The severity of the numbers, exacerbated by a deafening disinterest: the adventure of The Sunflower Inn, a Roman trattoria run by a cooperative of children with Down syndrome, seems to have inevitably reached the end of the line. Over the course of the last few weeks the project had experienced a brief – too brief, in fact – peak in media exposure following the derbies in the capital, where the fans of the Rome they had organized a fundraiser to pay a fine to Gianluca Mancini, Giallorossi defender who celebrated the victory in the derby by waving a flag with a rat on the blue and white pitch. The footballer had asked to divert these funds to the Locanda: his appeal, although acceptable, was however not sufficient to save the Locanda from closure.
“The dream vanished”, we read eloquently in a note issued by the same venue. “It was July 2022 when at Sunflower Inn was delivered, byAter, a property in via Taranto 54, previously subject to seizure in Forza Nuova”. Two years later, La Locanda dei Girasoli was forced to return the keys to Ater.
Between restoration and requests for help: the history of La Locanda dei Girasoli
The building in question, it is worth noting, was “in worst conditions“, but the assignment to the Inn had in fact been accompanied by promise of “complete assistance from the Region and foundations”. A promise which, as you may have already guessed, actually turned out to be in vain. “No one has taken action to contribute to the restoration, the cost of which is around 400,000 euros. The new cooperative, which accepted the arduous task of carrying forward this project, does not have the necessary funds.”
L‘Atertwo years after the concession and seeing that the Inn is unable to recover the property, asks for it return, to be carried out by April 30th. “There are no words for to justify this situation” continues the note above. “Only the bitterness remains in seeing that we have been abandoned to our fate, without hope of recreating an experience that was an example in Italy and abroad”.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time The Sunflower Inn finds itself without a “home”: in January 2022, for example, it was forced to abandon its headquarters in via dei Sulpici also and above all due to the economic difficulties generated by the pandemic. Then as now, however, the will to persevere continues to shine: “We we will continue” concludes the note. “We have a mission that we cannot abandon: no one must be left behind. We will continue with other activities that will allow our current and future children to be an integral part of the community.”
