The Tagliamento Living Lab was established in 2024 as a citizen-driven initiative focused on the Tagliamento River and its basin, and is part of the European network of Water-Oriented Living Labs
The Tagliamento Living Lab (TLL) is part of the European network of Water-Oriented Living Labs. The TLL was established in 2024 as a citizen-driven initiative coordinated by CEVI (Centro di Volontariato Internazionale) and Anna Scaini (professor at Stockholm University and Bolin Center for Climate Research). The TLL is supported by a growing network of local and international partners, including organisations, associations, institutions and individuals active across the Tagliamento basin. In particular, Patagonia contributed to dissemination activities, while Stockholm University. OGS and TUM Munich contributed to research activities. WWF Germany funded the website Tagliamento.org, and the River Collective collaborated on educational initiatives. The Living Lab is rooted in the many local groups and individuals who live with, work along and care for the river, bringing their knowledge, experiences and perspectives into a shared future.
From 12–18 July 2026, the Students for Rivers Camp brought together students from different countries and disciplines for a week of learning, exchange and exploration along the Tagliamento River, based in Pontaiba.
Organised by River Collective, the camp combined field activities, workshops and shared experiences to explore different ways of understanding and relating to rivers. The Tagliamento Living Lab contributed to the programme by introducing its work and facilitating workshops that connected the students’ perspectives with the experiences and knowledge of people living and working along the river.
The camp created an opportunity to learn with and from the Tagliamento, bringing together scientific knowledge, local experiences, creativity and new perspectives on the future of the river.
How can a river speak? Through a series of workshops held in different locations along the Tagliamento, participants were invited to explore their personal relationships with the river and reflect on how these diverse perspectives could contribute to giving it a voice.
Bringing together local knowledge, lived experiences and scientific perspectives, the workshops created a space to listen to the many ways in which people connect with the Tagliamento.
The first workshop was held in Tabine (Ragogna) at the Vecjo Traghet restaurant.
The first workshop was held at the Pitars Winery (San Martino al Tagliamento)
The second workshop was held at the Oasi Naturalistica Val Grande (Bibione)
Since 2020, the Home River BioBlitz has brought people together along the Tagliamento to explore and document the river’s rich biodiversity. Combining scientific observation with citizen participation, the initiative creates an opportunity to learn directly from the river and contribute to a shared understanding of its ecological diversity.
In 2025, the BioBlitz took place in Tabine, Ragogna, organized by the active citizenship group Noi siamo Tagliamento with the participation of Chiara Scaini (OGS) and Prof. Thomas Wagner, ecologist at TUM Munich. Through field observations and shared activities, participants explored the biodiversity of the Tagliamento and reflected on the value of collective knowledge and direct experience in understanding and protecting the river.
679 observations were collected and, once validated by experts, were included in the INaturalist page.
Through classroom discussions and field activities, students from CEFAP explored the landscapes and waters of their local area, including the Tagliamento and its surrounding water systems. Starting from scientific concepts such as ecosystem services and the value of surface and groundwater, the activities created space for students to connect these ideas with their own experiences, memories and knowledge of the places where they live.
Field visits to the Tagliamento extended this dialogue beyond the classroom, encouraging students to observe, experience and reflect on the river directly. The students then developed their own articles and stories, transforming their observations and perspectives into new ways of communicating about water and the landscape. In this way, the activity explored how education and personal experience can help build a dialogue with the river — not simply as a resource to be studied, but as a living entity with which we share a relationship.
Organised by the Committee for the Tagliamento in UNESCO, this dissemination activity, developed togegher with the professor, historian and writer Angelo Floramo, explored the Tagliamento through the many layers of meaning that have shaped its relationship with the surrounding territory. Bringing together historical, environmental and socio-cultural perspectives, the discussion reflected on the river not only as a natural system, but also as a space of memory, connection, identity and shared experience.
By linking the river’s environmental history with the stories and cultural landscapes that have developed along its banks, the activity offered an opportunity to explore the Tagliamento as a living presence in the history of local communities — and to reflect on how understanding and valuing these relationships can contribute to imagining its future.
The first event was held in Forni di Sopra in May 2025
The second event was held in Tolmezzo in May 2025
The third event was held in Ragogna in June 2025
The Tagliamento Living Lab was a partner in the organisation of the exhibition “Tiliment – Tagliamento tra arte e scienza”, held from 20 September to 26 October 2025 at Spazio [A]tmosfera. The exhibition brought together artistic and scientific perspectives to explore the Tagliamento through its landscapes, memory, ecological values and relationships with people.
Chiara and Anna Scaini contributed to the exhibition catalogue, while Chiara Scaini and Angelo Floramo led a public dissemination event featuring a dialogue with the participating artists, including Eugenio Novajra, Renato Rinaldi and Roberto Ghezzi. The collaboration created a space where art, science and local knowledge could meet, offering new ways of seeing and communicating the river and its many dimensions.
