Exactly one year ago, the project “Volunteering – Elderly – Network of Excellence – The Art of Feeling Well”, financed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy in partnership with the largest volunteer networks, was launched in Calabria and in particular in Antonymina. at the national level – Anteas and Auser.
The project’s overall goals include: promoting health and well-being for all at all ages, creating inclusive, safe, long-term and sustainable cities and communities, and reducing inequalities.
The overall initiative included the implementation of various activities (targeting people over 65 years of age) in twenty territories, including the municipality of Antonymina, chosen as a network of excellence for the Villa Vittoria Clinic.
These activities were implemented with the aim of making older people active and proactive through self-discovery (through gymnastics and sports) as part of the “Life Gym” event held at the Villa Vittoria Clinic under the direction of instructor Christian Pelle; with “Travel Notes”, discovering the territory (with walks and hikes, between history and environment) thanks to the collaboration of territorial animator Emiliana Flamingo, the association Boschetto Fiorito, video director Bernardo Migliaccio Spina and photographer Manuela Futia; and strengthening creativity and imagination (through art therapy) in the program “My Life is a Work of Art” with teacher Maria Adele Longo.
Domenica Bumbaca, Community Generator (Ge.Co) of Calabria, the real driving force of the project, coordinated the activities planned in Antonimin.
What has been achieved in recent months thanks to the Volare project has become a promotional video in which, after two years of pandemic and social isolation, a real restart emerges, not only in terms of sharing moments and spaces, but also a restart that involves active aging, an attempt to overcome apathy and demonstrate that “older people are absolutely not a problem, but a resource.”
The full version of the video will be shown at the closing event, scheduled for Saturday afternoon September 23, starting at 17:00, at the Antonimina Spa in the presence of the regional president, Cataldo Nigro, provincial delegates and institutional representatives.
For this occasion, works by artists/patients of the clinic, taken from the exhibition “My life is a work of art”, curated by Maria Adele Longo, will be exhibited.
The exhibition will be traveling and will begin immediately after the conference, and the selection of cities willing to host it will begin on September 25.