Matteotti’s legacy lives on through AI. Special mention at the 2026 MED Award for Elisabetta Nanni and Fabiola Pacifici
An important accolade for educational innovation has been awarded to the lower secondary school L. Valli, part of the Narni Scalo comprehensive school, in the province of Terni. Teachers Elisabetta Nanni, a music teacher, and Fabiola Pacifici, a history teacher, have received a special mention as part of the 2026 ‘Cesare Scurati’ MED Award for the project “The Voice That Has Not Been Silenced”. The award, organised by theItalian Association for Media and Communication Education (MED), recognises the best examples of media education practice that successfully combine creativity, educational rigour and methodological quality.
An impossible interview between history and citizenship
Carried out with Class 3B, the project transformed the study of Giacomo Matteotti (1885–1924) into an immersive and participatory experience. The pupils did not merely reconstruct the historical facts, but created a genuine ‘impossible interview’ in podcast format, imagining a dialogue between young people in 2026 and the man who defined democracy as a ‘muscle that, if you don’t use it, atrophies’.
Through five scenes, the podcast traces the life of the socialist MP, from the struggles in the Polesine region to his famous speech on 30 May 1924 against fascist violence, restoring a voice, depth and dignity to a pivotal figure in Italian history and constitutional values.
AI as a critical and creative tool
The most innovative aspect lies in the thoughtful use of emerging technologies. In this project, artificial intelligence was not a shortcut, but a genuine interlocutor to be questioned. The work was divided into nine operational stages:
- NotebookLM was used to synthesise historical sources and rework the individual students’ texts into a single script.
- Gemini – Create Music / Lyria 3 enabled the class to compose the soundscape through prompt engineering. The pupils had to describe and justify every choice (atmosphere, instruments, rhythm) in the Compose with AI worksheet, transforming music generation into an activity that was at once aesthetic, reflective and ethical.
- Finally, GarageBand was used for editing on the iPad, with careful attention paid to integrating the narrative voice with the musical accompaniment.
Beyond the technical: the Scuola del Noi
Elisabetta Nanni, one of the featured contributors to the column “Voices and Faces of the Teachers at the Scuola del Noi”, emphasises how a project of this kind arises from the need not to tackle the complexities of contemporary schooling alone.
By participating in the community of practice promoted by Fondazione Mondo Digitale, the teacher has developed a vision of AI not merely as a technical tool, but as an opportunity to foster critical thinking, awareness and autonomy in pupils. According to Nanni, the role of the teacher today is that of a ‘designer of learning environments’, capable of making the digital environment in which young people already live more accessible. The success of “La voce che non si è spezzata” confirms that, when technology is placed at the service of a pedagogical vision, the school can become a living laboratory where pupils learn to think for themselves and to tackle the complexities of the present with the right tools.
The project was presented publicly during the commemorations dedicated to Giacomo Matteotti, in the presence of the ANPI and the Matteotti Foundation, cementing the link between the school, the local community and civic memory.
