What is the FARM?

It's not easy to explain FARM CULTURAL PARK and it's normal that not everyone understands what its reason to be. However, everyone has realized that the city of Favara is no longer as before. Everyone who has visited the FARM has realized that tourists and visitors from all over the world arrive every day. All citizens from Favara have read articles or seen their little city on television: neither because of the mafia nor for illegal activities, as it used to be in the past. Favara is now known to the media for Art, Culture, and Urban Regeneration.

The revival of a historic center

FARM CULTURAL PARK is located in the historical center of Favara, within Cortile Bentivegna and the surrounding area. Piazza Cavour is Favara's main square; is a beautiful square and houses several noble palaces: the Chiaramonte Castle, the municipal library created by Barone Mendola, forgotten patrons. Years go by the square at night was a place to bathe without having anything to do and many young people moved to Agrigento to spend their evenings. Today the square, houses, hostels, pizzerias, bars and taverns. Now Agrigento's friends are spending their evenings in Favara, proudly hosted by the whole city.

What happens when you visit the farm

First of all, surprise, amazement. You don’t expect to find such a thing on the periphery of the world. The most common expression is: "I could imagine anything but finding such a place". Then you breathe a dimension of possibilities; in a blocked country you arrive at the FARM and see so much energy, meet special people, create relationships with them, confront what the future may be, for you, for those around you, for the world.
At the Farm we all eat together, social lunch and dinner. With my wife, the girls, the staff, the volunteers, and the artists in residence. All together, even the guests. They ask us how much it costs and we answer, whatever they want. At the end of the meal there is an envelope and everyone leaves what he or she wants.
You can’t imagine how many people, young and less-than-young, in southern Italy after visiting the Farm, began building community processes.

The toursim of the future?

Start from the resident citizens, their quality of life, their ability to be happy, their care for the land they inhabit. Tourists will arrive as a consequence - Carlo Petrini, SlowFood

That’s exactly what is happening in Favara. Regardless of tourism, what future are we thinking of and building? A future of walls, intolerances, egoism? We imagine the FARM as a mediation tool among people. 
Instead of residences for artists, we created residences for young African boys and girls co-ordinated by creatives who have designed a collective experience to allow them to generate new job opportunities.
We have launched School of Architecture for Kids, where our children meet architets, designers, agronomists and engineers to build the prototypes of future cities.

This -and much more- is FARM CULTURAL PARK