Why Piazza dei Mestieri?
Piazza dei Mestieri was born from the desire, cultivated over decades, to build something good and beautiful for its world and the outside world.
A place where young people, often lost and uncertain, may find a compass that can show them the way in life. Founded in 2004 in Turin, it is a place of education and meeting for young people, where it is possible to experience a positive approach to everyday life: from learning to work or using their free time to enhance their talents. Every year the Piazza dei Mestieri, in its locations in Turin, Catania and Milan, welcomes more than 10,000 young Italians and foreigners, to teach them a trade and give them the chance to enter the employment world.
Around 400 people, including employees, professionals and teachers who take part in the realisation of the Piazza dei Mestieri project, get up every morning to take up this challenge. In order to make sure that schooling and work become part of a single educational and growth process, we built an alliance with entrepreneurs and cultural operators, bringing work and culture within the school. We offer young people a welcoming place, where they feel understood and valued. A place where they can rediscover their potential, acquire new skills, strengthen their self-confidence, become protagonists of their own future and that of the social context in which they live.
Neet, early school leavers and youth unemployment
The problem of our times, a challenge for our future.
Young people are running away from the fulfillment of any goal. In Italy there are about 1.5 million young people (between 15 and 29 years) who do not work or study, creating a situation that often looks like an emergency, but which in reality outlines, together with the aging of the population, a future with little hope.
Combating school drop-outs, promoting social and work inclusion
In Italy, too many young students drop out of school, remain jobless and are without any type of growth opportunities. This dynamic puts a brake on their future and that of our Country. Investing in training and in inclusion means building skills, reducing the social gap and giving everyone the chance to show their potential.
Italian average data 2024
Target 2030
One fact at the origin
On the 4th of September 1986, our dearest friend died in a mountain accident.
Marco had an immense will to live and to build; it was his disposition.
Our sorrow, anger and grief were gradually transformed into a great unity, a consciousness and a desire to build pieces of civilisation and beauty were born.
We spent so many evenings drinking beer and planning, learning little by little how to be real friends, thinking about what we would do when we grew up!
Piazza dei Mestieri, dedicated to Marco, became a story of stories, both sensational or simple, dramatic or mild, in which our young people have rediscovered their deepest desires, beginning to say: ‘I am worth it’.
The project’s network
The “Fondazione Piazza dei Mestieri ETS” can be seen as the creator of Piazza dei Mestieri.
It represents the choice of the founding members of linking ownership to the mission.
t directly manages the properties where all the activities take place, promotes and manages special projects with different stakeholders (institutional, nonprofit and for-profit) and carries out fundraising activities. Over time, it has created new realities or established stable partnerships with already operating subjects, in order to better respond to the stimuli and needs coming from the territory. In particular, we refer to:
Associazione Piazza dei Mestieri APS
(www.eventinpiazza.it) established to encourage democratic participation, especially of children and young people in social and cultural activities. It deals with the organisation of cultural activities, the implementation of special projects related to education, integration and school-work experience;
La Piazza società cooperativa
(www.prodottidellapiazza.it) is the organisation identified to manage the production units created to support the training courses, encouraging active participation of the workers. It is in charge of the production and sale of products and services for these different activities: the Restaurant (since 2017 entered in the Michelin Guide), our Pub and Brewery (with award-winning beers among the best in Italy and Europe), the Chocolate Shop, the Bakery, the Communication Agency and the “Bottega” (where all the Piazza’s products are sold, from bread to beers and chocolate).
Immaginazione e Lavoro
(www.immaginazioneelavoro.it) with offices in Turin, Milan, Novara, Sondrio and Moncalieri; for over 20 years it has provided training for young people and adults who are in mandatory education, employed or unemployed;
Archè impresa sociale
(www.archeonline.it) based in Catania where it has been operating since 1994. Since 2012 it has been a partner of Piazza dei Mestieri in Sicily. It provides training for young people and adults in who are in mandatory education, employed or unemployed;
Fondazione ITS-ICT Piemonte
(www.its-ictpiemonte.it) was established in 2010 to make an alliance between training and work that are a driving factor for the job placement and professional growth of young graduates, in new ICT and media sectors. It is awarded every year by the Ministry of Education among the 3 best ITS in Italy.
Associazione Back To Piazza
In 2024 the Back to Piazza Association was founded, bringing together former students, teachers and educators linked to Piazza dei Mestieri. The association can be considered as a bridge between generations, companies and professionals, promoting shared experiences. It has contributed to the realisation of the 20th anniversary and various initiatives, and in 2025 it has obtained full membership of RUNTS.
We are here
Territorial areas of operation
The Foundation operates mainly in Italy, opening its first office in Turin in October 2004. In line with its statutory purposes and thanks to the appreciation of its activities, it opened a second branch in Catania in 2012 and the third in Milan in 2022.
Mission
The non-profit Foundation pursues civic, supportive and socially useful purposes by carrying out, exclusively or principally, activities of general interest, with particular attention to the education of young people and the development of the socio-economic status of the territory.
