Sicily, youth cooperative will recover abandoned barracks to turn it into cultural hub

In Lentini, Sicily, a former barracks will be rehabilitated thanks to a Special Public-Private Partnership agreement signed between the Extraordinary Commissioner of the Free Syracuse Municipal Consortium, Mario La Rocca, and the President of the “Badia Lost & Found” Cooperative of Lentini, Giorgio Franco. This represents the first agreement of its kind in Sicily. The partnership concerns the management and enhancement of theformer Convent of the Dominican Fathers in Lentini, also known as the “Ex Carabinieri Barracks.” Built in 1480 and located on Lentini’s main square, the building was used as a Carabinieri barracks until its abandonment in 1990 following the December earthquake of that year. Since then, the building has remained in a state of neglect and decay.

The Free Municipal Consortium of Syracuse has therefore used the tool of the “Special Public-Private Partnership” provided for by Law 50 of 2016: this tool allows public entities to collaborate with private entities for the recovery and management of assets that would otherwise remain unused and in degradation. The Badia Lost & Found Cooperative proposed the partnership on March 24, 2023, with the goal of recovering, managing, and enhancing the former barracks. The Special Commissioner at the time, Domenico Percolla, expressed the provincial body’s interest in the proposal on June 28, 2023. As no alternative proposals were received, the negotiation phase between the provincial body and the cooperative began on October 10, 2023, and ended on January 29, 2024. On June 26, 2024, the final agreement was signed.

Founded in 2016 as an informal group of young professionals in urban regeneration, the Badia Lost & Found Cooperative has dedicated itself to restoring the “cultural baggage” of Lentini’s Badia neighborhood through contemporary art. One of the cooperative’s main projects is the Urban Art Park (PUA), an important collection of wall art that has attracted thousands of visitors. The cooperative was formally incorporated on June 10, 2020 and joined the League of Cooperatives. It has carried out urban regeneration activities that have become case studies for universities and national institutions.

The barracks will be redeveloped as part of the “Creative Barracks” project, which involves the structural rehabilitation of the former Dominican Fathers’ Convent and its transformation into a cultural hub. The cooperative’s president, Giorgio Franco, said, “It will be a facility managed by our cooperative, but constantly open to the community, a beacon of creativity and innovation.” Vice president, Cristina Pulvirenti, added, “In the coming weeks we will officially present our project to the city, which aims to revive an important historical and cultural heritage through art and creativity.”

The project aims to recover and enhance the property, transforming it into a cultural center open to the community, with a significant role in the Sicilian and international cultural scene.

Sicily, youth cooperative will recover abandoned barracks to turn it into cultural hub

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