The City and The Water, Versilia Summer School with Andre Dekker

A workshop with a stand-out artistic and scientific director, Andre Dekker from Rotterdam-based Dutch collective Observatorium with twenty years' experience in land transformation. Set in the breathtakingly beautiful Versilia.



When someone thinks of combining something practical and recreational, what better destination for a summer summer school in Italy than Tuscany, at Seravezza in Versilia?
For the third time DESTeC (Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Construction Engineering) University of Pisa is organising the International Summer School with the  Municipality of Pietrasanta, and Pietrasanta Centre of Visual Arts (CAV), plus the Fondazione Terre Medicee of Seravezza.



From 25 July to 3 August, the participants – architecture, engineering and art students and professionals – will be focusing on the Versilia river under the artistic and scientific direction of Andre Dekker, member of the Dutch collective Observatorium, which has recently made news with  “Waiting for the river – 20 years later”, an environmental and artistic rehabilitation on the Emscher river in the Ruhr area Germany.





Because this year, “The City and the Water” is exploring the territory crossed by the Versilia river, which made it possible to exploit the marble of the Apuan Alps, and whose role now needs to be revalued. A process that should re-establish contact of the people with the river, now isolated from the urban context, except for its use for marble cutting, or some inlets towards the spring used for swimming.





So the summer school in Seravezza will explore three key aspects: access to the river and safety, recreation and protection of the environment, swimming and industrial landscape. The idea is to come up with new ways to ensure that the Versilia can become the unifying element of the Apuan Alps, farmland, small towns, major industry and urban sprawl. Or in the words of Andre Dekker “How can the Versilia river be loved again?” To find out, just enrol by 15 June!

Christiane Bürklein

International Summer School
The City and The Water. Michelangelo and the historical Versilia: land intervention
from 25 July to 03 August 2016
Seravezza, Italy
Artistic and Scientific Director: Andre Dekker, Rotterdam
Organisers: University of Pisa | DESTeC | Master Degree in Architectural Engineering, Municipality of Seravezza | Italy, Municipality of Pietrasanta | Città d’Arte, Città Nobile dal 1841 | Italy, CAV | Visual Arts Center | Pietrasanta | Italy, Fondazione Terre Medicee | Seravezza | Italy
Scientific Committee: Enrico Bascherini | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Marco Giorgio Bevilacqua | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Alessandra Capanna | DiAP | University “La Sapienza” of Rome, Ewa Karwacka | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Luca Lanini | DESTeC | University of Pisa,Roberto Pierini | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Alessandro Romanini | CAV
Organising Committee: Enrico Bascherini | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Marco Giorgio Bevilacqua | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Lucia Giorgetti | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Stefania Landi | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Giulia Lenziardi | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Chiara Porroni | DESTeC | University of Pisa
Find out more: http://www.destec.unipi.it/thecityandthewater/
Images: © Andre Dekker, © Enrico Bascherini