In relation to the BeYou project, Scaro Café in Agrigento has been the site of two significant regeneration initiatives: the inauguration of Casa delle Storie (House of Stories) on Saturday, April 27, 2024, and the BenchArt workshop held on Sunday, May 5, 2024.
BeYou is a project funded by the Erasmus+ program and coordinated by the Community Foundation of Agrigento and Trapani. It aims to highlight the role of young people as key actors for social change and sustainable development in their local and European communities.
Through the “Community Youth Incubators” program, the project supports the implementation and evaluation phases of initiatives and projects conceived by young leaders. “Casa delle Storie” and “BenchArt” are two of the projects selected by our Fondazione di Comunità for realization.
The initiatives involved a large number of young people, tourists, volunteers, and residents of Agrigento, particularly from the Piazza Ravanusella area, and were realized with the valuable contribution of TTT – Tierra Techo Trabajo, the Youth Council of Agrigento, the Diocesan Caritas of Agrigento, and Clean Beaches.
Casa delle storIE
The initiative was born from the idea of Pietro Durante, a young leader passionate about reading, who always dreamed of having a book-crossing station in his city. Unlike a library, House of Stories is a place to freely exchange books and recover paper treasures that would otherwise end up on a shelf in a basement.
The initiative particularly emphasized creative recycling: the house hosting the stories is an old cabinet refinished and decorated by the young creative Sophia Mazza, whose talent has given it new life and color. “I am very satisfied with the project’s success. In big cities, I’ve always seen these little houses and wondered why there wasn’t one in Agrigento. Now we finally have the House of Stories in Agrigento, and I am sure its installation will inspire other initiatives that focus on reading and sharing stories!”
BenchArt
Following House of Stories, the workshop “BenchArt” allowed participants to discover how to transform old wooden slats and grandmother’s chairs into colorful seats, also serving as a social gathering that unleashed creativity.
Many participated in the workshop, contributing to the creation of seats destined for the room hosting the book-crossing station. “Seeing so many people enthusiastic about using drills, routers, and brushes was a real joy. I myself rediscovered my love for creativity!” Sophia Mazza, an architecture student and art lover, initiator, and leader of the initiative, expressed her desire to create more moments of social gathering like this in her city, given the initiative’s success.
About the project
BeYou is a project selected and co-funded by the Erasmus+ program under key action 3 “European Youth Together”. The project is coordinated by the Community Foundation of Agrigento and Trapani in partnership with Organization Earth (Greece), ANDCTR (Romania), Hub Nicosia (Cyprus), and Universidad de Alcalá de Henares (Spain).
If you want to continue following the activities of the BeYou project, read the project sheet, visit the project website, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
To participate or for more information, contact Alisa Marghella at a.marghella@fcagrigentotrapani.it.
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