In Settimo Torinese, a town of around 48,000 people on the northern outskirts of Turin, an ageing population and shifting social patterns are affecting young people in particular, feeding loneliness and digital isolation. In this post-pandemic context, youth distress is emerging as a real concern, one that calls for protected cultural spaces where young people can come together, spaces that can also help strengthen local food support and active inclusion.
The gap is not only a lack of protected spaces but also a mismatch: young people, especially those known as NEETs (not in education, employment or training), need a genuine outlet for relational expression, at the same time as the local community needs more hands to support its own social response, including the production of around 1,000 hot meals a year for those who need them.
The project
The project turns the Laboratorio Garybaldi into a cultural ecosystem centred on inclusion and the social and economic development of young people. Using relational theatre and hands-on craft work, it gives NEET youth a structured route back towards learning and employment, reactivating them through culture and everyday, practical logistics rather than through more formal or performance-based programmes.
The approach is deliberately free of judgement and pressure: young people are given the space to discover their own potential without being pushed to perform. Around this sits a set of shared activities, including theatre pieces reflecting on food and climate, circular economy work such as reuse and craftsmanship, food solidarity, and structured exchange between generations.
Who the project is for
The project's direct beneficiaries include 50 older residents, two secondary school classes and, at the heart of the project, at least 10 young people classified as NEET, aged 16 to 25, currently outside education and employment.
Its impact reaches further, to the wider local community, around 150 citizens, who gain a cultural space that is fully accessible and free of architectural barriers.
Project name: LA CULTURA CHE CURA
Proposing organisation: Associazione degli Operai - Società di Mutuo Soccorso
Area of intervention: Inclusion & Social Development
Country: Italy