Imagine being at the counter of a bar sipping a delicious coffee prepared by Virginia, a blind girl who has learned the machine buttons by heart and calculates distances by following the voices of customers to collect orders. Now try closing your eyes and let yourself be carried away by the sound of Francesco’s drums, an autistic boy. You find yourself in a restaurant where there are only young people who are totally unfit for work serving tables and preparing in the kitchen, coordinated by former school friends. Utopia? You guessed it.
Yes, because “Utopia” is precisely the name of the social enterprise project born less than a year ago in the Marche region. It is a new legal institution governed by the law that reformed the third sector and which allows disadvantaged people to work together with able-bodied people. According to experts, the experiment would have failed in a few months and instead, a year later, “Utopia” has become the largest social enterprise in the region. Much of the credit goes to Andrea Boccanera, president of “Gulliver” odv of Pesaro. «In Italy there are many places that employ disabled children but they are mainly social cooperatives – explains Boccanera – our project, however, does not want to include anyone because including means recognizing diversity. We want to build a working model that can be successful. And that’s that”.
It all starts on 4 December 2022 when the International Pastry Federation is received in audience by Pope Francis, together with the students who participated in the championship for “special kids”. The exchange between Gabriel Pieri, a student at the S. Marta hotel institute in Pesaro, and the Pope sounds like a wish: «When you serve a dish to people, always remember to do it with a smile». «I will – Gabriel replies – because a smile revives life». Thus in the summer of 2023 the first “Festival of Utopia” was inaugurated, organized inside the large courtyard by the sea of the hotel institute led by the headmaster Roberto Franca. For two months, dishes created by Pesaro’s special students are served every evening. «In the end we managed to host as many as 500 people per evening, fulfilling the Pope’s wish», says Alex Bernacchia, president of “Utopia”, who in everyday life manages a construction company. «Word of mouth was the engine that gave a great boost to the project and so at the end of our first summer experience we were already ready for a leap in quality».
Andrea Boccanera with the sociologist Mauro Magatti of the Catholic University of Milan, wrote the “Social Generativity Project”. A document of over twenty pages inspired by the work of Don Adriano Vincenzi, the priest from Verona who already organized the Festivals of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Supporting the project are the Fondazione Cattolica of Verona, Prosolidar of Rome and Intesa San Paolo of Milan. The archbishop of Pesaro and Urbino, Sandro Salvucci, is also organizing a fundraiser at the parish of Loreto, involving the newly created pastoral office for people with disabilities.
Shortly thereafter, the Municipality of Pesaro received an offer to take over the now abandoned structure inside the Miralfiore park and transform it into a social restaurant. The large green lung of the city was reborn in a few months, changing the face of that area which had until then been considered a drug dealing square. Breakfasts, lunches and dinners are now served here from seven in the morning until late in the evening. But there’s more. “Utopia” also becomes the point of reference for kids with petty crime problems who are referred by the Department for Juvenile Justice. The Fossombrone prison (PU) decides to even include a life prisoner here.
«To date the company has 25 employees, of which 20 with various disability problems, considered completely unfit for work, while there are almost 200 member families – explains Boccanera – we have demonstrated that if you believe in these kids, they are able to do any job. Here there are those who prepare tarts, those who prepare fresh pasta and those who cook but until now no one had ever considered them. Everyone contributes to making their own contribution – he continues – for example, I take care of cleaning the premises while other parents, grandparents and relatives take care of the shopping or washing the dishes”.
There are also those who offer their service by holding institutional positions such as Giorgia Gili, treasurer of “Utopia”. «In life I am a teacher – she explains – but now I spend much of my free time with my husband Marco and my son Pietro who has Down syndrome and who has found a unique place here where he can express all his potential. While before at the day center he felt useless, now everything has changed because he feels involved.”
The activity, however, does not stop there: recently the Pantanelli family gave “Utopia” management of its historic nursery, which will now flourish again with the name of “Panta rei” thanks to the collaboration with Riccardo Rossini, headmaster of the Cecchi Agricultural Institute of Pesaro. Furthermore, the Marche Region has launched a tender for the recovery and transformation of the former hostel in Fosso Sejore. «We have presented a project to create a multipurpose structure – explains president Bernacchia – where on the lower floor there will be space for a pizzeria, a laboratory for fresh pasta and a restaurant. There will also be a place where we will make objects created by the kids. The upper floor will be used as a real hotel.” There still remains a dream to realize: a bathing establishment. «Because now that we have learned to transform reality into “Utopia”, we don’t want to stop anymore».
