And we dare to awaken the little boy who dwells somewhere in our being. Grožnjan Ex Tempore awakes passions, colours our dreams and projects our Istrian being into art, over and over again. Acclaimed and renowned artists, Sunday artists or simply those who love art. To innovate and to renew, rooted firmly in tradition and with a clear view of the future: this is what has inspired our activities in the last twenty years. To walk along old paths with new shoes and the new roads with old shoes. Ex Tempore was born in 1994, thanks to the wisdom and views of Antonio Pellizzer (at that time he was Head of the Cultural Sector of the Executive Committee that I chaired), Sergio Molesi, Roberto Ambrosi, Erna Toncinich and Luciano Rossit. Created to celebrate 30 years of collaboration between the Italian Union and the Università Popolare di Trieste, over the years it has become, with an exponential progression, one of the main artistic events of the entire area. Thirty-three artists participated in the first edition; in the following one the number doubled, and in 2011 there were 514. The winners of the first edition were three compatriots: Daria Vlahov (1st prize), Bruno Paladin (2nd prize) and Claudio Ugussi (3rd prize); then the winners were international, just like the event. It was an absolute novelty since its beginning for two main reasons: it was an international initiative, and the target group was not only the Italian National Community of Croatia and Slovenia, but all artists in general. But then, it was also created in one of the darkest periods of our recent history. It represented hope, the kind that you feel when you look at the dawn, trembling with excitement after a long, starry night! It was a choice inspired by a cultural strategy that identified the evolutionary lines in the involvement of the territory, both in terms of active participation as well as repercussions of such creativity, to contribute to the intercultural dialogue that today belongs to everyone, or almost everyone. Furthermore, it assumed an international dimension, a European dimension even then, when Europe seemed so far away from here. An intuition that reached the goals it set – today, the Ex Tempore of Grožnjan is without a doubt one of the most important cultural events at a broader regional level. It shows the contribution of the Italian National Community to the social and cultural growth of our historic areas and of the countries where we belong. It is a sign of the excellence of the Italian presence in the world. It is a glue between the cultures, languages, identities and people of this plural world. A further contribution to peace, a seed of wheat that turns into bread, a grain of love for beauty: the one that will save us.