The exhibition and events were organized by the Municipality of Codroipo, Cevi, Ecomuseo delle Acque del Gemonese, and co-sponsored by Pitars Winery.
Since 2023, the TLL team has contributed to Tagliamento Sport e Natura, a festival jointly organised by the Municipality of Codroipo and the Municipality of San Vito al Tagliamento, on the two sides of the river. The festival brings together sport, culture and environmental education to celebrate the Tagliamento, its communities, and the many ways in which people experience and connect with the river. In May 2026, Chiara Scaini contributed to the fourth edition of the festival with the talk “The Values of the River.”
The presentation explored the Tagliamento beyond its ecological importance, reflecting on the many environmental, social, cultural and personal values connected to the river. In this context, the festival itself provides an important space for bringing together the communities living on its left and right banks, transforming what was once perceived as a natural boundary into an opportunity for connection and shared experience.
In September 2026, a scientific disseminatin public talk entitled “The Tagliamento: A Living Laboratory” explored the river as a space where research, local knowledge, education and community initiatives come together. The presentation will reflect on the many ways in which people experience, study and care for the Tagliamento, and on how these different relationships can contribute to a shared understanding of its present and future.
The talk is part of Giornate in Villa Ivancich, an event dedicated to the relationship between people, water and territory, offering an opportunity to connect the experience of the Tagliamento with broader reflections on landscapes, environmental history and our relationship with water.
The event is organized by the Municipality of San Michele al Tagliamento.
The photographic exhibition “Tiliment: Il fiume si racconta”, by photographer Eugenio Novajra, offers a visual journey along the Tagliamento, exploring the river as a landscape, an ecosystem and a repository of community memory. the exhibition was curated by Cevi and Ecomuseo delle Acque del Gemonese. It was inaugurated on 14 June 2026 at the Chiusaforte cycle-tourism station, along the Alpe Adria Cycle Route, as part of Orizzonti Sostenibili, organised by CEVI. Open until the end of August 2026, the exhibition invites visitors to discover the Tagliamento through images that reveal its landscapes, character and the deep relationships between the river and the communities along its course.
The photographic exhibition “Tiliment: Il fiume si racconta”, by photographer Eugenio Novajra, offers a visual journey along the Tagliamento, exploring the river as a landscape, an ecosystem and a repository of community memory. the exhibition was curated by Cevi and Ecomuseo delle Acque del Gemonese. Held at the Hospitale di San Giovanni in Majano from 21 March to 25 April 2026, through photography and multimedia elements, the exhibition invited visitors to experience the Tagliamento as a living landscape, where beauty, vulnerability and the many relationships between the river and its communities come together.
The Tagliamento is more than a subject of study: it is a place for learning, sharing and experiencing the river together.
From the Home River BioBlitz and public dissemination events to the Students for Rivers Camp, educational activities and outdoor experiences, different initiatives bring people to the river and create opportunities to exchange knowledge and perspectives.
Through these shared experiences, the Tagliamento becomes an open-air classroom where scientific knowledge, local experience and personal relationships with the river can meet and grow.
People who live alongside, experience, study or work on the river each have their own ways of knowing it.
Through questionnaires, interviews, workshops, and the Tagliamento.org e-Library, we aim to bring together different forms of knowledge: academic research, local stories and experiences, people’s relationships with the river, ideas, hopes and proposals from citizens and communities.
In this way, knowledge becomes something that can be shared and continuously expanded. Anyone with relevant research, materials, experiences or stories can contribute, helping to build a richer and more diverse understanding of the Tagliamento.
What is the voice of the Tagliamento?
Through a series of workshops held in three different locations along the river, participants were invited to reflect on their personal relationships with the Tagliamento and to explore how these different perspectives could contribute to giving the river a voice.
Inspired by the Gary Brierley and his work on river voices in New Zealand, the approach was developed and adapted to the specific social, cultural and environmental context of the Tagliamento. The research team was constituted by Anna Scaini (SU), Chiara Scaini (OGS), Anna Brusarosco and Francesco Visentin (University of Udine).
Learn more…
The Tagliamento carries a long geological history, shaping the landscape for over thousands of years.
But the river also holds the traces of human history. Communities have lived alongside it for centuries, adapting to its floods and changing course, while the river has served at different times as a boundary, a connection, a resource and a shared space.
Today, these different layers of memory are being explored through scientific research and participatory approaches, bringing together geological and historical studies, local memories, stories, and experiences of living with the river.
By collecting and connecting these different forms of knowledge, we aim to honor the Tagliamento history and better understand the relationships that have shaped, and continue to shape, its future.
A Water-Oriented Living Lab (WOLL) is a collaborative space where researchers, public institutions, civil society, local communities and other stakeholders work together to address water-related challenges in real-life contexts. Explore the WOLL Atlas to discover other Living Labs and learn more about this growing European network.