Pari Center for New Learning
The Pari Center for New Learning is an alternative academy, founded in the year 2000 by the physicist/philosopher David F. Peat, a former student and friend of David Bohm, and by his wife, the teacher and writer Maureen Doolan, in the charming medieval village of Pari, Tuscany.
The surrounding area is blessed with a mild Mediterranean climate, wonderful nature, great art (Siena, Florence, Arezzo, Assisi, Perugia are all within reach in a day trip) and is famous for its food and wine (Montalcino is less than an hour away).
The center is a special alchemical crucible, combining a strong sense of the ’spirit of the place’, a connection with local history and tradition, with a markedly cosmopolitan, ‘global village’ consciousness.
The center fosters an interdisciplinary approach linking science, arts, ecology, ethics and spirituality. It offers courses and workshops, conferences, runs Pari Publishing, a small publishing house, and hosts scientists, artists and writers who wish to spend some time in a peaceful and nourishing environment, while at the same time enjoying stimulating intellectual exchanges.
The center is directed by David Peat, assisted by Maureen and by myself as associate director.
The center is presently engaged in various projects around the following themes:
· A Master program in Science and Religion offered in collaboration with the University of Naples and with the Dominican Studio Filosofico Interprovinciale of Naples
· The Future of Knowledge and Education in the World of the Internet
· Science and the Arts
· Quantum physics and consciousness
· The Pari Network, a working group of business people and economists concerned with the role of ethics, trust and loyalty in the market place
· A study of the impact of trust and social responsibility in business and the economy
The Center is also involved in projects for a sustainable social and economic future of the surrounding area and of its young people.
Pari is located on a hilltop near the superstrada (SS 223) connecting Siena to Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy. Coming from Siena, travel South on SS 223 for 32 km. Shortly after the Petriolo hot springs and the bridge over the Farma river take the exit Pari (on the left) and follow the signs for Pari up the small winding roads leading to the village (3 km).
The nearest airports are Florence, Pisa and Rome.
