COHOUSING UNIPV

COHOUSING UNIPV

Cohousing is not simply “cohabitation,” as Treccani specifies, it takes four words to define it precisely: private homes, shared services.

UNIPV, or the University of Pavia, an ancient and prestigious institution, needs no introduction.

It is divided between the historic campus in the city center and the “boat” so named for its distinctive architecture which houses, among other programs, courses in engineering, medicine, and sports science.

As the new academic year approaches, there are countless out-of-town students about to begin their studies who need to find housing.

To address this need, a unique project has been launched that also addresses other needs that are becoming increasingly common: people living alone.

In particular, older adults.

This has led to the creation of the Welcome Home project, open to people over 65 who are willing to offer lodging or simply allow others to use their home during mealtimes or for study and relaxation, in exchange for small daily favors: assistance with using digital resources, and accompaniment to administrative, healthcare, and cultural facilities.

These are real and widespread needs.

The University of Pavia, thanks to the Lombardy Region, will provide a subsidy to the landlord to partially cover the rent.

Loretta and Sebastiano tell us more. 

Applications must be submitted by September 30  and are submitted to a selection process to verify eligibility, followed by introductory interviews and a short training course.

In short, the utmost care is taken, which also opens the door to a second opportunity: caring.

In this case, the students’ volunteer activities are not tied to living together but involve offering their time and good company, accompanying participants in recreational and cultural activities, helping with small daily chores, and providing support with whatever is needed.

All planned activities are free of charge.
Project Coordinator: Emanuela Carnaghi

Do you think this is a worthwhile project?

SOTTOVENTO

SOTTOVENTO

Sottovento is a spot in Pavia that someone has called a “Literary Tavern” a very nice description, don’t you think?

The sign itself reads “coffee and refreshments.”

“Refreshments” a word that perhaps evokes a slightly retro concept, yet one that’s certainly emblematic.

Shelter (sottovento) and refreshment.

The reason I’m telling you about Sottovento is controversial.

Or, if we want to play with words: controvento.

The City of Pavia fined Sottovento for the stickers you see in the image.

I quote verbatim:
Referring to Article 25, paragraph 2 of the Pavia Local Police Regulations, which states: “Owners or managers of commercial establishments… are required to keep their storefronts clean,” someone has decided that our stickers are dirt.

Now, are stickers on a storefront really dirt?

Before continuing, I’ll turn the question back to you.

After all, these stickers are retro, a symbol of a time that no longer exists.

For example, I used to collect stickers as a child; now, in the era of digital images created by artificial intelligence, what can a sticker represent?

To the managers of Sottovento:
It literally tells a part of its own story, bearing the mark of hundreds of people from all over the world who have passed through here. They bear witness to presence, satire, anger, political commitment, and thought all the serious and the playful moments that have passed through our doors. They are a sign, an expression, they are art, a splendid collective work of art.

What do you think?

We’ve never been to Sottovento before, but I invite you to check out their social media to form your own opinion.

Sticker bombing aside, as a resident not of Pavia but of the province I’d rather see law enforcement focused on other priorities, given that people are now afraid to go out at night.

From being in the wind to being under siege, if anything.

And, honestly, I happen to see a whole host of businesses that apparently show no particular inclination to comply with fire safety regulations, let alone tax laws and so on.

I’d like to think that just as many fines have been issued.

MY BAR, FAMILY, HEALTH

MY BAR, FAMILY, HEALTH

My bar, family, health … this is the recipe that Anna Possi gives us as an example of a centenarian.

Yes: tireless Anna in front of the espresso machine at the Bar Centrale in Nebbiuno on the occasion of her 100th birthday declared:

I don’t want anything, I already have everything. My bar, my family, my health, my brain is fine… What counts is being among people, loneliness hurts.

What can I say! First of all, many many good wishes also from Keep Calm & Drink Coffee and then sincere congratulations for the message that is certainly worth sharing.

Being among people

Do you agree with Anna?

Do you also think that being among people is what counts?

