Naples, the former school of Ponticelli regenerated

Naples, the former Ponticelli school regenerated: the project's sports spaces will be inaugurated on July 4th

The regenerated spaces in Ponticelli, a neighborhood in the eastern part of Naples, will be inaugurated on Monday 4 July 2022, at 11:30 am, thanks to SCINN, a project by the NEA Napoli Europa Africa association supported by the CON IL SUD Foundation and promoted together with various associations, schools and the Municipality of Naples.

The gymnasium of the former school on Via Curzio Malaparte is once again accessible thanks to recently completed complex renovations. The space is being returned to the community—with a new climbing wall and equipment, including outdoor spaces—and will be able to host free sports activities promoted by SCINN partners, which has already provided countless children and adolescents in East Naples with free access to various sports activities.

The sports area of ​​the former school on Via Curzio Malaparte in Ponticelli is part of CUBO, Cantiere UrBanO per le trasformazioni educative, 'Ciro Colonna'. Since 2019, the building has been leased by the Municipality of Naples to Maestri di Strada, the association chaired by Cesare Moreno, and has become a meeting point for various third sector social organizations, including some from the SCINN network.

The Maestri di Strada association, one of the project partners, took care of the regeneration of the gym that was completely inaccessible: the flooring was destroyed by permanent flooding, the bathrooms and showers were covered in a layer of dust that had never been removed in forty years. It was necessary to repair the roof, to protect it from rain infiltrations, and the flooring that was now completely raised. With the interventions, decorum and safety were restored with an anti-trauma flooring and new baskets.

Changing rooms and toilets have been renovated to be available to the many who will frequent the gym. Making the sports space of Ponticelli more beautiful and interesting is the climbing wall created by the UISP Napoli association, another partner of SCINN, which will be used for training moments for several young people who will be able to secure skills and competences useful also in the world of work.

Beauty and decorum have also returned to the open spaces near the gym where volunteers and activists from the TerradiConfine and Aste&Nodi associations intervened, other protagonists of the network of the project launched in the fall of 2021 and born during the pandemic to think about how to give back moments of sociality to young people and families by insisting on inclusion through sports and activities that also involve people with disabilities and of different nationalities. Furthermore, the gym and the redeveloped spaces will be made available to students in the area whose schools lack adequate spaces, often unusable even for trivial problems, and therefore substantially denied for physical and sports activity.

The SCINN network – led by the NEA Napoli Europa Africa association and partner associations Nuova Polisportiva Ponticelli, Maestri di Strada, Arci Movie Napoli, AP Partenope Rugby, Aste&Nodi, UISP Napoli, Terra di Confine, the Municipality of Naples, the Russo-Solimena and Marino Santa Rosa comprehensive institutes and the Don Milani secondary school – has animated the Ponticelli, Barra and San Giovanni a Teduccio neighborhoods with various sports activities, training courses, workshops in schools and other opportunities aimed at young people and families in East Naples.

From September 2022, other completely free sports courses will be launched, which include a sports visit and insurance for participants. For information and to join the sports, you can contact 327 17 15 898 (mobile and WhatsApp) or write an email to progettoscinn@neaculture.it. Further details are available on Facebook and www.facebook.com/progettoscinn and Instagram www.instagram.com/scinnanapoliest.

“We're getting to the heart of this wonderful project, which will give the kids of Ponticelli some space to meet and grow together, but above all, it will give them the crucial opportunity to play sports. – declares Carlo Borgomeo, President of the CON IL SUD Foundation – Sports are a powerful tool not only for social cohesion, but also for legality. Sport brings people together, it's integration, and it's certainly synonymous with health. It's also one of the most effective ways for our kids to learn respect for rules and for others, the joy of working together to achieve something worthwhile, or working together to achieve a common goal. From today, these spaces—recovered, regenerated, and returned to the community—will ensure the kids of Ponticelli can enjoy all of this!

“Thanks to the CON IL SUD Foundation and the commitment of the entire network, we have given back to the children, young people and families of the eastern area of ​​Naples a place where they can play sports safely, create relationships and find alternatives to the street.“, explains Annarita Cardarelli of the NEA Napoli Europa Africa association, contact person for the SCINN project, who insists: "In the coming months, we will launch a series of free sports activities at the Ciro Colonna Multipurpose Center. These will complement those already held in other locations in the neighborhood, such as the gym at the Marino-Santa Rosa Comprehensive School, the pitch at a church in Ponticelli, and the rugby pitch at the Russo-Solimena Comprehensive School in Barra."

The gymnasium of the former Marino-Santa Rosa school building was the most run-down area of ​​the entire facility. Today, it is the first of the twelve areas into which the school has been divided to be fully completed and available for educational use by young people. And it represents the first fruit of a collaboration between many associations., says Cesare Moreno, president of the Maestri di Strada association, who explains: "You go to school with your body, and the first thing to do should be this: nutrition, cleanliness, and exercise. This gym offers hundreds of young students in the area the opportunity to engage in daily physical activity. Physical care is a fundamental part of any recovery program, and until now, Maestri di Strada hasn't been able to do it due to a complete lack of space. From now on, we hope to be able to get Maestri di Strada's projects back on track."