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| Thinking of innovative ideas for Deruta. In the photo: entrance door to the "Valle" neighborhood facing Perugia. |
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| View from the village of Piegaro, Italy (photo by: Sissel Bendiksen) |
In the past three years my life has completely changed. My most recent life event is my moving to the village of Piegaro upon the border between Umbria and Tuscany. Piegaro is full of life and is the icing on the cake of my beautiful life story in recent times.
My family's workshop's events have ended up giving me lots of strength and joy of life. Funny enough I got energetic by going through a large amount of stress and hard trials and many times when I was tempted to give up on all fronts: the same path of a novel's hero, for almost three years now.
As a consequence of the recession my family has lost all their properties and material belongings. After the mourning, now I am feeling light and free, willing to look for new adventures. This experience has changed my life perspective more than anything before. I am thankful to life, to my parents and to what life is offering to me. What I crave for right now is health, happiness and independence.
In the beginning of my recent adventure in the world of business, trying to help my family in recession times - without any experience as an entrepreneur - I realized I was looking for solutions to problems that were impossible to solve. Additionally I met strong resistances on all fronts. The first thing I did early 2009 was setting up an appointment with the mayor of Deruta.
I got my appointment! I was all enthusiastic about a dream I had for the town of Deruta. This was my point; I said to the mayor that if customers cannot buy ceramics at the moment or the markets' demand is too low, I said that to me the best would be creating other points of attraction in the city of Deruta. As a consequence present ceramics as a second or third option.
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| Art-therapy is in use in the best retirement homes and in caregiving daycares for the elderly. |
The mayor probably thought that my idea was crazy. Indeed he is all into ceramic urban furnishing in Deruta: as an example he has had comfortable wooden benches replaced by ceramic benches that are so uncomfortable that older people do not use them any longer.
Anyway this is the dream I had for Deruta and I wanted to share with the administration's first citizen: an art retirement home for the elderly.
Why is it so special? My retirement home comes with satellite laboratories for the arts and crafts that families with children can use during week-ends as an alternative to visiting malls. Children do not come necessarily in touch with elderly people if their parents do not want to. But they can use the same spaces that the elderly use for their daily arts and crafts activities.
Why is it so special? My retirement home comes with satellite laboratories for the arts and crafts that families with children can use during week-ends as an alternative to visiting malls. Children do not come necessarily in touch with elderly people if their parents do not want to. But they can use the same spaces that the elderly use for their daily arts and crafts activities.
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| Besides art-therapy, gardens stimulating senses are part of modern caregiving daycare. |
I have had the idea of a retirement home in Deruta since 2004 when I got in touch with the world of the elderly as a caregiver. I mean how it should technically be. But this is not what makes this idea so special.
What else makes my retirement home idea so special? There is a very funny story about a retirement home in Deruta. The elderly of my town would really love to see their dream come true. This is how the story goes.
At one time someone very dear to the town of Deruta, a franciscan friar born in Deruta, wanted to create an ecumenical center there for the Jewish and the Catholic religions. His early death did not allow him to accomplish his project. However what's interesting is that the word "ecumenical"was probably not too familiar to the elderly in Deruta. In their mind their friar friend wanted to open a retirement home for the elderly of Deruta; that he was thinking of them! He was so darling with elderly people.
The elderly in Deruta still love the idea after more than 30 years. What a funny and beautiful story: an art retirement home in Deruta would be a wonderful project to accomplish. A way to say thank you to all the unknown Deruta artists who have worked in the ceramic factories and contributed to make Deruta famous in the world. And...in the same complex we could finally open an additional space for the Jewish and the Catholic ecumenical world!
What would life be if we did not have beautiful stories to tell.
What else makes my retirement home idea so special? There is a very funny story about a retirement home in Deruta. The elderly of my town would really love to see their dream come true. This is how the story goes.
At one time someone very dear to the town of Deruta, a franciscan friar born in Deruta, wanted to create an ecumenical center there for the Jewish and the Catholic religions. His early death did not allow him to accomplish his project. However what's interesting is that the word "ecumenical"was probably not too familiar to the elderly in Deruta. In their mind their friar friend wanted to open a retirement home for the elderly of Deruta; that he was thinking of them! He was so darling with elderly people.
The elderly in Deruta still love the idea after more than 30 years. What a funny and beautiful story: an art retirement home in Deruta would be a wonderful project to accomplish. A way to say thank you to all the unknown Deruta artists who have worked in the ceramic factories and contributed to make Deruta famous in the world. And...in the same complex we could finally open an additional space for the Jewish and the Catholic ecumenical world!
What would life be if we did not have beautiful stories to tell.
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