Who is Prometheus? Prometheus is a mythological figure who loved mankind unconditionally to the point of challenging the gods of Olympus.

The Prometheus Project, run by the Zenith Cooperative, was inspired by this unconditional love to offer a personalised assistance service to the over-65s in the Turin area.

The aim of the project: to create the conditions for active ageing of the people assisted through a personalised assistance service. A sort of innovative “volunteer boutique” offering tailor-made services according to the needs of each recipient.

Among the services provided: home care and active participation of the elderly in engaging socialisation activities.

These include ‘Danzamovimentoterapia’, a body mediation technique that aims to promote a state of ‘physical, psychic and social’ wellbeing; ‘Internauti’, computer training courses held by high school pupils to encourage the exchange of knowledge at a generational level; ‘A spasso con Monica’, walks around Turin’s historical sites and places of interest led by Monica, an expert professional guide; and finally ‘Meditarte’, courses to reconcile meditation and artistic self-expression.

Since 2019, the Prometeo project has given support to 100 elderly people in Turin on an individual and differentiated basis. It has given psychological support to more than 30 family members of those assisted. It has involved 32 volunteers and high school students. Furthermore, it provided more than 2500 hours of home support and organised more than 110 socialisation meetings for the city’s elderly.

With the arrival of COVID, the services provided by the Prometeo project were rethought.Telephone support by educators and psychologists was activated. Socialising activities were rethought in a digital key with webinars, videocall, sharing of daily awareness-raising posts.

Among the activities designed for the elderly in this period were “Un fiore per te” (“A flower for you”), in which it was possible to give a small plant to an elderly person living alone at home, and “Mio caro nipote del futuro” (“My dear grandchild of the future”), a collection of letters from some of the people assisted by the project to their future grandchildren, who wanted to recount the lockdown and life disrupted at the time of Covid-19.

Progetto Prometeo is part of the 15 generative welfare projects of Torino Social Factory program of the City of Torino, co-financed by the Programma Operativo Nazionale Città Metropolitane  and the European Social Fund, implemented within the framework of Torino Social Impact.

At the end of the funding period, the project continues to be present with new ideas and activities for future developments, always based on the requests of the beneficiaries.

Currently, the Prometeo Project is helping to disseminate all the information on COVID-19 vaccines through its Facebook page.

Watch the final video of the project

To learn more about the Torino Social Factory programme and other projects go to this llink