An experimental project born from the collaboration between the Municipality and the Mental Health Center will involve young people and adults followed by the Mental Health Center inwelcoming visitors andaccompanying them to discover the city’s artistic heritage. The initiative takes shape in Colle di Val d’Elsa. The project involves the selection of a number of people followed by the Mental Health Center, who will undertake a training course with the aim of becoming guides for groups visiting the Crystal Museum, dedicated to the production and craft history of the town, the San Pietro Museum, a cultural space and meeting place in the heart of Colle, and the “Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli” Archaeological Museum housed in the Palazzo Pretorio, which preserves Etruscan and Roman evidence of the area.
“In Colle di Val d’Elsa, museums are once again becoming a common good,” comments Cultural Welfare Councillor Daniele Tozzi. “With the return to municipal management, a path has begun that concerns not only the organization of cultural services, but the way in which an entire city lives its spaces of memory and art. This collaboration represents one of the most innovative pieces of Colle di Val d’Elsa’s path toward candidacy as Italian Capital of Culture: a model in which the artistic heritage is not only enhanced, but put at the service of the community, becoming an integral part of a new pact of citizenship and social solidarity.”
“The project,” Tozzi continues, “is not a form of mere assistance or volunteering on the sidelines of the facilities, but of a real participation in their daily life: reception, relationship with visitors, active presence in the spaces. Everything happens in a gradual way, shared and respectful of individual therapeutic paths, with the aim of strengthening the sense of belonging, self-confidence and awareness of having a role in the cultural life of the city. There is no forcing, no improper exposure: all participation stems from free adherence and a careful assessment of the person’s well-being. The museum becomes, in this way, a safe and welcoming space where everyone can feel useful, present, and recognized.”
The municipality is also activating other such pathways. One concerns the world of schools. Starting in 2026, the city’s classes will spend a teaching period each year inside the museums, turning the exhibition halls into real classrooms. “Studying surrounded by art and history means growing up in a context rich in meaning, where knowledge is not just notion, but living experience,” says Tozzi. “In this way, children learn from an early age that cultural heritage is not something distant or formal, but a part of their education and civic identity.”
This is complemented by collaboration with associations that work with people with autism. Together with them they are creating workshops based on manual skills and creative abilities, in which the children themselves will lead and teach. “Our goal,” Tozzi concludes, “is to build a stable and replicable model in which culture and welfare dialogue and support each other. In this horizon, the museum is no longer just a place of preservation, but a space in which the city recognizes itself, reflects, and grows. It is a laboratory of active citizenship, of inclusion, of opportunity. It is concrete proof that culture can generate care, relationships and well-being. And it is precisely this idea - a culture that does not exclude, but includes - that represents one of the pillars of Colle di Val d’Elsa’s vision as Italian Capital of Culture: a city that makes beauty not only a heritage to be shown, but a right to be shared.”
Pictured is the Crystal Museum.
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| Colle di Val d'Elsa: experimental project involving people with frailty in civic museums kicks off |
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