Mentor

Flavia Saggese

Flavia Saggese, architetta, si occupa principalmente di progetti di housing e pratiche progettuali legate all’abitare contemporaneo. Dal 2015 lavora in ambito professionale collaborando con diversi studi tra Zurigo e Roma. Ha studiato presso l’Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio e, dal 2022, è assistente presso l’Atelier Sergison. Ha collaborato con numerosi uffici internazionali e attualmente collabora con l’ufficio Sergison Bates a Zurigo, portando avanti parallelamente progetti indipendenti a Roma. È stata invitata come critica esterna in diverse occasioni accademiche.

Mentor

Wunder

Mauris leo erat, placerat quis semper eu, pulvinar in est. Nam eget justo quis ligula faucibus pretium ac nec mi. Aliquam lacus est, auctor sed arcu at, luctus condimentum lectus. Quisque vitae eleifend quam, vel suscipit nisl. Duis efficitur est nunc, eget efficitur felis porttitor in. Donec facilisis ultrices mattis. Quisque blandit ac enim non accumsan. Donec euismod magna turpis, ut blandit purus tempor sit amet. Suspendisse et hendrerit mi. Integer gravida, sapien quis ullamcorper auctor, metus eros aliquet ante, ut dictum ipsum tortor eget elit. Maecenas eu rutrum dui, ut faucibus lectus. Vivamus porttitor bibendum tortor.

Partner

Giuseppe Barbera

Giuseppe Barbera is an expert in Arboriculture, a field he taught as a full professor at the University of Palermo. His work focuses on trees, ecosystems, and rural landscapes in the Mediterranean. He is the author of numerous scientific publications. His books include: L’Orto di Pomona (2000), Ficodindia (2002), Abbracciare gli alberi (2009, 2017), Qualche cosa del mondo (2010), Conca d’oro (2012), I paesaggi agrari tradizionali (2014), and Breve storia degli alberi da lettura (2016). On behalf of the FAI, he served as scientific director for the restoration of the Kolymbetra (Valley of the Temples Park) and the Donnafugata garden on the island of Pantelleria. He is an honorary member of AIAAP. He is a member of the scientific council of the “National Observatory of the Rural Landscape” and of the Scientific Committee of the Benetton Foundation for Studies and Research. For Aboca Edizioni, he has published *Tuttifrutti: A Journey Among Mediterranean Fruit Trees, Between Science and Literature* (2018) and *Anthropocene, Agriculture, and Landscape: Reflections on a Trip to China* (2020)

Partner

Muck Petzet

Muck Petzet is an architect, curator and since 2014 professor for sustainable design at USI. He held teaching positions at Hochschule Vaduz as guest critic and lecturer abroad and as a visiting professor at the TU Munich for “Architecture as Resource”. He graduated from TU Munich after studying philosophy at LMU Munich and architecture at HdK Berlin and TU Munich. After initially working at Herzog & de Meuron in Basel he founded his own office in Munich 1993 - working in different partnerships. Since 2013 he is also practicing in Berlin. Muck Petzet was general commissioner of the German pavilion “Reduce/Reuse/Recycle” at the 13th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia 2012. Muck Petzet’s extensive engagement with transformation projects set the basis for his development of a 'minimal intervention - transformation theory' and his dedication to propagate a reevaluation of existing buildings as a valuable resource for our future through lectures, exhibitions and publications. In 2023 he founded the international platform ReduceReuseRecycle Architecture

Partner

Fondazione Studio Rizoma

Fondazione Studio Rizoma is a transnational hub based in Palermo, developing artistic production, research, and political activism. Teatro Garibaldi, under the management of Fondazione Studio Rizoma (FSR), is a civic and cultural commons: a shared resource open to all who wish to create, participate, and imagine together. It is not a theatre of consumption or spectacle, but a living space of collaboration and co-creation, a house where art, politics, and community meet to shape the collective life of the city. Teatro Garibaldi is first and foremost a common good: a civic and cultural space open to local and international communities who wish to create, meet, and imagine together. Not a place of passive consumption, but a home shaped by relationships, shared practices, and collective visions.

