ESC innovative social center

“Antonio Montanari” socio-cultural Centre was created in 1982 by a small but resilient group of residents of the Bolognina neighborhood. Boasting some 30-odd years of history in the Navile neighborhood (once known as “Bolognina”), it is a landmark for locals and local institutions in the area. Since April 2011 it has moved its Headquarters in the historical building once dedicated to housing the Bolognese horse-pulled Tramways, situated inside the Zucca Garden. Il Centro è intitolato ad Antonio Montanari, vittima della strage del 2 Agosto 1980 alla stazione di Bologna, che costò la vita a 82 persone. The building equally hosts the museum dedicated to the “Memory of the Ustica Attacks”, where the crashed DC9 was reconstructed in June 1980, accompanied by Christian Boltanski’s emotional artistic installations, dedicated to the 81 passengers who had lost their lives in the tragedy. The Montanari Centre is a registered member of ANCeSCAO (National Association of Social, Leisure and Cultural Centres and Gardens), an organization born in Bologna, active on a national, regional and provincial level. Its main objective is managing the Centres in order to reach its social aims. In accordance to the founding principles of ANCeSCAO, the Montanari Centre is following these aims: - To promote and stimulate intergenerational integration, to prove the usefulness of mutual exchanges between generations by involving individuals of different ages in their initiatives and activities; - To run, by means of its activities, a true cultural, entertainment, research and educational output from which the entire local community will benefit (schools, associations, individual citizens) - To offer new models of old age, by sharing a new culture of old age, understood as a positive age, a period that is resourceful and full of opportunities; - To maintain elderly people’s sensorial, linguistic, creative, intellectual and DIY skills through adapted activities and initiatives; - To support the local community in promoting and valuing the knowledge, the values and practical abilities of elderly people, in an open-minded and inclusive logic with local communities; - To promote an idea of active ageing, emphasizing the importance of contact between people of different age and culture; - To promote intercultural and intergenerational solidarity in order to fight social isolation and alienation and to build an active, responsible kind of citizenship made through dedicating one’s own time to the others and to the community; - To create educational paths with a view to catching elderly people’s (and not only) interest in cultural, entertainment, socializing and exchange activities; - To value intergenerational relations, by creating moments and initiatives in order to rebuild social ties and maintain- as far as possible- the ties with one’s land, by emphasizing individual resources and those of the community; For many years, the Montanari Centre has supported socio-educational projects such as: - “Images of memory” – created for Secondary school students in Bolognina, which included guided tours in Monte Sole park, in class lessons, and personal project contest, on a topic concerning the fieldtrip, with prizes for the best projects. - “Speaking with you” – Italian language classes for foreign women - “Summer in the Park” (Elderly people in the city)- a project that involved receiving approx. 22 elderly people who were alone, in collaboration of Navile neighborhood and other Centres in Navile Area. - “Caring well for one another” (Elderly people’s activity) – a collaborative project of the Bologna City Hall/ AUSER-INPDAPANCeSCAO which the Montanari centre has joined. One morning/week it hosts a group of elderly people aided by assistants and animators in order to play games participating in leisure, cultural and social activities. - “I eat too!”- a weekly lunch offered to elderly people who are alone or in need. They get taken care of and enjoy our cooks’ culinary specialties. - “Art and health” – theatre/experience labs for people with physical disability, under the close supervision of the DSM-DP AUSL department in Bologna and the collaboration of a theatre director. Every year, the Centre organizes the famous “Spring Fest ” on the 25th of April and 1st of May, including traditional food, a show in the afternoon and in the evening, lasting until the beginning of June, held in the Zucca Garden. Part of Montanari Centre and open to everyone, The Montanari Theatre Company delights its public with high-quality shows, reenacting great theatre classics and many more. A few years ago, the Montanari Centre has opened its doors to Europe, by sending and hosting senior volunteers from France and Germany as part of two Gruntvig Senior projects.