LENDINARA (ROVIGO) – The WakeHub center aims to become a hub for cycle tourism in three years with the creation of a cycle station, located in a strategic position for those who travel the major cycle routes between Adige and Po and beyond.
The project which will add a new vocation to the former Italgas property in via Caduti del Lavoro, already a GioLend youth aggregation center in the past, was presented in the town hall by the Il Raggio Verde cooperative, with president Stefano De Stefani and Serena Sterza coordinator of WakeHub, together with the mayor Francesca Zeggio, the councilor for youth policies Monica Pavarin and Nicola Raisi, director of the Assistedil construction school.
In recent weeks, the loan for the use of the property owned by the municipality was awarded again to the Il Raggio Verde cooperative, which has already managed the center for some time. Since 2017, WakeHub has been a coworking space for young professionals that hosts research and training services in the digital field and a real “makers lab” equipped with tools for 3D printing, Arduino, laser-cutting and more. «In this incubator of territorial innovation, a series of preliminary initiatives for the opening of a new Center for Sustainable Tourism and Environmental Education will begin this summer – explained De Stefani and Sterza – The property is located in a strategic along the Adige-Po axis, from which to easily reach the VenTo (Venice-Turin), Lake Garda and the Po Delta. The interventions include a gradual implementation plan over the next 3 years, of which the first year will be dedicated to fundraising and completing the feasibility study.”
Youth at the center
It will begin in the next few weeks with the “call” for young people aged 18 to 29 who wish to participate in the project, with training courses on the themes of social and cultural enterprise, fundraising actions and online awareness-raising events with the territory. Then a real renovation of the premises will be started with an expansion of services and activities including, among others, the activation of a cycle workshop, a rest point for cycle tourists, a bicycle rental with charging point and a space for environmental and outdoor education.
«In addition to regenerating the property in the portions excluded from the previous loan, the main objective is to promote and enhance the environmental and landscape resources of Lendinara and the surrounding territories by activating a hub of local interest for the development of sustainable tourism on a European scale. The idea is to activate exchanges with other national and international entities linked to environmental and sustainable tourism, increasing the employment potential of the space, in collaboration with local development agencies.”
The cycle station could be a point of interest for cycle tourists and tourists with sensitivity to sustainable tourism, families, informal and organized groups interested in having a space for recreation, training, learning about environmental issues, as well as schools that want to use of an equipped center capable of combining outdoor education with technological innovation and environmental sustainability.
The deadline
Mayor Zeggio complimented the entrepreneurial courage shown and recalled the role of the Lendinara Administration in establishing a strategic partnership, useful for seeing the municipally owned property as a new point of reference for the area alongside the growing offer cultural and tourist areas on which efforts are expected to converge even more.
The project takes its first steps with the opportunity dedicated to young people aged 18 to 29 who, by registering by 5 July, can follow three days of training, from 16 to 18 July, to create a possible group of young co-founders of the cycling station. The opportunity, the details of which are available on the website www.wakehublab.org, is offered as part of the Wannabe Wise project promoted by Assistedil with Giovani Energie della Regione, of which Il Raggio Verde is a partner.
