2' min read
2' min read
The neighbourhoods of the old town centre like so many microcosms, small parts of a universe, of one big 'Cosmos': Cosenza Vecchia is starting a regeneration process, thanks to a major urban and social regeneration project. This is one of the goals achieved by the Agenda Urbana programme for aid to local businesses and associations, with a call for coordination of activities won by "La Rivoluzione delle seppie", a diverse international collective of artists and architects: after a long experiment in Belmonte, on the Cosenza Tyrrhenian, the group brings knowledge, skills and expertise to an urban space that boasts centuries of history and a cultural and architectural heritage of great value, which has been wasted, however, by years of degradation, indifference and abandonment.
"Every vineddra - that is, every little alley - a universe": the project's claim already explains that 'Cosmo' will be a container, above all digital, that will bring together residents, associations, artisans, and small businesses, facilitating their settlement and development, thus generating a new narrative of the territory. "We started by mapping the neighbourhoods, to define the conformation and geographical boundaries of the city," explains architect Rita Elvira Adamo, the team's coordinator, "but we then focused on people and places and started to build relationships. From the mapping, 12 districts emerged and the areas were grouped into three hubs: the Cinema Italia (cultural hub), the Casa delle Culture (dialogue space) and the Chiesetta di San Gaetano (coworking lab-oratory). 'Here, stories intertwine and microcosms meet,' Rita Elvira Adamo continues. Our activity, at the moment, is focusing on a few workshops that also involve schools'.
Thus, at Rivocati, for example, a neighbourhood committee, a film and audiovisual production company (Open Fields), a ceramist (Ros's ceramics), a distillery (Spiriti Ebbri) and a large agri-food entrepreneur (Scarpelli) are being held together. The Neapolitan design collective Vienmnsuonn is working on signs. And Lanificio Leo, the oldest textile factory in Calabria, is designing the prototype of a pennant, also on the recommendation of the Lucrezia della Valle high school students. And the mapping is not yet complete. "We started from what existed," adds the architect. "We brought to Cosenza the experience gained at Casa Belmondo, where over the years we have created a hybrid, multifunctional space, but moving from a physical to a digital space. What is physical, tangible, to begin with, is Roberto Alfano's Casa interiore, a site-specific installation: practically a new idea of a shack, the result of a creative reuse workshop, realised with the support of the Lotta Senza Quartiere Odv association, in which the children of the Santa Lucia district were involved. "With Cosmo we are finally managing to re-evaluate the identity of Cosenza Vecchia," emphasises councillor Francesco Alimena, the municipality's delegate for the Historic Centre and a long-standing activist in the area, "to build an organic narrative, including welfare projects that will improve community life.
