Confucius is quoted as saying “Study the past, if you would divine the future”. Indeed, to assure our future, we need to understand the past. Where has the human race been? Where are we going?

Let me divert you for a moment from the aggressive and political world of 2025 so that you can give some thought to what is valuable from the past. I certainly believe that we each have an obligation to preserve our cultural heritage. What does this mean? Looking after our tangible heritage – that’s artefacts, bricks and mortar – is relatively easy when we have the money; a huge percentage of our cathedrals, churches, museums, palazzi, châteaux, country houses and archaeological digs are funded and preserved, even if it more by individual initiative than by the public purse.

The parts of culture which we cannot see and handle are intangible cultural heritage. What is it? It is the intellectual wealth which you and I have inherited from those who went before. Looking after it requires a firm hand but a soft touch. The best guardians of the past are individuals who for profession or for hobby play their part in preserving memories and the positive influence they have on our present.

A small but shiny bijou in the felt-lined jewellery cabinet of preserving memories is the Little Golden Palm Leaf, or the Parmurelu d’Oru, an independent programme and award in Bordighera. This town, which might otherwise be considered similar to many along the Riviera, dominated by an aging population and a gradually weakening economy other than tourism, has popped up in the cultural scheme of things with an annual award now in its 18th year… entirely independent of the state, of the region of Imperia and of the City of Bordighera. The palm leaf branding is nice; Bordighera, the city of palms, has a unique tradition of gifting parmureli, woven palm leaf compositions, to the Vatican City, for Palm Sunday, a tradition dating back centuries. There’s no need for a public funding when a group of intelligent and generous citizens get together to honour individuals around them who have contributed to the culture of Bordighera and nearby. The winners have been people who bring kudos to Bordighera; a Formula 1 team manager, a rock drummer, a medical researcher, a painter/sculptor, a publisher, photographers and a tennis coach (well, Bordighera did have the first tennis club in Europe after Wimbledon, worth celebrating). Otherwise there are winners whose research and writing directly contributes to our understanding of history, culture and their value to us today and in the future.

Last month, Giuseppe Bessone, a Bordigotti who has spent as much time on art, history and cultural initiatives as on his career as an engineer, was honoured by the independent jury with the Parmurelu d’Oru 2025. I’ve had the honour of getting to know Giuseppe Bessone very well in the 20 years I’ve worked hard in promoting Clarence Bicknell, the Victorian polymath who lived in Bordighera. I have felt Ing. Bessone’s presence helping researchers, making available his own collection of art and historical artefacts to the good of the community and using his modest but persuasive skills in bringing about useful local initiatives. He has worked tirelessly to protect and restore historic buildings in the area; he has bolstered the long-term preservation of Bordighera and its architectural heritage; he has worked on preserving buildings across the whole Riviera; he played a key role (including patient and skilful nudging of the Bishop of Gibraltar and the Anglican church community in London) in making the de-consecrated Anglican Church of Bordighera – the Chiesa Anglicana – into a meeting and cultural space for the benefit of the community; he supported with enthusiasm and deep knowledge Valerie Lester’s writing of MARVELS – The Life of Clarence Bicknell. Oh yes, you are right to ask, my own work sustaining my great grand uncle Clarence’s philanthropic and cultural memory was also acknowledged with the Parmurelu d’Oru in 2017 and we put on an exhibition of his art in the Anglicana, the space that Giuseppe helped create. I wear my little golden palm leaf on my lapel, with a much pride as I would a Legion d’Honneur, which I do not have!

Giuseppe Bessone, 2025 Parmurelu d’Oru winner, is on the far right of this photo with Romolo Giordano (left, President Emeritus of the Parmurelu d’Oru), Barbara Ciarlini (a jury member), Gisella Merello (centre, President of the Jury of the Parmurelu d’Oru) and his wife Serena Bessone (2nd from the right).

My point is that individuals, private initiatives, the esteem of peers and some personal effort are often more effective that publicly-funded cultural activities. As soon as you get into the heady public-funded cultural initiatives – like some of those of the European Union – you risk falling into a mire of clichés, hand-wringing, wokism and pomposity. I found this out for myself in 2013 trying to comply with EU conditions to get funding (in vain) for a seven-country 17-university research project of prehistoric rock engraving (another of Clarence’s predilections).

The experts in the public sector start with same notion of Intangible Cultural Heritage – and I learnt the term from the EU – which they define as the knowledge and traditions inherited from previous generations and passed on to our descendants. But many public initiatives are excessively influenced by UNESCO’s 2003 convention wording which leans obtusely towards practices of indigenous people which reflect their past, including, as examples, myths, rituals and weaving. The study of third world ethnic groups is intrinsically interesting, but it has little bearing on us capitalists today. I took a degree in Archaeology & Anthropology including a year studying Margaret Mead (a proponent of broadening sexual conventions within the context of Western cultural traditions) and Frazer’s The Golden Bough (in short, mankind’s understanding of the natural world progresses from magic through religious belief to scientific thought). I am not even certain I am a better man for having studied that, especially as I was in the music industry within two weeks of graduating. No, the study of grass skirts seems irrelevant to the issues facing mankind.

Luckily, some parts of the European Union do invest good money in funding cultural projects more relevant to the public today. The EU even embraces digital heritage – meaning that museums can get funding for digitizing archives and making them available online to researchers – and living heritage i.e. heritage which evolves with the times, rather than being rigidly preserved. Of relevance to us Riviera Buzz readers is the EU’s ALCOTRA program in the Franco-Italian Alpine region which funds the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage by cross-border cooperation and sustainable use of cultural resources. The Museo Bicknell (created by my great grand uncle in Bordighera in 1888) and its mother ship the Istituto Internazionale di Studi Liguri have been able to acquire, digitise and make available fascinating aspects of our past in Liguria and the alps behind the Riviera. Otherwise, its staff of four people act more like enlightened individuals, led by the ineffable Daniela Gandolfi, doing the best with negligible public funding to care for and promote their collection and their heritage.

Whatever your definition of intangible cultural heritage, looking after it is more elusive, more mercurial. The parts of intangible cultural heritage which appeal to each of us might be different from a neighbour or someone else in the family. It’s difficult to see how public authorities like the town hall could justify massive funding research and promotion of long dead poets and artists without offending or disappointing some of their electorate. Certainly their priority is for funding hospitals, schools and roads.

Therefore, it’s up to us, the public, the interested individuals, to do what we can. When I see an example of such efforts, such as Bessone and the individuals behind the Little Golden Palm Leaf, I like to applaud them.

Lead image courtesy Parmurelu d’Oru, all other photos courtesy Marcus Bicknell