“ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL”? GEOHERITAGE AND EDUCATIONAL POTENTIAL OF THE "WALL OF DEEP-SEA LIFE" (SAN CASCIANO VAL DI PESA, ITALY) IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

Most of the ornamental stones used to decorate the city walls of the town San Casciano Val di Pesa (=SCVP, Tuscany, Italy) belongs to the Macigno Formation that is comprised of turbiditic, brownish to grayish, Eocene-to-Miocene clayey sandstone. This sedimentary unit features a plethora of exquisitely preserved sedimentary structures and trace fossils. Many of these ichnofossils and sedimentary structures are exposed along the SCVP city walls. This project aims to explore the educational resourceability of this stone wall heritage, with particular regard to the present-day pandemic situation, during which museums, cultural events and exhibitions are strongly limited. The exposition in streets allows to observe the architecture of several ichnofossils and their interactions with the deep-sea substrate where they were formed, and consequently interpret several correlated paleoenvironments. Trace fossils thus become like paleobiological sculptures in what we may consider as an open-air art gallery, where every limitation such as social distance or regrouping of people can be accomplished. Interpretative panels on-site must be considered to identify the “Wall of Deep-sea Life” main sites and adjust communication according to school curricula levels. In a period when our daily life has been drastically changed, cultural proposals must also change. In 2021, during the current COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to re-think the educational system in its whole, also passing by figuring out new educational resources, such as our proposal of the “Wall of Deep-sea Life”.