It operates in particular in service of young people (NEET), taking care of their training and job placement, following their growth and their development.
Our sites
Turin
La Piazza dei Mestieri has been operating for the last 20 years in an urban context marked by challenges of social and labour inclusion, with 15% of NEET students between 15 and 29 years of age and with 12% made up of young foreigners.
The centre is now an educational and aggregative pillar in the area, a landmark for more than 7,500 young people.
Milan
This Piazza venue, active since 2022 in the Bicocca and Sesto San Giovanni areas, operates in a context marked by a high presence of NEET young people and a strong cultural diversity. The foundation has therefore expanded its educational and professional commitment here, involving over 3.000 young people.
Catania
The Foundation here operates in the most vulnerable neighbourhoods, where the NEET rate have reached 35.4% in 2024 and the presence of foreigners is growing.
With the expansion of the second headquarters, it includes around 5.000 young people who are being supported in training, in cultural activities and study activities.
Our main activities
Taking charge of individuals, analysis of the skills and practical training
Primary education, constant individual education, higher education, training for the unemployed, continuous education for professionals and businesses.
Profiling, identification of opportunities, coaching, accompaniment in the research and the monitoring of the employment path.
Primary education, constant individual education, higher education, training for the unemployed, continuous education for professionals and businesses.
Promotion in leisure time activities, inclusion, welfare and combating juvenile dispersion and a poor education.
Brewery, Restaurant, Communication Office, Digital Print Office, Bakery, Chocolate Shop, Bar Cafeteria
Hospitality and orientation
For Piazza dei Mestieri, hospitality and orientation represent a fundamental step in the educational journey of each young person. From the beginning, a relationship of trust is built that allows the uniqueness of the person to be valued and this accompanies them in discovering their potential. Guidance is not just the first step before one chooses a school or a job, but an ongoing educational process that also includes the families.
Each path is tailored to each individual, taking into account their characteristics, aspirations and specific needs.
The aim is to discover a personal project that is authentic and achievable, helping young people to become aware of their own resources and desires. This guidance process thus becomes a stable accompaniment, offering concrete tools to face the challenges of the work world or that of re-entering the school system with flexibility. It is a process that acts as educational coaching, where the young person is at the centre and is supported by competent and present figures. In this way, taking charge is not just assistance, but becomes an opportunity for growth and activation. In the world of Piazza dei Mestieri, each young person is accompanied to be the protagonist of their own future, able to choose and face their own life, training and work paths with greater confidence.
The numbers of hospitality and orientation
A summary of 2023
1.614
Beneficiaries of vocational training
1.310
Beneficiaries of other training courses
9.014
Beneficiaries of the special projects
601
Beneficiaries of of ITS training
2.929
Beneficiaries of the job placement and counselling services
Training
Many young Italian and foreign adolescents have come to the Piazza to pursue a dream, to learn a trade and find a job. Piazza dei Mestieri offers them a didactic approach that stems from experience in which work enters organically into the educational style:
productive units have been created within the structure (such as restaurant, bar/brewery, shop with confectionery and bakery products, communication agency) which welcome the young people who are learning for a real and supervised work experience and at the same time open up to the neighbourhood by offering their services and products.
In the vocational qualification and diploma courses promoted by Piazza dei Mestieri, students study mathematics, Italian, English and geography; they put their hands to work to become barmen, cooks, bakers/bakers, graphic designers/informatics, beauticians, hairdressers, thermo-plumbing and mechanical operators. These are development paths of their skills which are highly flexible and characterised by strong personalisation to promote the real abilities and talents of these young people.
The Numbers of Training
A summary view of 2023
3.123
Beneficiaries
436
Teachers
124
Courses
102.232
Hours of training
234
Schlarships Given
200
Stable partnering schools
1.815
Job placements
75%
of Students with a Job
The job centre
A continuous action to promote integration into the work world and combat unemployment.
The Job Centre offers qualified support in actions ranging from individual reception and taking charge of a professional and personal project for support and active job search, as well as consultancy to companies on labour regulations and facilitating active policies in force. Over time, the help desk has become a centre for work connections, reflecting the social and cultural changes in the work world and the companies’ demands.
It embodies a dual soul: that of a phenomenological observatory on the ever changing job market and a ‘contact’ workshop for young and adults who are in need of accompaniment and job opportunities.
Over time, the Job Centre has implemented standardised processes and methodologies in order to better measure the effectiveness of the interventions and, at the same time, has made it possible to verify and monitor the status of the actions undertaken. In this context, the Job Centre has set up an IT platform that allows the constant execution of a database in which all the candidates and companies are entered; this process, even if arduous, is necessary to allow operators to track all the work done with each person, from reception, orientation, guidance counselling, interview preparation and job placement outcomes analysis.
