In the horizontal forest of Via Padova with the psychiatrist Thomas Emmenegger

The structure was born a century ago, to make it a racecourse, then it became a boarding school. Thirty years of neglect followed. subjecti the former boarding school of the Trotter hosts the project that goes by the name of ‘moved‘, a daily commitment that try to light up a gray area of ​​the city. But nothing to do with shining under the Bosco Verticale: this is a horizontal forest, a dense area around Via Padova, and you can orient yourself with a torch. To drive is Thomas EmmeneggerSwiss psychiatrist came to Italy following Franco Basagliaand for over 25 years president of the Olinda factory: integrating is his intention, and the project in Via Mosso celebrates its first birthday from 16 to 18 June.

The long courtyard is dotted with geometric order of colored chairs and tables, at the bar four Arab boys tell each other in their harsh language. I take a panoramic view of the restaurant room, I modestly pass the door open to the kitchen, I end up peeking into the tool shop, which is divided into corners of the cycle workshop, carpentry, electrical engineering and tailoring. ‘A sense of order and cleanliness’, Gaber comes to me in the elections.

Thomas arrives, greets me, greets everyone, unleashes his little dog, takes off his jacket, two girls go towards him, a brief exchange, familiar, even amused, about something to do. On how to do it.

“mosso is taken over by many young people.” And we sit in the restaurant room together with Elisa, Communications Manager, and Beatrice, Project Manager.

“You always need new ideas. Everything is homemade, and sparingly. Otherwise everything stops.”

Let’s start from this place.

“Society changes, functions that used to make sense are then lost. This is a typical post ruin. No one was interested anymore. It also happens with people. Which are somehow forgotten. Leave it to the sidelines. It’s the waste.”

Heavy word. But if she says so.

“Think about the history of asylums. They were in many Italian cities. What to do with these huge spaces? Because then people on the margins tend to populate these post-ruins. The problem is mainly ours: in the development ideas we have, these things and people are removed. Mayor Pisapia instead, when he was elected, asked the Cariplo Foundation to di recover the former boarding school of the Trotter, with the idea of ​​doing half school, and half that has a positive impact on the context, problematic. A project involving three municipalities, the Cariplo Foundation and a social private sector, which addresses the whole city, but which at the same time knows how to deal with via Padova.”

The universal solution.

“But it must be sought. Then the first problem is: what is the positive impact? For a year now we have been comparing ourselves with what we really find every day. Innovation is learning to do things that no one has ever done.”

A veiled girl enters the room and Thomas greets her warmly, lowering his voice to continue.

“Via Padova is a place super populated by figures like her! She came here last summer, she worked with us as a waitress, slowly she took off her veil, and she became an important, strong figure. She interacted with everyone. Then she had to return to her homeland, for a family wedding, she too got married, remained pregnant, ended up back in the patriarchal mill.”

The girl doesn’t come close. Rhythmic background of plates, cutlery and glasses. Beatrice and Elisa go to greet her. Thomas continues.

“What is irreconcilable for us, we try to make it reconcilable. We need to know who these people are. Our thesis is that in this world there is a universe of hidden talents. And we have to make them visible.”

Instead you see is the threat.

“The so-called security, sure. Normally we intervene with the control. Which is completely useless. It brings no benefit. As if you put your fist in the water and it moves. You don’t get anything out. When an Italian girl stops at the gate so as not to cross where there is a group of young Arabs, we must take her fear seriously, but giving these boys their first and last name, history and recognition. We would like to build an inclusive path with them, the only way we can affect this subjective perception of fear. On one condition: be ten, twenty years old to do this job. And the resources.”

In the meantime, how does the culture of cunning stop itself? That includes abuse, which results in violence. And it eats up the talents you would like to make visible.

“There are unscrupulous people. You call out to key public figures who have made politics. And therefore culture. But that doesn’t last long for me. I see quite the opposite. Instead, I see among young people that there is an enormous desire to do real things. Not fake.”

Have you ever called the police?