Or do you love solitude

My bar.

Can loving your job, or being able to turn your passion into a business, really be the essential component?

Health.

One more secret to longevity for Anna is to eat little.

I think I can say that we all agree, on the theory, of course on the practice … do you know how to moderate your meals

Between ‘my bar’ and ‘health’: family.

Il mio bar, la famiglia, la salute

Family:  a word that in a broad sense encompasses a universe, so varied and multifaceted that it cannot fit into a specific description.

It is no coincidence that countless quotations are striking in this regard:

I do think that families are the most beautiful things in all the world!
Louisa May Alcott

A happy family is, but an earlier heaven.
George Bernard Shaw

The family will last as long as man. It is the cradle of humanity.
Giuseppe Mazzini

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life.
Albert Einstein

In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony.
Friedrich Nietzsche

And in your opinion?

TRIESTESPRESSO EXPO

TRIESTESPRESSO EXPO

Triestespresso Expo, now in its eleventh edition, is taking place these days: 24 – 25 and 26 October under the banner of Where the world meets in a cup.

It is the world of coffee and much more.

I got in touch with the president of the Trieste Coffee Association a fortnight ago about the hypothesis of an increase in the price of espresso, and as part of our chat we also talked about the event.

Arianna Mingardi 

explained to me the intention of enhancing blends, promoting research, spreading quality, making an effective and immediate comparison: wine.

Nobody discusses the price of wine because it is clear to everyone the value of the work that goes through all the stages to obtain the product.

Wine has well-marked and distinct diversifications, connoted to the territory and also to tradition.

Will this also be the case for coffee?

Away from Trieste, it seems that this is precisely the trend: in the discussion that originated from the interesting exchange of comments, in particular Valy of MyPersonalBlog pointed out various points such as Aprilia Due or Stazione Termini in Rome that offer special coffees.

Do you have the chance to drink speciality coffees in your local cafès as well?

There will be tastings at Triestespresso Expo.

Planned for today are:
World Latte Art Grading Battle Championship (WLAGS):
at Workshops and Events Area, Hall 27 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Baristas from all over the world will showcase their creativity and technical skills, competing to create intricate and artistic designs in coffee foam.

Moka Contest:
at Hall 27 from 15:00 to 17:00
Coffee lovers will compete in a contest using the iconic moka pot to brew their best cup of coffee, with participants judged on taste and technique.

Very entertaining, don’t you think?

Yesterday was the Championship Capo in B

You remember, don’t you? I had already told you about the Capo in B

The second day of Triestespresso Expo also hosted a special workshop dedicated to Turkey  which has been chosen as the host country for 2024: ‘Opportunities from around the world: the coffee market in Turkey – Current situation and development.’

So a decidedly international imprint to weave new opportunities for an area that is strongly characterised by the whole coffee chain.

Are you going to visit Trieste?

COFFEE PRICE

COFFEE PRICE

No doubt that coffee price has risen.

Wherever and in whatever way you buy it.

In particular we are paying seven euros more in a short time.

Considering this, my husband set about calculating the difference for us who with a kilo of coffee go over 142 cups on the basis of seven grams each, comparing the cost today and the cost six months ago.

il prezzo del caffèil prezzo del caffè

In general, a controversial and very popular topic is the hypothetical new price of the cup at the café: two euros.

How does price get there?

Lu had already pointed out to me a whole repertoire of common discontents, expressed in more or less colourful ways.

I am very interested in your opinion as a consumer, what do you say?

I thought to consult industry insiders and experts, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone again.

ALTOGA: National Association of Coffee Roasters, Coffee Importers and Food Wholesalers sent me the link to their press review that you can find here

Click then for the file on

comunicato stampa Altoga

The opinion of Martina Mazzoleni, marketing specialist at Caffè Ernani is as follows:

The price of espresso in the next 5/10 years willy-nilly will reach € 2.00, for the following reasons:

  • Increase in the price of the raw material i.e. green coffee, from 2019 to today the price has increased on average by 400%, some coffees have seen peaks of even 600% more.

