Vallette al Centro, project of the cooperative Eta Beta Scs active in Turin since 1987, together with Consorzio Soc. Abel Lavoro, comes to life at the “Casa Circondariale G. Lorusso e L. Cutugno” in Turin to involve the whole territory of Circumscription 5, its library, its schools and its services.

But the goal of the project is even wider: to produce publishing and gaming products, along with inclusion and innovation activities that start from prison and expand first to Circumscription 5 and then within the city.

Three main strands of the activities promoted by the cooperative: training, information and related to the field of work, with actions that develop both inside the prison to train prisoners and prepare them for the resumption of the working activities, both externally for family members with information activities, and to raise awareness of the territory.

Among the awareness-raising activities, the project was presented at the 2019 Book Fair and so far two digital magazines have been published, one of them also on paper, 1 e-book and 4 video pills.

In the course of 2020-2021, despite the health emergency due to the pandemic from Covid-19, information activities continued and an online desk was activated for the families of the detainees. The training activities inside the prison also continued, with the start of the production by the prisoners of gaming products, products that will allow design sustainability beyond the period of public funding.

To date, the actions in prison have involved:

• 25 candidates for the Vallette al Centro project;
• 6 people participating in an in-depth training;
• 4 persons in training
• 3 recruitments;
• 12 informative and accompanying paths.

While those between prison and territory have involved the passage of 80 people at the Information Desk, of which 8 accompanied to work, in addition to the provision of 10 interviews to those who have carried out positive placement and involvement in the activities of 2 classes IV of the Institute of Higher Education Romolo Zerboni.

Among the products related to gaming, two games have just been launched:

1. The Bus: a textual adventure that illustrates the stories of three characters and shows episodes of life of those who are inside a prison. In this game the prison becomes the central theater of the events of the people who live there, thus shedding new light on the contradictions, efforts, failures and successes that take place every day inside these buildings. Discover the game.
2. Le Galeotte: a creative deck of cards to play, but also a deck of cards to unleash the imagination. A booklet has also been created that accompanies the cards, where in 20 pages are shown the interpretative suggestions of the words combined with the individual cards. Go to the dedicated page.

Watch the new video of the project to learn more.

Vallette al Centro is part of the 15 projects of generative welfare of Turin Social Factory program of the City of Turin, co-funded by the National Operational Program Metropolitan City and the European Union, European Social Fund, made within the framework of Torino Social Impact.

For more information on the Torino Social Factory program and the other 14 projects that are part of it, go to this link.