“No, we don’t consider that as an answer. We have always tried to cure, to remedy, in our own way. Antibiotics, sedatives were distributed, wounds were treated: you saw that they were sick, they simply looked for the bathroom, you noticed the blood, and they don’t go to the hospital. We have to stay inside the contradictions. And conquer the night. Because via Padova at night is another world.”

And conquer languages ​​too. We all know the frustration of not being able to say, and understand.

“Many languages ​​of the world are spoken in the cooperative. During the Covid we have welcomed into the hostel people who have been hospitalized in psychiatry and who, when they are discharged, often only have the street. Figures from all over the world. So you asked yourself: who knows this sub-Saharan language? The assistant cook from Nigeria acted as interpreter. Stuff like that. You also discover that within a national language there are five different ones.”

Everything is difference.

“And this mix I think could become the protagonist. As well as the so-called disadvantage. And since we, like Olinda, come from an old asylum, even here, some of the people who work there have a mental health problem.”

And they are better.

“Are you kidding?”

For nothing. So it’s all about being accepted.

“Not accepted: recognized. Including their hidden talent. Anyone has one. Even the ones you said, the smart ones.” And he invites the two girls to talk. “I often find that they think differently from me.”

Let’s leave the analysis. The things that are done, in ‘mosso’. I saw the trades of the tool shop, then the bar, and the restaurant.

“With the best pizza in Milan.” Thomas does not hold back.

“Among the best in Milan“ corrects Elisa. And she tells of when their prestigious pizza maker, Daniele Falcone, showed up. He said he liked this place, and that it was Franco Pepe’s help. Smanetto to confirm the pedigree of the famous Neapolitan pizza maker. Thomas continues.

“Someone like this expects to be paid in a way that we could not match, and long negotiations began. We weighed the weight of the project, and in the end we found a compromise.”

You offered him pride.

“Yes. And its value you will verify when you come to eat pizza.”

Meanwhile one of the young waiters brings us the bread that Daniele makes. The midday stroke enhances its flavour. As I chew, I take a good look at the many seats, spaced out, including those in the large courtyard.

With the pedometer, the ten thousand requested by the waiter does them in one shift. But do you fill it? Does Milan recognize you?

“Sure” Elisa replies again. “You have to book.”

“We don’t want people to come here out of pity, or because we put the scrap in the window, but because it feels good,” adds Thomas.

Reevaluate the discard talent.

“Exact. And this.”

But those with little money can’t come and eat there.

“Certain. With 10 euros you can eat pizza and beer. But do you know how many people, whom we know well, we offer lunch? Here too, there is the contradiction between quality and accessibility, being able to afford it. A huge field of work. We have to find ways that are not exclusive. Because then the free services are supported by the restaurant business. When you come to have your wedding, or corporate party, you are keeping these people alive and free with their needs.”

And here Beatrice intervenes.

“The Neighborhood Concierge offers listening and suggestions. There is a migrant counter, and they explain how to ask questions. Or read and pay a bill. The door on housing, for an evicted person, and for the request for public housing. And this seems to be made to discourage. The difficulty worsens where the fragility of the people who have to fill in is higher. Imagine a residence permit for someone who doesn’t know Italian.”

The paperwork bureaucracy. I myself am terrified of it. It seems to me more necessary and noble than a meal and a warm bed.

“But there are also concerts, DJ sets, exhibitions. Here too, people come knocking. The time I called Francesca Michelin. And we soon organized a review, with her opening the concert series. Via Padova.”

The range of what happens in blusso is wide, and I can’t make an informative flyer out of it. The first opportunity to find out is these three days, from Friday to Sunday, full of information and pleasure.

“We need to make ourselves known. We need allies. In all fields.”

Being helped to help.

“No, we don’t help anyone. Ours is the system of opportunities. You come here and you can stop. You always find something. And someone. You are not targeted by anyone or anything. We are not the one stop shop that wants a precise request to give you an answer. Otherwise you get sent off somewhere else. We like having lots of streams of access: you come for one thing and find another you didn’t know about. We’re a big mess.”

We close the mess with the name, written in lower case. And this is Beatrice’s stuff.

“The lowercase font is a graphic choice, because it resembles moving waves. But it’s also the blurry photo: it’s trying to stop something that’s moving.”