“They will be virtuous – The technical culture you don’t expect” has for some years been the title of a project by Metalcastello and the DIRE Press Agency, together with the schools of Alto Reno Terme, Castel d’Aiano, Camugnano, Lizzano in Belvedere and Vergato.

From this year it also becomes a mini-radio programme: two episodes aired on RDM, Radio Dimensione Musica, which feature stories, students and the skills of Metalcastello. In its studios, RDM hosted a journalist from DIRE, Mattia Cecchini, in the role of “host”, two employees of Metalcastello, Sara and Riccardo, and four students from the comprehensive school of Gaggio Montano (Edgar, Morgan, Christian, Eva, all between 12 and 13 years old). Together they listened to and analysed two true stories that talk about key aspects of technical culture, such as design, ingenuity and commitment, trying and trying again. They then played a game live on the radio with the four students trying to guess what certain Metalcastello products were, without seeing them; they tried to explain these strange objects to listeners just by touching them, to then have them explained by those who make them every day. And from there they started a discussion about the idea one might have of a job in a metalworking company, how you might imagine it and how it really is. All of this interspersed with musical interludes.

“Too often, the potential of the Apennines is still not recognised”, says Stephen Scutigliani, CEO of Metalcastello. “This area has unique qualities: here there are all the ingredients to develop excellent business projects: innovation, sustainability, passion, education and research, a match between private entities and institutions. For example, what is more innovative than a technical orientation project that starts in middle school, continues through higher education and also gets broadcast through the frequencies of a radio station? I think it’s an original and even unique idea. Anyone who wants to do business in the Apennines has to know that all these ingredients ensure not simply the possibility, but the certainty of success.”

“The project “They will be virtuous – The technical culture that you don’t expect” grows every year”, explains Mattia Cecchini, editor-in-chief of the Bologna office of the DIRE Press Agency. “Now we have embarked on the radio, finding another space to give youngsters a voice and enhance their curiosity and inventiveness. They have always been the protagonists of an experiment that tries to tell a different story about a world like that of a mechanical engineering company, opening it up – through play, storytelling and active involvement – to those who watch it from afar. Above all, they can try to discover it in a different and unexpected light.”

The initiative was shared with enthusiasm by the RDM editorial team: “We are proud to have accepted Metalcastello’s invitation to participate in this project involving the students of our Apennines. With great pleasure we always open the doors of RDM to the younger generations, to let them know our reality that for almost 50 years has given the territory a voice. And this year, in which we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Guglielmo Marconi and the 100th anniversary of the first radio broadcast, it is interesting to see people who are so young relating to this means of communication which, despite its longevity, is still innovative, current and reliable.”

The project “They will be virtuous – The technical culture you don’t expect” will end with an event on 12 December at the Lizzano in Belvedere sports hall, which will see reunited the 220+ middle school students involved in the project with classroom activities.

The radio episodes were made thanks to Karen Gironi and Alessia Ricci of RDM and Alice Pani of DIRE.