A.I.R.E.Z. was born in Montepulciano, the small art town of the Etruscan part of Tuscany that saw the last eleven years of Elémire Zolla’s life. Though full of tourists during the warm season, Montepulciano and surroundings become pleasant, rather quiet places in the autumn, winter and spring, most suitable to theme-based meetings, talks and research in which to re-establish the pure pleasure of an intellectual exercise full of interior enrichment and significance.

This kind of MEETINGS, for members only and therefore held at closed doors, will be itinerant throughout suggestive villages both in Tuscany and other regions, so as to let the quiet beauty of these places seep in between works. Meetings lasting two days, with an overnight stay, will be announced in plenty of time on the website so as to give people time to make the necessary accomodotation arrangements. These meetings will be theme-based, on subjects drawn from Zolla’s work, and open to all A.I.R.E.Z. members, regardless of age. Each encounter shall be led by a coordinator who shall read a text of Zolla’s, analyse it in detail as appropriate to a circle of intellectuals, and then open the floor for anyone wishing to ask questions or make a constructive comment related to the text. Others may prefer listening in silence, so as to let the full immersion in the subject work its own path within and bring its own fruits.

Next to the recurring MEETINGS there will be RESEARCH SEMINARS for junior members (up to 35 years old). Often, doctorate and post-doctorate students are in need of an occasion for open debate, far from their academic pen, regarding their own work, the methods employed and bibliography. The A.I.R.E.Z. Seminars, led by a coordinator that may be selected among the Junior Members, mean to fill this gap. Organisational details regarding MEETINGS and SEMINARS programmed for spring and autumn 2010 will be provided during the first months of 2010, after completion of the first 30 A.I.R.E.Z. memberships.

Furthermore the Association means to promote conferences open to a general public. They are to take place every two years and to be organized together with Institutions, Bodies or Academies willing to host them within their facilities. The A.I.R.E.Z. CONFERENCES may be either national or international, and English is to be the official language in case of the latter.

The A.I.R.E.Z. website will host a bi-lingual forum on crucial subjects of contemporary cultural debate. Philosophers, writers, scholars, scientists and poets will from time to time be invited by a coordinator to explore the selected matter from a number of different perspectives.

Finally, the Association has a debt to repay for the great gift that Elémire Zolla made to Italian culture by creating and directing from 1969 until 1983 the journal entitled Conoscenza religiosa (Religious Knowledge), nowadays impossible to find. Brought back to life again, with the original graphic and interdisciplinary setup, a new series of Conoscenza religiosa, directed by Grazia Marchianò with the collaboration of an international panel of scholars, will be available online for members only as of April 2010. The first 30 members to sign up according to the regulations indicated in the horizontal menu will receive a paper copy of the first number.