The life of young Italian shepherdess
Diamante is a young Italian from Tuscany. Before 2015 she was on track to become a medieval archaeologist. However, eight years later, she has now a goat farm. A business and career she has chosen herself and built overtime as she did not inherit neither the farm nor the goats. For our monthly series on […]
Raffaele, 29, living with Treacher Collins Syndrome
The Treacher Collins syndrome is a rare genetic disorder of the ears, eyes, chin, face or the neck. This can a heavy disability and has an impact on your social life. Sphera member VD News profiled Raffaele Capperi, 29, who was born this disease. In a very humane and candid profile, he tells us how […]
Italy: Remembering fascism on Milan’s street
Saverio Ferrari is an Italian expert of the far-right and head of the Democratic observatory on the new right. It has been monitoring neo-fascist groups and the radical right in Italy since 1999. VD met Ferrari, who takes us on a tour of the most important places in Milan for the far right. The tour […]
Italy & France: can you save money?
Can you save money? VD News and StreetPress ask young people on the streets of Milan and Paris if they manage to save money.
Becoming a gondolier
“Fie a manetta” is venetian and it means “Girls at full speed”. It’s the name of a school boat in Venice that learns to women how to drive a motor boat. Until a few years ago, motor boats were considered a better fit for men and not women. Indeed, only men were taught how to […]
Italy & Spain: the struggle for citizenship
In many European countries, being born or have lived in a country most of your life doesn’t necessarily grant you citizenship. VD and El Salto met Zelihan and Tesh who share their struggle to obtain the citizenship of the country they have known all their life.
Why living in Venice has been almost impossible?
In the last 13 years, Venice has lost over 10, 000 inhabitants. The city suffers from depopulation due to high rents and the tourist monoculture. For Sphera Network, VD met Giulio Grillo who lives in a new squatted house that he has completely renovated from Biennale Pavillons materials. He’s the founder of the Re-Biennale project […]
Italy & Greece helping drug addicts
The road unit of the Villa Maraini Foundation brings help to drug addicts and fragile people through damage reduction in the most at risk places in Rome, Italy. The goal is that drug addicts don’t contract HIV infections, hepatitis or other sexually transmitted diseases through the exchange of syringes. Okana, is the largest anti-drug organisation […]
Gay catholic couple raise 3 children
Andrea Rubera and his husband Dario Di Gregorio are catholic and they have three children together. Although the Church does not recognize them, they are part of the larger Christian LGBT association, called Paths of Hope.
Italy: How a community of a block fights energy poverty with solar panels
The UniAbita cooperative is a cooperative of inhabitants interested in the issue of renewable energy. It’s a welcoming group with an environmental focus as well as a focus on saving money. They install their own solar panels on the roofs, condominiums can become small power plants and those who live in single houses manage to […]
