Naples, regenerated sports spaces inaugurated in Ponticelli

Naples, the renovated sports facilities in Ponticelli have been inaugurated: the former school gym has been renovated.

SCINN, project supported by the CON IL SUD Foundation: the former school gym has been renovated, with a new climbing wall and outdoor equipment for young people and families

The regenerated spaces in Ponticelli, a neighborhood in the eastern part of Naples, have been inaugurated 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 the complex works just completed.

The space returns to the community - with a new climbing wall and equipment also in the open spaces - and will be able to host free sports promoted by SCINN partners, which has already allowed many children and adolescents from East Naples to access various sports activities for free. This morning's event was attended, via streaming, by the president of the CON IL SUD Foundation, Carlo Borgomeo, and the councilor of the Municipality of Naples with responsibility for social policies, Luca Trapanese.

In attendance were: Lucia Fortini, councilor of the Campania Region with responsibility for schools; Marisa Esposito, president of the NEA Napoli Europa Africa association, leader of SCINN, and Annarita Cardarelli, project manager; Also speaking were Mariarca Viscovo, councilor of the Municipality of East Naples, and representatives of the associations and schools that make up the SCINN network.

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 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 project network 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 renovated 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 activities.

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 (cell phone 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.