In the last few days the De Rerum Natura conference series hosted two of the most renowned experts in the field of economics and medicine in Italy: Professor Carlo Cottarelli, Director of the Italian Public Accounts Observatory, and the immunologist Alberto Mantovani, Scientific Director and President of the “Fondazione Humanitas per la Ricerca”. Both shared their reflections on the theme “Building from memory”.
Prof. Carlo Cottarelli, interviewed by Luisa Vuillermoz, the Festival’s Artistic Director, drew from his latest book “All’Inferno e ritorno. Per la nostra rinascita sociale ed economica” (Einaudi, 2021) to discuss the three principles that should steer the country towards the path of sustainable development: firstly, ensuring a level playing field, i.e. giving everyone a chance in life. Secondly, rewarding merit and solidarity: the lucky ones tend to have a bette chance in life than the less fortunate ones. Thirdly, there is room for redistributionof wealth.”
In his book, Cottarelli analyses the consequences of the crisis, the weaknesses of the economic system, which the pandemic exposed, and the opportunities that arise from economic recovery. He also highlightsthe potential of sustainable development on a social, financial and environmental level.
The conference ended with an extensive Q&A session with a thoroughly engaged audience.
Full house in Cogne and a large online audience for the event featuring Prof. Alberto Mantovani, who spoke about “immunological memory: from cancer to Covid-19″, answering questions on the pandemic and vaccines. “One of the reasons why people are skeptical about vaccines,’ he explained, ‘is that they find it hard to reason in terms of risks and benefits. In medicine zero risk simply does not exist. “It would be best,’ Mantovani continued, ‘to provide accurate information with every single vaccine dose.” At the end of event, the audience showed its appreciation with a sustained applause followed by questions and requests for further information.
The last De Rerum Natura event will be held in Cogne on 12 August. The constitutional judge and former Prime Minister Giuliano Amato will speak about “Identity and history”. Through these conferences, the Gran Paradiso Film Festival continues to pursue its mission: to stimulate people’s curiosity and a yearning to discover new things, not only through the outstanding films in competition, but also through such popular in-depth series.
