new european bauhaus

The first edition of the FRANCO Festival took place on October 24th and 25th in the Apennine setting of Lama di Reno, in the province of Bologna (Emilia-Romagna). The event was organised by ART-ER in collaboration with Lo Stato dei Luoghi, Municipality of Bologna, BIS – Bologna Innovation Square, Muncipality of Marzabotto and Unione dell’Appennino. It was two intense days of talks, workshops, performances, and networking. The former paper mill became a laboratory for policies and practices on culture as a lever for urban transformation and social cohesion.

In 2025, six Italian municipalities won the European award NEB Boost for Small Municipalities, dedicated to developing inclusive, sustainable, and beautiful projects for the built environment, restructuring, and adapting buildings and public spaces in municipalities with under 20,000 inhabitants. Two of the winning projects came from municipalities of Emilia-Romagna, in the province of Modena: Soliera and Campogalliano. We met the Mayor of Soliera, Caterina Bagni, and the Mayor of Campogalliano, Daniela Tebasti, along with Councillor Filippo Petacchi, and they shared their experience with us.

The Future Food Institute (FFI), an international ecosystem founded in Bologna with deep local roots and a founding member of the NEB Local Chapter Emilia-Romagna, organized a meeting on February 20th with a delegation of 10 Japanese professionals at Scuderia Living Lab in Bologna.

In October 14-15 we were in Brussels with other representatives of European NEB Chapters to promote and discuss the role of Chapters.