The Ancient Games Association presents
“Tocatì 2009”

 The 7th Tocatì Street Games Festival  is to be considered an important step in the work that  Associazione Giochi Antichi carries out throughout the Italian and European areas each year.

The Festival, and namely the work of our association,  is grounded essentially on a key concept: Relations.

Relations with the games-players,  sorted out, chosen and invited to show their play-activities.
Relations with the different organizations that work, both on national  and international level, with the aim of getting the traditional game acknowledged as an expression of  the culture of a region.
Relations with the institutions: once acknowledged that any traditional game brings along a human and spiritual heritage that must be preserved and handed down, it is essential to support the traditional game through any current laws and state regulations changes deemed necessary.
Relations with the institutions are also central to point out that the transformation of urban and non-urban areas into  places devoted to play activities will have a significant  effect on the life quality of the citizens.

AGA is part of the European Traditional Sport and Games Association (ETSGA). This  favours a wider point of view and the creation of a net of relations with European organizations, besides making easier the guest Country participation.

Special guest of this 7th Tocatì Festival is Greece, home of games and local traditions that laid the base of our contemporary  popular culture, just  as the Greek culture is considered fundamental by the commonly defined “Western” world.

Tocatì is a special event  in  Europe and privileges the spreading of  the traditional game which  actual game communities perform for the audience giving  proof of the diversity, the energy and the current relevance of a universe that too often and wholly unfairly is portrayed  as “gone” in a rhetoric and nostalgic way . This attitude turns out to be quite wrong since these kind of experiences do exist and  therefore must be properly appreciated and publicized.

AGA joined the Italian Net of Popular Culture two years ago. Thanks to this Aga can easily create and maintain relations with the local Italian artistic worlds in the field of  music, dance, drama and poetry  further enriching the cultural offer of the Festival. 

With regards to the meetings and conferences, we are pleased to notice that the number of the speakers agreeing to take part to the Festival is steadily increasing. Their contribution will help  to carry out an in-depth study of the game concept as a cross-fields notion.

Comune di Verona stands as a real important partnership to keep the project going. The project can also rely on the collaboration of Regione Veneto and of other very important bodies, companies and associations.

We  thank for their collaboration the Greek institutions that kindly helped us to organize the event, and in particular the municipalities of Nigrita and Sohos.
We also thank all the people that made this 7th  Tocatì Festival possible, by sharing its value and philosophy.

We truly hope everybody will enjoy the games.

Giorgio Paolo Avigo
Chairman of Associazione Giochi Antichi