Debora Nicoletto and Walter Moretto just don't like easy choices. With a college degree in their pocket, they could have walked away from that small mountain town, Fonzaso, in the province of Belluno in which they were born. They seemed destined for a brilliant career in a big European city. Instead, they decided to stay and become actively involved in making a contribution to the revitalization of their land. With this hope, they founded Dolomiti Hub, a social enterprise, with the goal of becoming a cultural and economic reference point for the entire area. They bought a shed and with the help of a network of friends who fell in love with the project, they transformed an abandoned production site into a meeting place. They opened a bistro, a coworking space, created space for art residencies, built a small theater. They regularly host creative people from all over Europe looking for a place in which to work for a few months and at the same time a source of inspiration in the beautiful mountains surrounding Fonzaso. They organize a workshop each year with architecture students who stop by the Dolomiti Hub for a month to design and build a structure that then becomes an integral part of the space. The aspect that is certainly most striking is the attention Debora and Walter have given to organizing events and meetings. Every night at the Dolomiti Hub something happens. A book presentation, a CAI meeting, a workshop on Industry 4.0 machines, a play. These are important moments in which people from different backgrounds can meet and dialogue.
Dolomiti Hub is a project that would be celebrated as a virtuous example of urban regeneration if it were located in a metropolis. To have brought such a project to Fonzaso can only inspire admiration and spur us to work even harder to build opportunities for the revitalization of inland areas.
Given these premises, we could not have chosen a better place to start Upskill Belluno! It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know up close all the companies that will be participating in the initiative and to understand the design challenge we will be working on together with the ITS students.
Let's start with Chiara Bonel of Bonel Misurina, who has created a line of cosmetics enhancing all the natural qualities of Misurina and its namesake lake. Seeing the purity of the air, known throughout the world and home to a treatment center for people with asthma and allergy problems, she decided to bottle it and sell it in canisters in order to give people in the city the chance to breathe the mountain air as well. Using a circular approach, she focused on harnessing the properties of the lake algae, which is mowed down in the summer because it is a pest, to create a line of highly skin-nourishing cosmetics (she holds a patent). The students were asked by Chiara to create a project to communicate the fragrance and benefits of Dolomite air through online and in-person experiential formats, expanding their target audience to include hotels in the area to reposition and enhance the air product within the market.
Claudio Sacco Proila comes from Dosoledo, a small town in Comelico, where he makes glasses with a 3D printer. Plastoptic, the company he now runs, has gained significant experience in 3D design and eyewear production in the past. While working in this industry, Claudio became aware of the waste involved in traditional eyewear production. Hence the idea of focusing on 3D printing, which allows for no production waste and the reuse of any discarded material. To ITS students, Claudio asks them to renew their product range through the study of a new collection of eyewear accessories.
We have already talked at length about Dolomiti Hub above. Let's just add the design challenge: Debora and Walter asked ITS students to come up with a project to make Dolomiti Hub even more attractive to young people in the area.
The following then took the floor. Luca Stefani, Elisa Tormen and Angelica Soccal of Apidolomiti, a cooperative with over 700 beekeeping members. Apidolomiti currently manages more than 6,000 hives in the province of Belluno and markets honey under its own brand name while allowing each beekeeper to sell part of the production on his own. The cooperative has implemented a production traceability system that makes it possible to identify the precise area of production of each jar of honey. They are one of the few entities nationwide that can boast of managing 6 PDOs of honey. The challenge posed to the students is to identify new distribution strategies for the product. So far, honey is mainly sold to tourists when they come to the Belluno area. The goal is to find ways to reach the same buyers even at a distance.
The Cerentin brothers, Costante and Vittorio, started their family business of roofing, waterproofing and sheet metal work in 1984. Moving to Castion in 1997, they became independent in doing all types of sheet metal work in house by purchasing a press brake and a calender. The company expanded as Constant's sons joined, offering more services, increasing the number of employees and expanding the workshop. Sustainability is one of the most important values of this company as they are committed to the proper reuse of material from processing. Making use of the new space available to the company to develop a physical product showroom, with a focus on environmental and social sustainability aspects. The goal is to derive a space by reusing excess materials that can showcase the company's products and at the same time include educational activities for new generations.
Finally, TIB, Teatro Impresa Belluno, a project not only to run a theater but to build a school capable of training all the professional skills needed to produce and manage a theatrical performance. Tib Teatro was founded by Labros Mangheras and is now directed by Daniela Nicosia with the help of a new generation of professionals in the world of performing arts, Vassilij and Gianmaria Mangheras and Andrea Bucciarelli; not only have they carried out a large number of initiatives to bring theater to schools and more generally to Bellunese society, but it has produced important shows that have been taken to major Italian and European theaters. They have recently opened a theater training center, the House of the Arts, enhancing the spaces of an abandoned barracks a short walk from the center of Belluno. The goal is to promote the House of the Arts project and related training initiatives.