CareStories. Walks to nurture Care,  is a local and European project between Italy, Greece and Poland that aims to create a network of “cultural walks” addressed to people -especially elderly living in internal areas – that have been living long periods of stress, isolation and fear during the Covid pandemic of 2020-2021. The idea has been to create a connection between 3 different territories of Europe, three mountain valleys in Piedmont -Italy, an island territory in the Island of Crete – Greece and Goleniow, a  city of the Baltic sea territory – Poland in order to share stories and possibile walks to be explored by local inhabitants and tourists.

CareStories has been supported by the third round of Culture of Solidarity Fund of European Cultural Foundation in collaboration with Fondazione CRT.

The proposal grounded its imaginative and cultural aspects in the potential of perception of Europe as a common country composed of lots of different territories and stories.

The urgency enlightened by the project was the persisting isolation and social fear experienced by elderly people as a consequence of lockdowns during the Covid pandemic. This feeling of loneliness and fear of others (also of family members and friends) has led through a permanent state of isolation in a large group of people aged 55+. This isolation, even after the Covid emergency, could have led to a permanent social isolation of people who had already experienced loneliness, especially in small villages and marginal areas.

CareStories therefore decided to encourage an active participation of small group of people aged +55 in the re-starting of social activities connected with culture, nature and storytelling. 

During the CareStories project, participants, guided by the artistic partners throughout the Social and Community Theatre methodology, while discovering natural or urban walks on their own territories and shared personal or local stories, have collaborate to co-create local events to enlighten their own territories and their specific stories.  

The innovative and multidisciplinary methodology of Social and Community Theatre was developed at the University of Turin – Italy at the beginning of the year 2000 by Alessandro Pontremoli and Alessandra Rossi Ghiglione. It is based on the efficacy of theatre and performing arts in the development of the human being and of the relationships created in any condition of personal, professional and community life.

The project has been intended to nurture the notion of Europe as a shared space by connecting the participants from different nation of the same aspect of human solidarity: by sharing personal stories participants have contributed to an European storytelling of landscapes and marginal territories, enlightening not only European Capitals and central areas but also remembering that Europe is composed by thousands of villages, valleys, rivers and human stories connected to them.