The Il Barco Solidarity Market is finally a reality in Cesena, Italy. It was inaugurated on February 6, 2024, in the temporary headquarters of the Pievesestina Fruit and Vegetable Market, waiting for its permanent premises in Via Guido Rossa, Torre del Moro, to be restored. Waiting any longer meant postponing the possibility of concretely helping families in socioeconomic difficulty. The 210-square-meter (approx. 2,260-square-foot) market is, in fact, a real minimarket where people can do their daily shopping and find a welcoming space for meeting and socializing. The market has also provided a place for storing goods.

Enzo Lattuca, mayor of Cesena, attended the ribbon cutting, accompanied by Carmelina Labruzzo, councilor for Personal and Family Services. Also present were representatives of social services and volunteering.

The solidarity market is managed by the Il Barco ODV Association, officially established at the end of July 2022 by several nonprofits: Auser, the Italian Red Cross, the Seventh-day Adventist-operated ADRA Italia, San Vincenzo de Paoli, Mater Caritas, Campo Emmaus, the Life Help Center, and Arci Solidarietà.

With the birth of this association, "the Cesena solidarity network will be significantly strengthened," Labruzzo commented on the occasion. He had also highlighted the choice of the name "Il Barco," meaning “sheaf or heap of fodder,” which places the emphasis on working together and investing energy and resources with the aim of supporting socially and economically fragile people.

The solidarity market will offer goods and services to families and accompany them on paths to independence.

“For me, this day is the beginning of a project that we have been preparing since 2020; and this is just the start," said Ugo Zanolar, vice president of the Il Barco ODV Association and an ADRA volunteer, after the inauguration.

“Now we have to [strive] to do the work we had decided to do,” Zanolar added. “I lived this period of preparation with people who I called 'the ants'; people who gave themselves body and soul. When we needed them, they were there with a simple message. For me, this was something wonderful. I made a lot of acquaintances. I didn't live in Italy, and today, I created a network of friends. The second thing [is] now I have these ants who support me, and they still [asked] me today, 'Ugo, when do we start?' For me, this is the most beautiful thing; it is a wonderful project."

Someone has defined the special supermarket as "an evolution of the food parcel distribution service" by associations to less well-off families, and in some ways, this is true because it allows people to choose shopping products according to their needs.

Initially, the market will offer its service to 100 families who will be able to purchase food and household and personal care products using a card with a credit in points, according to a maximum limit that can be spent in four weeks. About ten volunteers will take turns in the shop three days a week: Monday and Friday, from 1–4 p.m., and Wednesday, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

In addition to the various associations, the shelves will also be stocked by donations from local companies, as well as the recovery of unsold products to combat food waste.

The original version of this story was posted on the Hope Media Italia website.