“Dal giocattolo alla realtà” was born in 2014 thanks to the initiative of Alberti e Santi and F.lli Cattadori. It is annually organized with the collaboration of the Municipalities involved, C.I.C.S (Circolo Italiano Camion Storici) and A.I.T.E. (Associazione Italiana Trasporti d'Epoca) associations.

The event is normally organized concurrently with the Spring Festival in Fiorenzuola d'Arda.

 

The first edition took place on 24th and 25th May 2014 and involved 1400 young students from preschool, primary and secondary schools of Fiorenzuola d'Arda. The contest included the representation of two tracks - "Journey as discovery" and "Journey through history" - through drawings and multimedia products. The best creations were evaluated by a jury - made up of the teachers and the executives of the two companies - and rewarded with educational technological tools for the benefit of the schools.

The Academy has joined the historical side, a static exhibition of 30 trucks dated from 1920 to 1970 and coming from all over Italy.

 

 

The second edition of the event, which took place in 2015, has been integrated with a series of initiatives both on an educational and cultural level. The Academy, in this case, included a photo contest entitled "The journey in a click", with the theme of the evolution of transportation in time.

But the real novelty of this edition was the Tour. For the first time, 39 vintage trucks paraded along the roads of Val d'Arda, crossing villages full of gastronomic and cultural traditions, including Vernasca and Castell'Arquato.

In this edition as well, innovation and tradition were two central themes of the event.

 

 

With the third edition, the Academy was further innovated. The training program was, in fact, integrated with new initiatives and projects, such as the vintage and modern truck show set up at the new headquarters of Alberti & Santi company.

This time, the Tour saw the participants protagonists of a real "Health Journey": 40 historic trucks, in fact, paraded from Cortemaggiore to Salsomaggiore Terme, a town known throughout Italy for thermal tourism and for hosting the finals of 39 editions of Miss Italia.

 

 

Even the fourth edition reserved many new features. Among these, the first endurance race in Italy dedicated to vintage means of transport. On Saturday 27 May 2017, in fact, 40 historic trucks competed in Verdi's lands, crossing several well-known places, such as Busseto, Roncole Verdi and Polesine Zibello.

FOr this edition, the protagonists of Academy were the 3rd class students of the Industrial Technical Institute Berenini of Fidenza (Logistics address) whose works were evaluated by a jury composed by the managing directors of the sponsoring companies, Fabio Lunardini (journalist of Libertà) and three councilors of the Municipality of Cortemaggiore.

 

 

Given that innovation is one of the values on which the event has always been based, the fifth edition as well was integrated with many news! Following the success of the previous edition, the endurance race was re-proposed, this time in three valleys of Piacenza: Val d'Arda, Val Chero and Val Nure. 60 vintage vehicles competed, including 6 from Austria and 1 from Netherlands. The prize-giving (individual prize-giving, team prize-giving, and "the most numerous club" prize-giving) took place on Sunday, 27 May in Fiorenzuola, concurrently with the Show of historical vehicles and the celebrations for the Centenary of the First World War.

This year, the Academy involved two Institutes - the Berenini Institute of Fidenza and the Enrico Mattei Institute of Fiorenzuola - whose students developed high-quality videos focused on logistics and transportation. The latter were evaluated by a technical jury (reunited at the Alberti & Santi office on Thursday 24 May) and a popular jury (during the gala dinner of Saturday 26 May).

 

We look forward to seeing you at the sisth edition!