When Ms. Daniela Tonelli visited the Kaki Tree Project exhibit at the Venice Biennale in 1999, she found out that they were recruiting foster parents for the seedlings. She wanted to participate in the project and already started to exchange letters with the project’s secretariat, however, it was not realized at that time due to her work commitments. Then in 2004, an official application from Ms. Daniela for the project at the State Museum of the Republic of San Marino arrived and the project was finally going to take place after 5 years.
Prior to the tree planting ceremony, Ms. Daniela Tonelli, Ms. Silvia Merli and Ms. Milena Zanotti conducted the workshop, in which they created art works from natural materials with children. They used materials such as chocolate, strawberries, coffee, etc. instead of ordinary paints and drew a tree by making prints of their hands and bodies on the paper, and pasted out-of-focus photos of children’s faces that looked like shouting over the surface. Mr. Antonio Felici and Ms. Daniela also made a poster and then the commencement of the ceremony was announced.
About 100 children including pupils from Scuola Elementare Il Mulino and about 250 adults attended the ceremony. Various authorities such as the cultural attache of the embassy of the republic of San Marino, the mayor of Faetano, Secretary of State, Minister of Education, the representative of the San Marino-Japan Friendship Association, the Honorary Consul-General of Japan in San Marino and a minister from the Embassy of Japan in Italy attended the ceremony. After the speeches given by the guests, Mr. Augusto Michelotti recited his poems. Medical therapist Ms. Marina Zavoli told the story that the republic of San Marino accepted many refugees during the Second World War since the republic is a neutral country. The tree was planted by children and each of them used a small shovel to cover the tree with soil. It is temporarily planted in the Faetano Park and it will be later moved to Il Mulino Elementary School which will be open in September.
