Farm Cultural Park (FCP)<\/a>, to increase their audience engagement and make them more attractive to tourists and youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOur first impression of Mazzarino was of a small but quaint place, the town\u2019s main street peppered with old but charming buildings. By nighttime, though, we would be surprised by the exceptional hospitality that FCP founder Andrea Bartoli received us with. It was his birthday, and we were invited to his party to mingle with the guests, tour FCP\u2019s picturesque embassy, and enjoy delicious food.<\/u> The day after, we were properly introduced to FCP by visiting Mazzarino\u2019s exhibition rooms, and had the chance to discuss the scope of the project and Andrea\u2019s expectations of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before moving on to Favara, the group took the opportunity to visit Palazzo Alberti, a wonderfully decadent villa which had been abandoned for the last fifty years and gone into disrepair – now uninhabited except for some birds who had made it their home. The fading frescoes, peeling wallpaper, and beautiful, ruined furniture gave us a glimpse into one of the main problems we would find later on in Favara:<\/u> the scarcity of tourists in the area is not due to a lack of beauty or interesting landmarks, but rather to the general state of disrepair many of the buildings are in, which sees them being closed o\ufb00 to the public and unvisitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We moved on to the city the project would focus on: Favara. We had been warned of the state of the town beforehand, but were still surprised by what we found: the streets were narrow and dirty, many of the buildings half- demolished, and several of the local stores closed permanently.<\/u> Suddenly, what we had heard about FCP\u2019s mission of metaphorically and literally rebuilding the city of Favara to give it life again made sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the design team entered Favara\u2019s FCP one day later, it was like witnessing a portal to a di\ufb00erent world.<\/u> The contrast of the neighbourhood with the rest of the city was obvious: renovated, modern buildings, vibrant colours everywhere, contemporary art by international artists. The Palazzo Miccich\u00e8, where we would be working for the next days, was equally impressive, with its lavish, ancient interiors and modern furniture. Now, having been properly introduced to the FCP and Favara, we could start working on the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n