Rimini Meeting

Overview

The Rimini Meeting is held annually in the last week of August at Rimini Fiera. The weeklong festival includes talks, debates, workshops, exhibitions, sporting, musical and literary events, and other sessions. Each edition revolves around a theme that is chosen to inspire open reflection and dialogue.

In 2022, the Rimini Meeting attracted 80,000 visitors, with a further 720,000 online attendees.

Venue and organisation

The first edition of the Rimini Meeting took place in 1980, at the site of the old Rimini Fiera. The Meeting moved to the new Rimini Fiera after its completion in 2001.

In March 2008, the Meeting for Friendship Amongst Peoples Association, which was constituted in December 1980 to organise the Meeting, became a foundation. Over 3,000 volunteers work during the Meeting to stage, operate, and dismantle it.

Political and cultural significance

The Rimini Meeting is a significant event in Italian culture and politics, often attracting high-profile guest speakers and notable press coverage. Previous speakers include Pope John Paul II, Mario Draghi, Staffan de Mistura, and Tony Blair.

The 2022 Meeting included an early debate in the run-up to the 2022 general election and was attended by figures from major political parties: Giorgia Meloni, Matteo Salvini, Enrico Letta, Ettore Rosato, Antonio Tajani, and Carlo Calenda. Ten ministers of the Meloni government attended the 2023 edition, including Salvini, Tajani, and Giancarlo Giorgetti. The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, spoke on the final day of the Meeting.

In previous years, national television channels, including the public broadcaster RAI, have broadcast some sessions of the Rimini Meeting, including the Sunday Mass on Rai 1, RAI's flagship television channel.

Fraud investigation

In December 2012, the public prosecutor's office in Rimini charged the general manager, lead administrator and an account of the Meeting for Friendship Amongst Peoples Foundation with fraud, and seized one million euros from the foundation. An investigation by the Guardia di Finanza found that the foundation had presented false loss-making balance sheets to obtain 310,000 euros of public funding for the 2009 and 2010 editions of the Rimini Meeting: such funds can only be disbursed to organisations not making profits. The public agencies involved included Emilia-Romagna's regional council, Rimini's tourist marketing agency, the local Chamber of Commerce, and the Ministry of Culture. The group was acquitted in March 2016.

References

References

1. "Che cos'è il Meeting".
2. Mayaki SJ, Benedict. (19 August 2022). "Pope to Rimini meeting: Spread in the world a passion for the person".
3. Maria De Luca, Davide. (19 August 2012). "Che cos'è Comunione e Liberazione".
4. Olivari, Stefano. (24 August 2022). "Perché tutti vanno al Meeting di Rimini".
5. (17 August 2015). "Dal 20 al 26 agosto a Rimini la 36° edizione del Meeting".
6. Zavagli, Stefano. (21 August 2023). "Rimini capitale della politica, al Meeting attesi 10 ministri del governo Meloni. In campo 3.000 volontari".
7. "Meeting for friendship among peoples: 44th edition".
8. Guiducci, Paolo. (26 August 2022). "Rimini. Al Meeting tornano i numeri record. Nel 2023 al centro un'amicizia inesauribile".
9. (30 January 2023). "31 gennaio 1991 - Si apre a Rimini il XX e ultimo congresso del Pci".
10. "The Foundation".
11. "Articles of Foundation".
12. Paolucci, Giorgio. (12 August 2021). "«Il nostro segreto è la gratuità»".
13. "Grande manifestazione conclusiva".
14. Pope John Paul II. (29 August 1982). "Build the Civilization of Truth and Love".
15. Guiducci, Paolo. (26 August 2022). "Rimini. Al Meeting tornano i numeri record. Nel 2023 al centro un'amicizia inesauribile".
16. Torinelli, Andrea. (4 September 2016). "The saint who treated President Reagan 'like a school boy'".
17. Invereigh, Austen. (29 August 2009). "Tony Blair in Rimini talks language of Benedict XVI".
18. (23 August 2022). "Meeting Rimini: sfilano leader politici, popolo di Cl tifa Meloni".
19. Graziano Flore, Raffaele. (22 August 2022). "Programma Meeting Rimini 2022 oggi 22 agosto/ Incontri, ospiti e video streaming".
20. Dirani, Deborah. (11 December 2012). "Meeting dell'amicizia di Rimini, indagati per truffa tre dirigenti. La Fondazione: l'ipotesi di reato per noi è infondata".
21. (22 March 2016). "Meeting Rimini, tutti assolti al processo: nessun indebita appropriazione di fondi pubblici".
22. (5 January 2013). "Procura dissequestra palazzina Meeting".