Eating for life

1. External context: Cosenza, the town
Cosenza is a medium sized city situated in Calabria, southern Italy, which counts almost 70.000
inhabitants. It rises on a two rivers’ confluence and it is surrounded by seven mountains. The
entire settlement area is protected to the west by the Range Southern Coast, that separates the
city from the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Sila mountains, the wooded plateau where
wolves still live , totem animal of the city and symbol of the local soccer team.
Cosenza has interests and wonders deriving from its cultural past. It has one of the most beautiful
historical centres in Italy, which is testimony to the cultural expansion of its first inhabitants, the
Bruzi, who chose to call this city Consentia.
About art, the city contains several outstanding monuments: the medieval Swabian castle at the
top of the city hill; a tradition theatre designed by the architect Zumpano in 1887 and dedicated to
the pianist Alfonso Rendano; the Romanesque Cathedral as Heritage witnessing culture of peace,
recognized by the UNESCO; MAB, the Open Air Museum ‘Carlo Bilotti’ along the pedestrian
precinct of Corso Mazzini, with several modern sculptures.
Its present and its cultural future are solidly connected to Unical, the largest university campus in
southern Italy.

2. Internal context: our school
The secondary school for scientific studies “Enrico Fermi” is located in Cosenza town centre. It
was born as a completion of the first scientific high school of the city and acquired its full
autonomy between 1973/1974. The school’s dedication to the great Italian physicist Enrico Fermi
was chosen by the students because, from their point of view, he better represented their field of
study.
Currently, the school counts 1216 students, coming from different social, cultural and territorial
realities, divided in 56 classes (each equipped with multimedia digital boards and computers)
organized in two principal institutes. Inside the building there are many classrooms for theoretical
studies, a computer lab, two physics and chemistry laboratories, a gym, a library and a lecture hall.
Scientific subjects (Maths, Physics, Biology and Chemistry) are the curriculum basic fields of
specialization, but the students study also literature, history, philosophy, art and, of course English
as a foreign language.
Extracurricular optional courses are also organized according to the students’ choices: drama,
sports activities, music or, since the school is the first and only in Calabria which offers IGCSE
(International General Certificate of Secondary Education), they can take courses on several
subjects in English, organized in cooperation with Cambridge International Examinations.
This year a new kind of five years' international curriculum has started , namely "Liceo
Internazionale ad Opzione Italo-Inglese", in which some subjects (Geography, Coordinated
Sciences, Maths, Art&Design, Economics, including English as a Second Language and Spanish as a
Foreign Language) will be studied both in Italian and English and will bring the students to a
double content final certificate (IGCSE in 7 subjects and Italian Secondary Scientific Studies
certificate). So from this year on, our school has two curricula options: 1) Secondary school for
Scientific Studies (with the possibility of enlarging the curriculum with more weekly hours of
Maths and Physics); 2) International Secondary school for Scientific studies ( with stress on foreign
languages, English and Spanish, applied to science content learning).
Furthermore, the students have the opportunity to certify their English level through Cambridge
International Examinations (PET-FCE-CAE) and their IT skills with IC3 (Internet and Computing Core
Certification) a training and certification course which allows to acquire the necessary knowledge
to work with a personal computer.