Through a co-curated program that weaves together theatre, dance, music, visual arts, cinema, and literature, Fondazione Studio Rizoma support artistic creation and social innovation, giving space to voices capable of questioning the present and generating meaningful dialogue, making Teatro Garibaldi a reference point for the city’s most experimental scene and for the Mediterranean at large.

Partner

Rangers

The italian Rangers Association, Sicily Section (ODV), has managed the “Monte Pellegrino” Nature Reserve since January 27, 2017, under an agreement signed with the Regional Department of Territory and Environment. The association carries out its volunteer activities throughout the Sicilian region through various operational units, including those in Palermo, Acireale (CT), Castelvetrano (TP), Montevago (AG), and Messina.

Specifically, the Rangers engage in activities aimed at safeguarding, conserving, and enhancing the natural environment and its various ecosystems, as well as plant species and varieties and animal species. In addition, they engage in informational and educational activities, awareness-raising, and training on environmental education topics, with particular emphasis on sustainable development, the fight against pollution, quality of life, renewable energy sources, the circular economy, material reuse, and waste elimination, as well as the monitoring of areas of natural interest.

Guest

Francesca Chiorino

Francesca Chiorino (1978) is an architect, an author and a curator. She studied architecture at IUAV University in Venice where she graduated in history in 2003 and in Spain, at ETSAB Barcelona.

Since 2005 she is member of Casabella magazine editorial board. She published books and critical texts in magazines and monographic volumes, she has been invited lecturer in conferences in Italy and abroad and she took part in juries of national architecture competitions.

In 2011 she opened her own architecture studio in Piedmont, first as carpano/chiorino architetti and then as Francesca Chiorino Architettura, which develops accurate projects on a small scale, with a particular sensitivity for dialogue with the landscape and cultural context.

Guest

Giulia Coletti

Giulia Colletti is a curator and art historian. She serves as Curator of Programs and Digital at Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea. She is Co-curator of the 5th Industrial Art Biennial, supported by the 13th Italian Council.

Her recent curated group and solo exhibitions include Allegory of Public Happiness, 2024 (Galleria Civica – Mart Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto); Dominique White: The Fugitive of the State(less), 2023 (Art City – MAMbo, Bologna); and Fragile Soil, Fertile Souls, 2022 (United Nations College, Turin).

Colletti lectures in Contemporary Art and Curatorial Practice at Abadir Academy, and is currently a Visiting Lecturer at Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien. She was also Inaugural Curatorial Fellow 2019 at The Glasgow School of Art. She has lectured at art and educational institutions and universities including Columbia University (CAMS), NYC; La Sapienza, Rome; Gallerie d'Italia Academy, Milan; IUAV, Venice; NABA, Milan; Tec de Monterrey, Mexico City; University of Glasgow; among others.

Currently, Colletti delivers New Media Special Projects for CURA. Her essays, reviews, and compiled readers have also been featured in museum catalogues and published by Flash Art, OnCurating, and e-flux, among others. She is an honoree of Forbes Under 30 Europe 2021 and an alumna of the Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course.

Guest

Consorzio Santa Tecla

Consorzio Santa Tecla was established on August 12, 1915, in the northeastern part of Acireale (CT), in a flat area characterized by an underground aquifer fed by water from Mount Etna. The goal was to ensure irrigation for the area’s citrus groves (over 700 hectares of lemon trees in the Acireale area) by utilizing the groundwater that emerges in that part of the territory. Initially, the pumping stations were powered by steam (early 20th century) and coal. Later, a large fuel-oil engine was installed, which was locally known as “u muturi ranni” (“the big engine”). Since the 1990s, a system of submersible and surface electric pumps has been in operation; the water table is stable at a depth of about 4 meters, fed by water flowing down from the slopes of Mount Etna. The site is considered a gem of industrial archaeology, a place where agricultural history, technology, geology, and the environment intersect. The consortium exemplifies how a volcanic and agricultural region was able to develop a water infrastructure dedicated to irrigation over 100 years ago. It preserves fascinating historical elements (steam pumps, oil engines, early 20th-century architecture) that speak to the technological changes related to water. It is part of local history not only as an engineering feat but as a component of Acireale’s citrus-growing regional identity. It continues to address modern challenges today: climate change, water resource management, and the interaction between agriculture, the environment, and public services.