La Paranza and the enhancement of the artistic and cultural heritage of Rione Sanità in Naples
In the Rione Sanità district of Naples, a cooperative is working for change. A group of courageous people who have dedicated their knowledge and skills to their city to bolster the hope of its young people.
Objectives of the project
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
We believe that quality education is the basis for improving people’s well-being and achieving appropriate and concrete learning outcomes. We want to help ensure equity in education through social and educational integration projects, eliminating inequality and ensuring access to all levels of education and training.
We believe that quality education is the basis for improving people’s well-being and achieving appropriate and concrete learning outcomes. We want to help ensure equity in education through social and educational integration projects, eliminating inequality and ensuring access to all levels of education and training.
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
We want to bolster efforts to protect and safeguard the cultural, artistic and social heritage of the communities in which we operate, conscious that the challenges can be met by improving inclusion and reducing poverty and social inequality. We envisage a future with welcoming, open and inclusive communities that offer opportunities for all.
We want to bolster efforts to protect and safeguard the cultural, artistic and social heritage of the communities in which we operate, conscious that the challenges can be met by improving inclusion and reducing poverty and social inequality. We envisage a future with welcoming, open and inclusive communities that offer opportunities for all.
The group is called La Paranza and one of its main activities is promoting the artistic and cultural heritage of Rione Sanità, seeking to revive the image of Naples and offer its younger citizens the chance to improve their future.
Of all Naples’ districts, Rione Sanità was always afflicted with starker socio-cultural divisions. Long marginalised and even avoided by Neapolitans, today it is a must-see for anyone arriving in Naples for the first time.
This is thanks to a group of local young people led by Father Antonio Loffredo. Founder of the La Paranza social cooperative, Father Loffredo has been working since 2006 on encouraging a new mentality towards work, inspired by the human and Christian values of the cooperative, by setting up training and youth employment programmes and exchange and networking processes between people, bodies and associations.
Putting well-being first
Parmacotto Group has also chosen to support La Paranza closely, won over by the passion and courage of those who chose to stay in their community and take care of it. The Group also shares its will to develop the community and generate new employment, enhance our historical, artistic and cultural heritage as a means of supporting people in the present, pass down expertise to the next generations and promote the culture of beauty through art: putting people at the centre.
Out of this shared vision, an intense collaboration was born that sees Parmacotto Group standing proudly side by side with the cooperative.
“Rione Sanità used to be a no-go area. Not anymore. The future here is a bright one. We are happy with this collaboration between Parmacotto Group and Paranza because we are similar in some ways: we share the same stubborn approach to impossible missions. Attention, passion and community are not our key words for nothing.” - Vincenzo Porzio, Founding Partner of the La Paranza Cooperative.
The "Luce" project: restoring the catacombs of San Gennaro
La Paranza's story started in 2006 when it began managing the Catacombs of Saint Gaudiosus in the Basilica of Santa Maria della Sanitaria. Then, in 2008 the cooperative took on the project that led to the restoration, management and public opening of the Catacombs of San Gennaro. This is the context in which the Parmacotto Group has offered its support to the cooperative’s team of young art historians, conservators and archaeologists, helping restore the upper vestibule of Southern Italy's most important catacombs.
The upper vestibule is the oldest part of the upper level of the Catacombs of San Gennaro: the entrance. Steeped in history, this noble chapel was probably built at the beginning of the 3rd century in Pompeian style, featuring the typical ceiling configuration, simple and linear, and the use of reddish-purple, yellow ochre and blue hues. It is believed to house the oldest existing Christian paintings in Southern Italy: floral decorations, fruits and symbols, both pagan and Christian.
A powerful social message
The Parmacotto Group’s support for the restoration work not only reflects a strong sense of social responsibility, directed in this case at preserving an ancient site of great historical, artistic and cultural value, but also demonstrates what a group of young people from a disadvantaged neighbourhood can achieve, the potential they can show, if given the chance. A concrete and tangible way of putting people's well-being first.
