On the morning of 20 January 2025, at the Istituto Fratelli Maristi in Giugliano in Campania, in the province of Naples (Italy), on the occasion of Respect Day (established on 20 January by Law No. 70 of 2024), a celebration was organised for all the students, who gathered in the gymnasium for a moment of conviviality and reflection.
Before the celebration, preparatory activities were carried out in all the classes by tutors who, with educational dynamics, involved the students, making them reflect on the issues of bullying and cyberbullying. During these activities, each class used a recycled box to build part of a symbolic wall. On one side of each box were phrases that represented insults and offences directed at the victims of bullying, while on the other side were written words of encouragement and support.
The boxes made by the different classes were then joined together, forming a large wall in the centre of the gymnasium.



At first, the wall represented a collection of horrors and ugliness. During the celebration, secondary school pupils, holding hands and supporting each other, read the negative phrases out loud.
Then the older children invited the primary school children to participate. All together, holding hands, they destroyed that wall and rebuilt it, transforming it into a symbolic work of beauty, with words of affection and solidarity. This gesture demonstrated how, by helping and supporting each other, it is possible to transform selfishness and cruelty into support, empathy and, above all, respect.
Giuliana Russo – anti-bullying team leader Istituto Fratelli Maristi Giugliano