GALA EVENING – DINNER AND FAREWELLS
‘We are one big country, Europe … ‘
It was a magnificent setting for an exceptional evening. It was December 16th in the superb ’Finis Africae’ hotel on the edge of Senigallia towards the hills. Words fail you when you try to give an accurate account of such an evening.
As well as all the delegations, the IPSSARCT A.Panzini and its director Alfonso Benvenuto had also invited local personalities including Ms Patrizia Casagrande, deputy head of the environment department and Ms Anna Nardiello, representative of the academy of Ancona, as well as friends of the school and the sponsors. In all 350 people were seated around beautifully decorated tables, after being greeted as they entered by a team from the school’s tourism section, and directed to an aperitif buffet.
Partial view of the dining hall.
An orchestra consisting of musicians and singers, all of them former students of the school, was on hand to provide music for the evening, and just beside them a photo montage put together during the preceding days allowed the guests to relive the highlights of the programme.
The gala dinner had also been prepared by teams from the school, and was in every respect a banquet, worthy of the skills of teachers and students, as is fitting for a self-respecting hotel school.
Mr Nardella, deputy mayor of Senigallia, addresses the guests.
In his speech Mr Tarcisio Torreggiani, deputy director of tourism, congratulated Alfonso Benvenuto for his commitment and invited everyone present to make a second visit to the famous caves, and also to visit all the treasures of Italy. He hoped for the creation one beautiful Europe!
‘We are one big country, Europe … ‘
It was a magnificent setting for an exceptional evening. It was December 16th in the superb ’Finis Africae’ hotel on the edge of Senigallia towards the hills. Words fail you when you try to give an accurate account of such an evening.
As well as all the delegations, the IPSSARCT A.Panzini and its director Alfonso Benvenuto had also invited local personalities including Ms Patrizia Casagrande, deputy head of the environment department and Ms Anna Nardiello, representative of the academy of Ancona, as well as friends of the school and the sponsors. In all 350 people were seated around beautifully decorated tables, after being greeted as they entered by a team from the school’s tourism section, and directed to an aperitif buffet.
Partial view of the dining hall.
An orchestra consisting of musicians and singers, all of them former students of the school, was on hand to provide music for the evening, and just beside them a photo montage put together during the preceding days allowed the guests to relive the highlights of the programme.
The gala dinner had also been prepared by teams from the school, and was in every respect a banquet, worthy of the skills of teachers and students, as is fitting for a self-respecting hotel school.
Mr Nardella, deputy mayor of Senigallia, addresses the guests.
In his speech Mr Tarcisio Torreggiani, deputy director of tourism, congratulated Alfonso Benvenuto for his commitment and invited everyone present to make a second visit to the famous caves, and also to visit all the treasures of Italy. He hoped for the creation one beautiful Europe!
Mr Tarcisio Torreggiani during his speech.
Taking the floor again, Alfonso Benvenuto called out all the teams who had been hard at work to ensure the success of the evening, and according to tradition these skilled craftsmen and craftswomen who had been working behind the scenes formed up behind their ‘boss’.
The ‘troops’ behind their boss!
In his speech to mark the end of the event, Alfonso Benvenuto underlined the ‘fraternal spirit which reigns here in Senigallia for all those who believe in democracy and in exchanges between countries. The AEHT is the fraternal link between young people, and the spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love. Many thanks to all of you, we have admired your culture and your traditions, and we are all part of one country, Europe’. His thanks were also extended to all the sponsors, individually named, who had enabled the school to organise this Christmas in Europe, and also to the local bodies – the Marches Region, the Province of Ancona represented by Patricia Casagrande, the towns of Senigallia, Corinaldo and Barbara. Not forgetting, of course, all the men and women of the great family of the IPSSARCT A.Panzini, in particular his immediate deputies who had worked so hard to ensure the success of this 12th edition of Christmas in Europe. Finally he thanked all the students who had worked so enthusiastically – and then he addressed Mrs Christmas, Christiane Keller: ‘On behalf of Senigallia, on behalf of the A.Panzini School, a big Thank You for having had the idea of Christmas in Europe’, he said, with obvious emotion.
Alfonso Benvenuto speaks to ‘Madre Noël’.
Christiane Keller’s voice was also laden with emotion as she thanked President Alfonso Benvenuto : ‘Signor Benvenuto, your name – meaning ‘welcome’ - is surely prophetic. We are deeply impressed by what we have experienced here, thanks to all the teams, thanks to the students … the Senigallia version of Christmas in Europe is one of the most successful, and your hospitality has been remarkable. I wish all of you a very Happy Christmas …’ Alfonso Benvenuto handed her a present of a T-Shirt in the colours of the IPSSARCT A. Panzini, signed by a host of participants, together with a portfolio of photographs by Mario Giacomelli.
A T-Shirt for ‘Madre Noël’in the colours of the IPSSARCT
A. Panzini, signed by a host of participants.
Again each delegation was called to the platform to receive the magnificent poster of the 12th Christmas in Europe and a variety of presents, and then, finally, after the desserts had been presented and served amid great applause, came the closing ceremony, and the official handing over of the flag.
The desserts are presented at the gallop to thunderous applause!
RENDEZ-VOUS IN 2004 IN BAD ISCHL
The last part of the ceremony, always highly symbolic, was the official handing over of the AEHT flag to the team which takes over for the organisation of the 13th Christmas in Europe which will take place in Bad Ischl in Austria in December 2004.
Kurt Manetzgruber, leader of the Bad Ischl team, choked with emotion and surrounded by all his team as well as Alfonso Benvenuto and Christiane Keller, promised to do his best next year with the Bad Ischl school to welcome the delegations. He wished all the Senigallia participants a Happy New Year 2004 and a very Merry Christmas, and finished with a resounding ‘Welcome to Bad Ischl.’.
What else can we say? Senigallia was over, long live Bad Ischl…. !
The AEHT flag has now been handed over to Bad Ischl for Christmas in Europe 2004.
