Reggio Emilia: A European Tradition of Creative Intelligence
- Louise Sommer
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
I still remember stepping into a Reggio Emilia classroom on my study trip to Florence. Sunlight poured through large windows, children’s drawings and sculptures covered the walls, and the room itself was bursting with curiosity and stories. It felt less like a classroom and more like a cultural laboratory filled with educated little voices; a place, where imagination and identity were treated with the same respect as knowledge.
I grew up with Florence and her history. From my earliest visits as a child, I remember sitting alone in front of Botticelli, or walking into Santa Maria del Fiore without queues or noise, when the locals still lived in the heart of the city.
Over the years, I have returned many times. Not only to revisit its art and architecture, but to learn from Italy’s unique understanding of culture, history, leadership, creativity, and education. Each visit has deepened my respect for how the Italian tradition weaves learning, art, and belonging into a unified vision that continues to inspire my work today.
Reggio Emilia is not just an educational method. It is a cultural movement that was born in Italy after the Second World War, where it emerged as an act of resistance.
Communities, scarred by war and repression, decided they wanted a different future for their children rooted in freedom, collaboration, and creative expression. They wanted to cultivate free minds, resourceful humans, and a future built on innovation.
In a world that had seen the worst of authoritarian control, they built schools where children could speak in “a hundred languages” and inspire the world through art, movement, storytelling, dialogue, play, and even food.
This is Creative Intelligence at its core:
Creativity as a human right.
Intelligence as relational and collective.
Culture as the foundation of learning.
For me, experiencing the real Reggio Emilia institutions in Italy was extraordinary, and it left a deep mark on my way forward. It revealed that education is not only about transferring knowledge, it is about shaping belonging, identity, and connection. These schools embodied the idea that creativity is not a luxury. It is how communities rebuild, how children find voice, and how societies imagine (and build) their future.
What struck me most was how Reggio Emilia connected all areas of life and learning. I saw a costume specialist from the Uffizi come to teach children about garments from history. How they were made, their stories, and what it meant to wear them. The children were encouraged to try the costumes, to walk in them, play out scenes in their theaters and to imagine what it was like to live back then.
Cooks brought the food of the 1400s to life through stories, scents, and spices, inviting children and adults to taste and later recreate the dishes themselves. At the end, they weren’t just eating a meal. No, they were bringing history and lived voices back to life and teaching the new generations how to re-imagine the stories. They were all learning, and growing, by merging with their own cultural narratives and languages.
I loved the adults (teachers, assistants, scholars) who guided the children. There was enough time for every student. I didn’t see any stress. Today, when I think back, I realize that every adult I met there was not just a teacher, but also a mentor and a life coach.
As we now wrestle with the promises and threats of artificial intelligence in education, I find myself returning to Reggio Emilia. Just as post-war Italy resisted rigid, top-down systems, we too must resist the temptation to let technology reduce us to efficiency and control. We need courage to keep creative intelligence at the heart of how we learn and live. Human teachers across all levels of education are crucial, and more than that, they are irreplaceable.
No matter what subject we learn, cultural “languages” - that be emotional, social, epigenetic, cognitive, and narrative - are always at play. They stimulate our brains and nervous systems in ways that expand our social intelligence and, later in life, shape how we lead.
What I witnessed in Italy was more than teaching. As adults worked together across platforms they became leaders, navigators, and mentors. They showed how to guide others with a deep, complex intelligence grounded in belonging, understanding, and invention.
When cultures integrate these facets across traditions, knowledge itself transforms. It no longer feels like abstract theory but like a living force: layered, fascinating, and profoundly human. Suddenly, complex knowledge becomes alive, connected, and usable and that's when we start to create a new curious future.
As I said at the beginning, education at its heart is not about the transfer of knowledge. It is about learning how to navigate and lead in a magnificent world, rich with connection, diversity, and curiosity.
In a few weeks I will continue this theme on Creative Intelligence, I will continue with the Reggio Emilia theme and explore how these insights shape our inner leadership and what that means for education, belonging, and the way we lead as adults.
I would love to hear your reflections on this topic. Join the conversation on LinkedIn, where I share more insights and invite dialogue with educators, creatives, and leaders worldwide. Connect to LinkedIn here.
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Louise Sommer (MA, Educational Psychology) is the founder of Louise Sommer Studio. She specialises in creative intelligence, learning design, and leadership communication across cultures. Through her writing, consulting, and workshops, Louise helps educators and leaders build learning cultures that think, feel, and grow.
Louise Sommer Studio Blog is a free space for learning created for educators, leaders, and creatives exploring the intersection of psychology, culture, and creative intelligence.
Louise Sommer (cand.pæd.psyk.) er grundlægger af Louise Sommer Studio. Hun er specialiseret i kreativ intelligens, læringsdesign og ledelseskommunikation på tværs af kulturer. Gennem sit arbejde med undervisning, rådgivning og workshops hjælper Louise undervisere og ledere med at udvikle læringskulturer, der tænker, føler og vokser.
Louise Sommer Studio Blog er et frit rum for læring, skabt for undervisere, ledere og kreative, der udforsker samspillet mellem psykologi, kultur og kreativ intelligens.
