthermore, this project aims to celebrate Europe Day – May, 9^th – involving the widest number of citizens in a European event.

Anniversaries

2007 offers three extra occasions to celebrate:

the 50^th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, one of the milestones in the Union history;

 the 20^th Anniversary of the Erasmus programme, which helps millions of young people from different countries to meet up and exchange experiences, making the European citizenship a fact;

 the entry of Romania and Bulgaria (partners of this project) in the European Union.

Activities

On May, 9^th 2007 citizens from several countries across Europe will be involved in the reading of a masterpiece of their 20^th century national literature.

Thousands of volunteers of any age, profession and social status will celebrate Europe Day, remembering the contribution given by each country to the building of a common cultural heritage.

The chosen works will be read entirely and non stop: this will be the core event of the project, which will take off at 11 a.m. (Rome time) preceded by the European anthem (Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”) played simultaneously in all countries involved. The Marathon will carry on until late in the evening.

Each country will offer a program of parallel initiatives: lectures, workshops and performances. Entrance to all events is free.

Audio and video records of the marathons will be available on this website at the end of the project.