The City of Venice believes in community welfare

Emotional and cultural wellbeing extends beyond the individual in this case

Today, 15 February, the City of Venice official website released information on the status of activities and funding which are part of the “The City SIcura of itself” programme (the ‘SI’ in the title referring to the word Yes, and ‘Sicura’ meaning assured, confident in Italian). It was reported that twelve non-profit associations have been awarded contracts to carry out socio-cultural programmes in the different neighbourhoods of Venice.

These initiatives are co-financed by the European Social Fund of the EU and the total budget set aside for the programme comes up to nearly 180 000 euros.

The projects will cover more distant parts of the municipality, such as the small localities of Pellestrina and Giudecca

To the inhabitants of a city, it is often represented by the personality, features and conditions of the neighbourhood they inhabit. This might be a different experience and an idea of what the city is from the one that visitors get from it. This is even more so for touristic places, such as Venice.

“The initiative is part of the broader coordinated framework of interventions that the Municipal Administration has undertaken in recent years to enhance the districts from every point of view (residential, urban, social) of the most fragile cities in a pragmatic perspective of urban regeneration," explained the Councilor for Social Cohesion Simone Venturini.

Several initiatives have been already carried out as part of this social revitalization programme but as the municipal website has reported there is still more to come.

For example, on 19 February at 6:45 pm, an online meeting will launch a project under the name ‘Cinema in Gazzera – Gazzera in the Cinema’ – Gazzera being one neighbourhood in Venice. This initiative is organized and led by the Agre Onlus non-profit organization and it will involve both the projection of free films and documentaries at the park on Via Mattuglie (schedule is yet to be decided), as well as the involvement of local youth in a collective video project called ‘I present my neighbourhood: Gazzera in the Cinema’.

This interesting symmetrical and reflective project will allow neighbours to both enjoy what their district has to offer and reflect upon the meaning of living in it.