Travel Diary – SEOC Awards 2025
A tour of Social Enterprises and Cooperatives in Puglia and Campania
Giorgia Lucchino, Sofia Marchesini & Veronica Roccato
The trip took place from June 8 to 11, 2026, as a prize for winning the 2025 Social Enterprise Open Camp in Turin. Four days across Puglia and Campania, discovering some of the social enterprises and cooperatives supported by Fondazione Opes-Lcef.
When we found out we had won, we were surprised and truly grateful… We set off ready to learn and be inspired, with the desire to give something back through what we would learn.
Joining us were Patrizia Canova, Thomas Finazzi and Maria Marziali from the Opes team.
First stop — Cerignola (FG)
Pietra di Scarto – Social Cooperative
Cerignola is a land of contradictions: it is where the first agricultural workers’ union was founded, with Giuseppe Di Vittorio, yet over the years it has also developed a criminal and mafia network, with its feuds and massacres. “The land of bandits,” they told us… bandits as in criminals, but also people who have been banned, pushed to the margins.
Pietra di Scarto works precisely on this confiscated property: from an illegal dumping site to cultivated land, from an abandoned place to a space of welcome and inclusion. They told us about people who have arrived from very different backgrounds: some who have been through prison, some who have left criminal organisations behind, others who have come from situations of vulnerability. Here, they have found an opportunity to start again. “Not everyone is here to stay; we are an opportunity.”
We felt at home in a place we had never been before. What we are taking away with us is a mix of courage, strength and brotherhood: the tangible feeling that a different present is possible.
Pietra di Scarto is a social cooperative founded in 1996 in Cerignola, combining sustainable agriculture, employment inclusion and education on legality. Since 2010, it has managed a property confiscated from the mafia, which has been transformed into an agricultural production centre and food-processing laboratory. Its fields are home to olive trees, vines, tomatoes, fruit and vegetables. The cooperative welcomes people experiencing vulnerability and brings projects on legality, conscious consumption and biodiversity into schools.
Second stop — Santa Maria Capua Vetere (CE)
EVA – Social Cooperative
In Caserta, we met EVA’s board of directors and a local entrepreneur, who told us something that left us speechless: in the city, women are free to move around, but in some nearby towns, a woman still cannot enter a bar alone without being accompanied by a man.
It is in this context that EVA has been working for years to combat violence against women and children, with a range of activities that surprised us with their diversity and care: anti-violence centres, shelters, a tailoring workshop, a food-processing laboratory, training programmes aimed at systemic change, and even a theatre café that brings the neighbourhood to life.
What impressed us most was these women’s ability to run a genuine business: creativity, dedication and management skills, combined with the attention they devote to beauty. Not just essential services, but carefully designed, beautiful and dignified spaces. It is possible to escape violence, and it is possible to do so while being surrounded by beautiful places.
We are taking home the idea that stable employment is the best ally in building a person’s independence, and that beauty is an integral part of care.
EVA is a social cooperative founded in 1999 in Santa Maria Capua Vetere by a group of women involved in gender policies, working to combat male violence and restore women’s autonomy and agency. It manages anti-violence centres and shelters, often in properties confiscated from the mafia. Its work also extends to nurseries, entrepreneurial activities aimed at promoting employment, seminars and training.
Third stop — Portici (NA)
Seme di Pace – Social Cooperative
In Portici, we visited three places that Seme di Pace is returning, one after another, to the community. The most evocative is Villa Fernandez: a property confiscated from the Camorra, once a holiday villa for aristocratic families, later taken over by a clan and closed to the public for years. Today it houses a social bistro, offices for organisations working to create local impact, an events space and areas where young people can gather: an entire piece of the area’s history reopened and returned to the people who live there.
What impressed us most was the cooperative’s ability to build networks: Seme di Pace works consistently with other local organisations, to the point of having people working simultaneously for several different non-profit organisations. And then there is intergenerational collaboration: the cooperative makes itself available to young people, who are actively involved in carrying projects forward for their own neighbourhood. They build together.
In an area where, we were told, “two out of three friends have left,” seeing new jobs, opportunities and relationships emerge left us with the feeling that seeds are truly beginning to bloom.
Seme di Pace is a social cooperative founded in 2002 to promote the values of solidarity and social subsidiarity through collaboration among different organisations. It works on reception and inclusion, tackling educational poverty, community engagement, promoting new models of agri-food production and distribution, and developing food education and local development programmes. It involves disadvantaged young people and promotes educational and rehabilitation pathways, as well as educational and recreational services for children and families experiencing social hardship.
Fourth Stop — Naples
La Paranza – Social Cooperative
We met La Paranza, a social cooperative born in the Sanità district from Don Antonio’s desire to transform a place marked by crime into a space for community, using a powerful tool: culture.
We visited the Catacombs of San Gennaro, and the guides were incredible. We were struck to discover that these places, often described as hiding places, were in fact first and foremost cemeteries and spaces of prayer. But more than the history of the places themselves, it was the personal stories of the guides that moved us: the catacombs represent not only a cultural heritage to be preserved and valued, but a common good through which to engage and inspire others.
The eyes and words of Antonio and Daniele, who accompanied us on the visit, convey a deep passion for the history of the places they call home and hope for the future of those who will inhabit them, with the care of people who genuinely feel at home. This is how the cooperative sees itself: as a bridge between past, present and future, connecting places, people and timeless values.
“La Paranza has given me so much; the cooperative trusts me. Now it is my turn to give back everything it has given me.” With this sentence, Antonio explained the concept of reciprocity: without imposing itself, the cooperative gives people the opportunity to grow, receive training and have a job working with and for people.
It almost seemed unreal, and yet it was all true: it gave us a tangible sense of a future moving in the right direction, in the hands of people who simply want the best for their own community.
The Fontanelle Cemetery is now also managed by them — the visit is highly recommended 🙂
La Paranza is a social cooperative that has been active since 2006 in a neighbourhood of Naples characterised by both contrasts and great resources. It began by managing the Catacomb of San Gaudioso and later took on the restoration, management and opening to the public of the Catacombs of San Gennaro. La Paranza brings together archaeologists, restorers and art historians who work on the study, supervision and restoration of the frescoes and mosaics found in the Catacombs. The cooperative also runs Casa del Monacone, a hospitality facility created from the convent attached to the Basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità, which has become a welcoming and inclusive accommodation project.
And so our journey comes to an end, full of emotions and renewed motivation. We are taking home the hope that it really is possible to do things differently, along with the determination and tenacity of those who put their values first every single day, even when it is difficult.
See you at #SEOC2026
Giorgia, Veronica & Sofia
The trip was organised and promoted by Fondazione Opes-Lcef through the Social Enterprise Open Camp (SEOC) programme, with the aim of strengthening connections between social enterprises and emerging actors in the impact ecosystem.
