Wandering through the park of remembrance in a contemplative mood, down memory lane, and following a path that winds its way past almost inextricably intertwined naturalistic and artistic elements and rises along a gradual incline (the dimension of the existing park), one steps imperceptibly into a park of discovery, forged of events linked to science, culture and the arts. This is a park of events that can be experienced in a more dynamic form, and which are not necessarily linked to one another physically through a pre-established trail.

By virtue of a combination of play with educational pursuits, an interactive visit takes shape, in the course of which children and adolescents alike become participants in the veyr life of the park. Above and beyond the mere artistic representation of the story's protagonist, the cognitive provocation gradually unfolds, ultimately leading to the discovery of environments, objects and instruments that prompt adolescent curiosty in elements of science and technology. It is a sort of Toyland in reverse, a place where the desire to play and have fun typical of childhood and adolescence is guided in the direction of educational pursuits, a stimulus to creativity in small children and to the quest for knowledge in adolescents.

Park is nothing short of a board game in which situations vary diachronically and synchronically_: it is a poetic stage on which visitors may walk to and fro, in a more contemplative dimension, but may equally well engage in a voyage of discovery, travelling through a game,

The park is represented, both metaphorically and in a truly actualized manner, as a "hypertext"_: thus by moving from a main story-line (the walk through the Park) through various locations (events), totally different worlds and stories can be discovered. Upon entering one of the locations, one can access a chain of further links, passing into areas of the Park that are linked to one another not physically but virtually.

The main trail along which the various events occur has been laid out with great care, in order to ensure that the natural environment is fully respected. The trail follows an existing path that runs through the vegetation and climbs gradually up to the top of the hill. Along the way, various different botanical settings are encountered, but one also finds contextual elements - the hill village of Collodi Castello, streams and pools of water, artistic events - that metaphorically call to mind a different range of situations and evoke a variety of images_; such elements are not necessarily fixed and immutable, but may indeed be subject to change with the passing of time and the variation in seasons.

Embedded within the main trail, as it were, are events fulfilling the role of an invitation to discover the world of culture, art and science. Based on classical techniques but also on extremely sophisticated technology, the events incarnate a variety of eduational pursuits such as play activities, or the experience of going round a museum, and are designed to prompt an interactive response, both on the evocative and sensorial plane, from those who visit the Park. Among the range of activities waiting to be discovered, play is certainly the predominant element, but it is hardly ever a case of playing as an end in itself (unlike Disney World)_: rather, play activities are offered as a tool for acquiring knowledge.

Taken as a whole, the Park can be described as a complex structure in which environments and situations partake in a dynamic flux that centres around a fundamental goal_: that of teaching "the game of learning". The situations may change over time, and may therefore be actualized in different phases_; furthermore, there may be other as yet uncreated situations that will come into being at some future time.

In this framework, a part of the Park is devoted to "targeted projects", and this guarantees that change management will represent a vital aspect of the life of the Park_. (For instance, in any given year, a project could focus on the narrative fiction of a particular country, or develop a specific theme, eg. fables in Greek and Roman civilization).

The Park represents a trail in which reality and imagination are dynamically intertwined. Both children and adults are continually caught up in all the different aspects of the story (which are evoked through all the senses_: hearing, the sense of smell, and so forth), and are never left to sink into mere passive awareness of their surroundings or reduced to statistics on the number of visitors to different zones of the Park. On the contrary, children become part and parcel of the performance of "situations" in which many different characters of European fiction are involved.

Visitors to the Park are invited to invent a character and introduce him/her into a game in which everything that appears actually evokes a reference to other dimensions (for instance, a tree may ask "why are you touching me_?"). All the natural elements (plants, stones, etc.) and artificial objects (buildings, grenhoues, cable railways, etc.) in the Park are called upon to interact with children through words, images, smells, and so forth.

This "animation" of nature is obtained not only by traditional mechanical devices but also through the use of the most sophisticated high-tech instruments of information technology ("virtual reality"). In this manner, the storytelling game turns into a game of discovery. The mechanical or electronic animations of the characters are a delightful mystery just waiting to be discovered, offering fascinating clues and hints by virtue of their reference to the characters and situations of the stories involved.

This is a "game" that unravels through situations located in various different places in the Park, offering an opportunity to understand the kind of emotions evoked by characters belonging to children's fiction_:

the loneliness of the Little Prince gives insight into the importance of brotherhood_;

the paradox of Alice's den_: you enter and see your own image on television screens, where you appear both huge and absolutely tiny at the same time.

The Foundation is committed to safeguarding and enhancing the high quality of the art works present in the existing park, in order to awaken the creative spirit in children and adults alike and instil an appreciation of cultural values and recognition of a tradition that has now become widely known, respected and consolidated. It is hoped that such an awareness will also become the starting point for knowledge of the various different culture embodied in the story elements represented.

The underlying goal is thus for the Park to succeed in kindling an awareness of art among children and motivating them to develop their latent skills_; this goal is pursued by providing children with appropriate opportunities, instruments and materials within an overarching educational framework that seeks to stimulate children to become "producers" of art in their own right.

Artists invited to contribute works to the Park will therefore not be asked to create a "completed" work, but rather an "open" idea that achieves completion through the intervention of its 'users'.

There are a number of places within the Park where artists are periodically invited to create works. Uneventful though this might at first seem to be, it is actually a genuinely unfolding experience in which visitors find themselves immersed in the creation of a work of art, and have the opportunity to participate together with the artist and gain insight into the artist's imaginative powers. Such events may take place periodically, and may even be recorded, whereupon they can be re-enjoyed either on-site or in the section of the Park devoted to the museum.

The project that translates into the creating game also contains plans for a great wall, to be situated near the start of the rack-and-pinion railway_: over time, it will be decorated by all the various artists who will help to shape the Park's art-works.

Architecture is itself also a game, the game of seeming versus being, which helps to evoke ideas, calls forth memories and emotions. It therefore does not seek to incarnate either modernity or mimesis with antiquity, nor does it embody solemnity or the mythology of the characters that act as the focal point of the Park_: rather, it essence is discretion. Metaphorically, every architectural object is like a cloud seen through the eyes of a child_: to the child the cloud may look like a deer, yet it is not a deer...

Nature and art are fascinatingly intermingled in certain areas of the Park. Some of the landscape elements are utilized to denote particular places, thereby eliciting the impression of genuinely experiencing the situations expressed by the places, as occurs in the Alpe Sella Park_: the artists use leaves, branches and other objects from the natural world to endow with meaning various places in the Park and to conjure up shapes and sensations_:

The Park has the potential to become a centre where, through play, the "goal of knowledge" can be comprehended_: this goal is none other than the improvement of mankind.