Salvi Prize

A Community Festival in the Sibillini Mountains

The Salvi Prize is one of the most cherished events in Valfornace, a small mountain municipality in the province of Macerata, in the heart of the Sibillini Mountains National Park. It's not a race or a traditional sports competition, but a great morning dedicated to play as an educational and relational experience, where sport becomes a tool for community building.

Who It's For

The prize is named after psychologist Laura Salvi, who conceived the initiative based on a simple conviction: in an era where screens are entering the lives of the young ever earlier, it's worthwhile to offer a precious and ancient experience – that of playing together. Through play, children learn collaboration, mutual respect, trust, and the ability to get back up: making mistakes, losing, falling, and trying again are part of life, lessons that books alone cannot teach.

Traditional Sports and Athletics

The protagonists of the day are the children and young people of the Monsignor Paoletti Comprehensive Institute, which brings together the nursery, primary, and lower secondary schools of nine municipalities in the upper Macerata area: Valfornace, Pieve Torina, Fiastra, Bolognola, Castelsantangelo sul Nera, Ussita, Visso, Monte Cavallo, and Muccia. Under the supervision of the FIGeST (Italian Federation of Traditional Games and Sports), the young people engage in disciplines that are part of the popular culture of the Marche and Apennine regions: 'ruzzola', 'tiro alla fune' (tug-of-war), 'freccette' (darts), skittles, 'piastrelle', and archery, alongside athletics and team sports like basketball, volleyball, and 'palla rilanciata'.

The Value of Tradition

Games like tug-of-war take on symbolic meaning: they represent collective effort towards a common goal and mutual support among teammates. The event aims to be a moment of solidarity, relaxation, and intergenerational sharing, capable of uniting the entire community ecosystem – students, parents, and teachers – to build a solid network across the Sibillini Mountains area, a region affected by the 2016 earthquake and engaged in a path of social rebirth.

Music and Identity

Accompanying the morning is the School Choir, directed by music professor Alessandro Pucci, which gives voice to the collective identity of the territory and seals the sense of belonging that animates the entire day.