COMUNE DI TORINO

Torino is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin surrounded by the Alps; Torino has a population of about 886.837 inhabitants. Comune of Torino is a quite big local body divided into several departments dedicated to the organization of the city, services to citizens and young people like departments such as the Youth Policies, Voluntary and equal opportunity, Educational Services. Comune of Torino has been promoting youth international mobility for many years and has engaged in increasing the youngster's sensibility to the European themes, their involvement in the creation of Europe through active participation, and their proposing and innovative capabilities. We have been working in the youth field since 1980 and have been involved in the EVS/ESC project since 2001 promoting youth mobility, active citizenship and social involvement of young people. Comune of Torino organizes projects of: National and local voluntary service, European Solidarity Corps, International Youth Exchanges and holiday camps, courses, initiatives, seminars. Through Informagiovani (the Youth information Center of the city) the municipality has always looked for and spread the information in every field of youth interest and European Solidarity Corps too. It was opened in 1982, the first one in Italy, inside the Youth Project of the City of Turin. This Centre has been a reference for all the Services opened in Piedmont. Torino is also becoming more and more livable and with a high quality of life and it is enhancing its capability to attract qualified human capital (students, researchers, qualified workers, and also tourists). In this framework, the City is working for the improvement of its cultural offer (over 50 museums, 14 Royal Savoy Kingdom residences, and a strong contemporary art system) and to promote tradition on food and wine, which is an important cultural resource. Many projects promoted by the municipality aimed at young people are active in the city: “Murarte”, young graffiti artists receive support to identify suitable spaces and transform them in artistic expression places; “Pagella non solo rock”, it is a musical competition for young musicians, from 14 to 22 years old; “Lingue in scena”, theatre festival in foreign languages organized from about 20 years.The Youth Department created “To&Tu”, Centers for young people as protagonists: those are youth centers acting as meeting places managed by young people for young people where they can gather, exchange experiences and ideas and give vent to their creative and artistic passion. Youth Department implemented the center “ARIA”: it is a place where young people from 13 to 25 years old are listened to be helped in problem solving. It is a free service and offers immediate availability and guarantee of anonymity and confidentiality.