In the last month spring has awakened our gardens and projects: first guests/residents from Village as a House – a dwelling project arrived in Topolò, shook up our daily routine and some already left, and in the meantime, we are becoming specialists of buckwheat: planting, drawing, cooking, eating in every form … some big - exciting - news :)
But some weekends ago we were surprised by morning snow, which brought us back to the fireplace, to rethink what happened in the past year and how things are gonna evolve in the next, intense months. Goooood luck to everyone. eheh
* As usual, we start with this word which – pronounced differently – has two beautiful meanings in Italian and English. In Italian it means “dear”, when addressing women.
Thinking of the past year...one big news in Topolò routine and geography is a special place that was opened last June in the upper part of the village, under the church, where we start to move (up and down) our activity. Here we stored all the issues of our magazine, we had a radio workshop and we guest collective lunches for the inhabitants of Topolò or friends who are visiting us more and more. We are already used to calling it IZBA but we are still looking for a clear and organized system to manage this multifunctional space, decorated and filled with love by the Robida family, in order to guest all friends and visitors in Topolò, to use it as a living room, an izba, where to create and imagine new projects.
At the end of March, we invited all the members of the Robida Association at IZBA to open the new season after a two-month pause, needed for the renovation of the chimney, which gave us time to experiment with new recipes, prepare new projects, and collect new energies. Now, as no interruption happened, we started again to walk up and down the village, to dwell in different places around the houses and terraces of Topolò, starting a lot of conversations in between.
One year ago we were just getting ready to make IZBA into a sort of a coworking/collective room for the Robida crew & co. This was the manifestation of a collective need for a space for the inhabitants and the associations that are active in the village but also for visitors and friends who arrive in Topolò.
IZBA in the Slovenian dialect spoken in Topolò is the room close to the kitchen, the living room where the family sits together to eat, warm up and tell each other stories. In the old and poor houses once full of people, this was a special place, clean and warm, for cozy winters and resting summers. A place where, after a working day in the woods or in the fields, everyone could rest and enjoy friendly company.
Already during the last summer, IZBA hosted a lot of people and initiatives: a radio was installed, hikers traveling through the mountain stopped by for a refreshment and chat, new paths were explored and a lot of projects and conversations sprouted up.
Now we are collecting new ideas and intentions, preparing a program of small events and concerts, and initiating new projects for the habitants: every Saturday morning Igor brings us fresh bread (you can book it until Friday at 12:00).
We are here every Saturday and Sunday, from morning to evening (more or less).
The spring is already visible on the landscape, trees are changing their color, and flowers are covering the turf. Doors are open and paths are cleaned to start a new season of walks and talks.
Dora Ciccone
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Now it's time for a big announcement which some of you have already encountered through our IG profile !
Robida, with a project titled Topolò/Topolove: Village as a House , is one of the 52 finalists of the New European Bauhaus Prize within the category Rising Starts (unrealized projects by designer Under 30)! The concept was selected among 1100 project :) We are so proud, happy and excited!
We proposed Janja's masters thesis project which speaks about the possibilites of re-inhabitating the village of Topolove as if it is a house! A design model which came out of Janja's experience of Topolove and which we are actually practicing!
Have you ever lived in a village, as if it was your house?
Have you ever dreamed in the woods, as if they were your garden?
"Imagining the revitalization of the village of Topolò (Italy) as if it was a house – where each tiny house is a room of a bigger house - the village itself – means to tackle the problem of the empty village as a complex ecology, inventing new uses for abandoned spaces and thinking about the new community inhabiting and taking care of them."
You can read more about the project here .
You can actually VOTE for our project (and we are hear asking to you to please do it!) at thi link: https://prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu
Voting is quite simple (you have to register with your email and the confirm your email address). Important: you should vote at least one project from the category Rising Stars - blue (our project, which you find in the thematic group titled "Prioritising the places and people that need it the most") and one project from te category Awards - green (here we invite you to vote the projects Krater or Forno Vagabondo, big friends of us! )
Thank you A LOT for your support and love, which you actually always show to us!
Ciao ciao, good night!
Robida Fam
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Check the news related to Robida on our IG page (updated often) of FB (updated less often)!
If you want, you can dive in our archives going on our Mixcloud (where you can find Radio Robida's archive) or on these two old but updated tumblr: r-o-b-i-d-a and ancheirovisonogiardini.
If you received this letter, it means that you subscribed or that someone among us thought about you and added you in! In any case, if we were booooring, you can unsubscribe!
Hugs hugs hugs
Robida Fam
robidacollective.com