  • Climate change: there will be more and more people asking for coffee, but there will be less and less coffee available. And by the law of supply and demand when there is more demand and less availability of a resource, the price goes up, it is economics.

  • If we want a fairer catering industry, prices must be increased. We often complain as citizens about the low wages in the restaurant industry (and I am not referring to those who hire non-compliant, etc., those are not entrepreneurs to me), but precisely about the too low wages with the industry’s collective bargaining agreements.

  • Skyrocketing running costs, if in the past it cost X to run this kind of business, today it costs X times 2, so twice as much.

  • Increased shipping costs, it doesn’t look like it but even shipping costs in the best cases have doubled, in the worst cases they have quintupled, so there must be a higher mark-up at the end to be able to pay them.

  • Wars, which created problems precisely because of the previous point, shipping.

  • Pay fairly at origin too, if we want to stop exploiting farmers and pay the right price for green coffee, we must also raise prices to consumers.

  • Apart from Italy, no country still has coffee prices this low, we are lagging behind.

  • With the entry of the new EUDR, even less coffee will be allowed to be imported into Europe, so even higher prices are expected in 2025.

Finally, I understand that consumers rightly cannot afford too high coffee prices, but this is a problem of wages that are not being raised by the state at national level, not of the baristas or coffee roasters who in the last 4 years are simply trying to survive the worst crisis our sector has seen since coffee became a global commodity, i.e. since the 16th century.

Giulia Spinoni of IEI Italian Espresso Institute provided me with a document with an emblematic title: no to instrumentalisation.

Click for the press release

Istituto Espresso Italiano

Trieste Coffee Association you already know it: we talked about the unofficial capital of coffee

Once again I would like to refute the alleged coldness of the north-east: once again I had the privilege of finding maximum availability and exquisite cordiality.

The president: Arianna Mingardi is among those women with whom one is immediately on the same wavelength, where it is the value of people that counts.

I contacted the association in a particularly fervent period for Trieste, so I say stay tuned because we will have the opportunity to chat further on the subject.

To stay for now on the coffee price issue: the president explained to me that, starting with the raw material, i.e. raw coffee, the increases have been slow but continuous, in step with adverse weather conditions.

However, it is not only the price that has risen: consumption has also increased significantly, especially from countries that previously did not consume coffee.

The logistical situation is also very difficult, due to very long waits for transit through the Suez Canal, or alternatively, the circumnavigation of Africa.

Even considering the real speculations that affect this as well as other sectors, the main thing that emerges is the attention paid to the protection of a supply chain that affects the entire territory at various levels, aimed at making coffee a valuable beverage.

Before concluding, I would also like to issue an invitation to our Laura from Al tavolo di Amalia to get the point of view of Naples: what about suspended coffee at the price of two euros?

RELIFE TORINO

RELIFE TORINO

Relife Torino is the new student apartment complex created by transforming the former Lavazza factory

MuseoTorino: the virtual museum of Turin, which we had already visited talking about Bicerin, tells about Lavazza in Corso Novara in Turin from 1965 until 2017.

Then in June 2018, the Lavazza Nuvola is presented. 

Inaugurated last week, Relife Torino is therefore a so-called redevelopment project curated by Turin architect Stefano Seita and studio Lombardini22 on behalf of a Swiss company: RELIFE Nation.

Relife bases its concept on the social economy through the RELIFE Foundation which has the ambition to contribute concretely to the improvement of society by ‘creating a bridge between the academic world and the third sector.’

The presentation campaign was curated by FUD Design, brand of Lombardini22.

Out of home logo including a QRcode depicted through urban floor graffiti curated by GreenGraffiti

It all sounds very nice.

But there is no shortage of controversy: the flats are rather expensive and certainly not affordable for all students.

The message was sent back to the sender again in the form of writing on the walls.

In your opinion, can we really talk about a better society if it is expensive?

While you tell me your student experience, shall we have a Lavazza this time?

 

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