FestiValori, the first Italian festival of ethical finance, returns to Modena

Palestine, weapons, climate crisis, artificial intelligence.From 17 to 20 October, ethical finance will be the protagonist of FestiValori in Modena.

A close-up on the world of ethical finance and on his influence in society.The appointment is renewed with FestiValori, The first Italian festival dedicated to ethical finance, which returns to Modena from 17th to 20th October.Organized by Valori.it And Ethical Finance Foundation, the event reaches its conclusion this year third edition.“The festival of ethical finance to read everyday life”, is the title that acts as a common thread for the meetings of this edition, accompanied by the claim “It depends on how you use your money”: a warning to remember that finance concerns everyone, because it is precisely finance that takes care of us.

Finance affects our lives, but we are often unaware of it

Expected a rich program of four days, with debates and round tables, workshops and training moments, courses and sustainable lunches, dedicated to ethical finance in various fields, from politics to the peace economy, from social to sustainability.The meetings are aimed at a general public, to highlight the existing connections with our daily life and our time, but there will also be appointments aimed at specialists and professionals.Then there will be space for workshops and training events for schools, designed to introduce different audiences to the fundamental concepts of finance.The appointment with the music contest has also been renewed “Eticanto.Songs of this world”, an initiative - also promoted by the Git (Territorial Initiative Group) of the members of Banca Etica of Modena and its province and by the Circolo Arci Vibra - which will reward the most beautiful song on ethical and sustainability themes.This year too we renew the appointment with Valori in Table, the project developed by Donut circle and from Slow food Modena, to encourage Modena restaurants to include sustainable dishes in their menus.

“Finance is too often seen as something distant from our lives, from our daily lives.Nevertheless, it concerns us all – explains the director of FestiValori, Claudia Vago – because it works with our money:our bank deposits, our invested savings, the money from our insurance policies.FestiValori wants to make visible the direct connection between how we use our money and what happens in the world:from the climate at wars, passing through respect for human rights.We want to make visible the influence that our banks and investment funds have on our lives. Explain bonds that too many people still don't know about, to ensure that the word 'finance' stops being something that is difficult to understand and frightening, and instead becomes something that each of us can deal with".

Respect for the environment, sustainability, rights:ethical finance to go "beyond profit"

FestiValori will start with a lesson on ethical finance in Europe Andrea Baranes, researcher at Fondazione Finanza Etica e Costanza Torricelli, full professor of Mathematical methods of economics and actuarial and financial sciences at the Marco Biagi Department of Economics of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.The event is entitled “Beyond profit: ethical banks and the future of finance in Europe”.In “Masters in your home“, instead, the historian and professor at the University of Pisa Alessandro Volpi will dialogue with the director of Valori.it, Andrea Barolini, to address the issue of the increasingly strong presence of large international financial groups in our economies.

The connection between finance and artificial intelligence will be the subject of debate in the panel “Digital Middle Ages:who controls artificial intelligence”, in a choral dialogue of experts including Claudia Biancotti, economist at the Bank of Italy, Dario Guarascio, researcher and head of the "Tools and methodologies for skills and transitions" structure at the National Institute for the Analysis of Public Policies, Juan Carlos De Martin, computer scientist and full professor at the Department of Automatics and Informatics of the Polytechnic of Turin, Riccardo Staglianò, writer and journalist, correspondent for the newspaper La Repubblica.

Building peace, concretely

In a mix of show and laboratory, the workshop “Financial nudism” will see the protagonist Espérance Hakuzwimana Ripanti, Rwandan writer and cultural activist at the forefront of the fight against racism.Participants will be accompanied by Giorgia Nardelli, journalist expert in consumer rights and personal finance and from Teresa Masciopinto, president of Fondazione Finanza Etica, to carry out small financial awareness exercises.

To then investigate the role of ethical finance in society we cannot ignore talking about war economy.A hot topic that will be revisited on several occasions during the four days of the festival.With “Cryptocurrencies and politics:from Milei to Trump, passing through El Salvador", together with the deputy Giovanni Paglia we will explore how cryptocurrencies are influencing global political strategies.He will therefore be a guest of the festival Cecilia Strada, philanthropist, activist and European parliamentarian, former president of the non-governmental organization Emergency, who will participate in the meeting "War effect” on the themes of peace, inequalities and the environment.The military escalation in the Middle East will instead be at the center of the panel."Palestine:finance razed to the ground”, during which the challenges faced by the Palestinian financial system will be examined with a view to an economic recovery which today appears very distant.

We must overcome the contrast between agriculture and the fight against climate change

There is also space for moments of discussion and exchange on issues concerning the environment and more sustainable lifestyles.As in the panel “The search for sustainability”, a preview of the Acli survey on families, lifestyles and sustainability.The climate will therefore be the hot topic at the center of the interview with the meteorologist Luca Lombroso, in the meeting"Noah's ark” with Andrea Barolini.

And global warming will also be discussed in the panel "Agriculture and climate:it's the same crisis”, in which they will intervene among others Maurizio Martina, deputy director general of FAO and Barbara Nappini, president of Slow Food, to discuss a very current topic:the impact that the climate crisis has on the agricultural system and its operators.The sustainability of food supply chains will then be discussed during the lunch-debate at the Roots restaurant, together with Mauro Lusetti, president of Conad, e Mario Cifiello, president of Coop Alleanza 3.0.

And since not even the non-profit sector is stranger to the influence of the market and the complex dynamics that can influence their work, the topic will be addressed in the panel "The siege of society.The third sector between crime, market and politics” with Antonio Vesco, anthropologist, researcher at the University of Catania who deals with the mafia, public powers, politics and consensus, e Gianni Belloni, coordinator of the Environment and Legality Observatory of Venice and member of the scientific committee of the laboratory for analysis and research on organized crime at the University of Turin.

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FestiValori is a project by Valori.it and Fondazione Finanza Etica created with the support of Banca Etica, Etica Sgr, Fondazione di Modena, Coopfond, Bper, Emilbanca, Conad, Coop Alleanza 3.0, WelfareX, Cpl Concordia and Cooperativa Gulliver.With the patronage of the Emilia Romagna Region, the Municipality of Modena, the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and the Modena Chamber of Commerce.