La Guarimba

La Guarimba has been awarded one of the 2026 Economic Prizes. Territorio Guarimba is a cultural project developed in Amantea, Calabria, born out of the need to establish a permanent cultural hub in an area characterized by a structural lack of permanent cultural spaces.

The project takes the form of a continuous cultural district, comprising several physically contiguous spaces along the same street, each with different functions but united by a shared vision centered on caring for places and people. It includes Il Terrenito, an open-air space dedicated to cinema, music, and dance; La Piccola Biblioteca di Amantea, which houses the only 24-hour study room in Calabria and offers book lending services and educational activities; the Music Studio, dedicated to sound creation and experimentation; and the Office, which ensures continuous programming, the coordination of activities, and the establishment of collaborations with Italian and European cultural institutions and universities.

These spaces are the result of the regeneration of previously unused or underutilized sites, returned to the community through stable, daily cultural use. Territorio Guarimba does not operate through isolated events, but through a constant presence that builds relationships over time with children, students, families, artists, and citizens.

The project promotes a vision of beauty as an accessible, shared, and everyday practice. The ongoing nature of these activities fosters trust, a sense of belonging, and collective responsibility, transforming culture into a shared resource deeply rooted in the local community.

In a peripheral context such as that of Calabria, Territorio Guarimba demonstrates how culture can serve as a force for social cohesion and a concrete tool for human development, capable of energizing communities and creating lasting value.