The first course shared with teachers in the Pirelli Foundation Educational programme, which is designed to help Italian schools expand their remote education services, lets children find out about the origin of natural rubber, its characteristics and its uses – with a particular focus on tyres – and to see and listen to the stories that have sprung from the imagination of great authors inspired by this material.

The school subjects involved in these analyses are: Art and Image, Science, Italian, and History.

Each teacher can choose whether to present the children with all the elements included in the course or only one or more elements, depending on the time available and their study plan. At the end of each section, some activities are suggested, which the children can perform on their own, as instructed by the teacher.

The content is structured as follows:

  • Video – Natural rubber

Pirelli: where rubber comes from and how it is used

  • Audio – Il bambino di gomma by Alfonso Gatto

Reading of the poem on the “child made of rubber” by the Salerno-born writer Alfonso Gatto, from Pirelli magazine, with an introduction on the author

 

  • Video – News from the Turin Motor Show

A humorous animated commercial created in 1951 by Toni Pagot, the cartoonist and pioneer of Italian animation cinema

  • Audio – Il gatto di gommapiuma ha i baffi di nailon by Bruno Munari

Reading of the text on “the foam-rubber cat with nylon whiskers”, from Pirelli magazine, by the famous artist Bruno Munari, the inventor for Pirelli of the toy cat Meo Romeo, with an introduction on the author

 

  • Video – Auteur sketches

Guided interpretation of two historical sketches for Pirelli tyre advertisements

 

VISIT TO THE FOUNDATION

The course ends with a Virtual Tour – a visit to the Pirelli Foundation from home.

Like a treasure hunt, the children will be able to move around the rooms of the Foundation looking for objects related to the themes examined in the course.

If you would like to receive this information, or have any further requirements, please write to scuole@fondazionepirelli.org

caption: Sketch for a Pirelli Rolle tyre advertisement, 1958, Brunati – Mendini – Villa