“Nothing is lost with peace. Everything can be lost with war”. A symbolical sentence that of Pope Pius XII, inscribed on the peace bell of Rovereto which last Thursday played for a special audience: the young students of Rondine’s International Hall of Residence.

“These tolls are our voices, voices of peace” said Rondine’s president, Mr. Franco Vaccari, who gave Magomed Aleroev, Chechen student, the Golden Swallow, a honour conferred to the students who end their experience at Rondine with excellent results.

The visit to the world’s biggest bell was the conclusion of a two day trip to Trentino which took the students and a delegation of the association Rondine Cittadella della Pace to Trento for the conference “For peace in the Caucasus: a popular diplomacy laboratory” organized by Rondine’s social cooperative in collaboration with Trentino Spa, the OBC (Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso) and the University of Trento.

During the meeting Franco Vaccari, the ambassador Giuseppe Cassini who participated to the Friendship trip to the Southern Caucasus and Turkey organized by Rondine last July, and some students from Rondine illustrated the main points of the project “Ventidipacesucaucaso” (Winds of peace on Caucasus). Prof. Aldo Ferrari from the Ca’ Foscari Universtity of Venice  and researcher of the Ispi Institute of Milan, Luisa Chiodi and Giorgio Comai, respectively scientific director and researcher of the OBC also intervened, analyzing the current situation in the Caucasus and underlining how young people represent an important source for peace in those areas. To open the meeting the Provost of the Faculty of Sociology of the University of Trento, Mr. Bruno Dallago, the director of the external relations department of Trentino Spa, Mr. Paolo Manfrini, and the Councilor for International Solidarity and Coexistence, Mrs. Lia Giovanazzi Beltrami.

Furthermore some students and members of the Association were received by the President of the Regional Council of Trentino Alto Adige/Südtirol , Marco Depaoli, by the President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Province of Trento, Adriano Dalpez, by the top brass and the students of the “Sacro Cuore” Institute of Trento and by some businessmen of the region who appreciated Rondine’s work and history. They all recognized the great value of the association and its high level initiatives and continuous commitment  of its students involved in conferences, meetings and projects of different kinds that are getting Arezzo known all around the world.