Production units
The real innovation of the Piazza dei Mestieri model consists in the alliance between education and work. The basic idea is that both aspects contribute to the realisation of the young people’s education. This is why real, operating production units have been created, in which young people work alongside top craftsmen learning the most effective ways of responding to their customer’s needs. Through this process, a series of soft skills are developed, which are an essential and integrated part of all the educational processes of the young people’s training.
Restaurant
Pub – Brewery
Chocolate Shop
Shop
Bar – Cafeteria
Communication Office
Cultural activities
Since the origins of the Piazza dei Mestieri experience, a ‘playbill’ of cultural activities aimed at both young people and everyone else has been created. The original objective is to allow the young people of Piazza dei Mestieri to approach a world that is normally lacking in their way of life due to social conditions or upbringing.
They interact with beauty and the valorisation of the talents and creativity present in the area, benefiting in a totally free way from a high quality cultural proposal of which they are sometimes protagonists, sometimes spectators.
In twenty years of activity, the events have become a reference point in the cultural panorama of the territory thanks to the presence of important artists and personalities.
The numerous proposals (which from 2023 are also scheduled in our Catania venue) are made up of jazz concerts, theatre performances, exhibitions, meetings with personalities and competitions, including our annual National Poetry and Fiction Prize, bringing a greater public every year.
The numbers of cultural activities
A summary of 2023
70
musicians, singers,
actors and actresses
6
plays
8
concerts
24
meetings and testimonies
68.650
spectators
2
exhibitions
5
competitions
Special projects
The Special Projects Area, in line with the Foundation’s aims, proposes educational opportunities for the development of skills, abilities, talents and creativity so that no young person is lost. Starting from the original idea of Piazza dei Mestieri, initiatives and experiences have been opened and dedicated to the territory to combat a low leveled juvenile education, school drop-outs and the prevention of youth unease, providing the right know-how and innovative methodologies in various fields at both a national and European level:
Participation in networks at a national and European level represents an important
development opportunity for Piazza dei Mestieri considering sustainability, expansion and
transfer of its policies, which continues its active participation as a member of ASSIFERO, the
Forum of the Third Sector and the EfVET network, European forum of technical and vocational
education and training.
The numbers of Special Projects
A summary of 2023
9.000
Beneficiaries
300
Teachers and operators
110
Schools and third sector organizations
20
National and European active projects
15
European and non-European partnerships
Our impact
La Piazza dei Mestieri has involved countless people in its activities over the past 20 years.
In the last three years, more or less 25.000 beneficiaries have been involved in activities in Turin, Catania and Milan:
Our partners
The Piazza dei Mestieri Foundation benefits from the support of numerous institutional and private partners, with whom numerous projects have been developed over the years.
Ministero dell’Istruzione e del Merito
Ministero dell’Interno
Presidenza del Consiglio dei ministri, Dipartimento per le Politiche Giovanili
Banca d’Italia
Regione Lombardia
Regione Piemonte
Regione Siciliana
Città di Torino
Camera di Commercio, Industria, Artigianato e Agricoltura di Torino
Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo
Fondazione CRT
Fondazione Cariplo
Enel Cuore Onlus
Fondazione Cassa Depositi e Prestiti
Fondazione Azimut
Fondazione Telecom Italia
Fondazione Vodafone Italia
Fondazione Conad Ets
Fondazione con il Sud
Fondazione Peppino Vismara
Fondazione di Comunità Milano
Con i Bambini Impresa Sociale
Intesa Sanpaolo
L’Oréal
IREN
Stellantis
Sagat
Bosch
Randstad
Smat
Lavazza
The aims of these partnerships are generally to promote the job placement for disadvantaged people through training and orientation initiatives.
Some awards
Officers of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
The founders of the Piazza dei Mestieri – Dario Odifreddi and Cristiana Poggio, received the honour by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella
Commemorative plaque from the Piedmont
Recognition for having become in 20 years a valuable reference point for the area and for the many young people who have found tools and opportunities to build their future here (2024)
Civic Merit of the City of Turin
Riconoscimento per il lavoro svolto con i giovani nella lotta contro la dispersione scolastica e la riscoperta dei mestieri (2024)
Riconoscimenti di qualità della produzione
Recognition of production quality by the main organisations in the sector:
Michelin Guide, Slow Food, Best Italian Beer; Brewers Union Association, Xcellent Beers
‘Maestri del Gusto’ award
by the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture of Turin for the production quality.
Recognition from Di Vittorio Foundation and JP Morgan
Project selected as one of the 25 national success stories of the dual system (2017)
Memorandum of Understanding with the Miur
Ministry of Education, University and Research
For the combat of youth unease (from 2012 to date) Organisation recognised by the Ministry of Welfare as an organisation carrying out activities in favour of immigrants (from 2012 to date)
Sodalitas Award
for the implementation of the best Sodalitas Social Award community partnership programme (2009)
Aretê Award
for social communication (2005)
Our history
A friend Marco Andreoni dies
A painful event that sparks a desire to reaffirm life and its positivity.
The idea of the Piazza dei Mestieri was born.
For an experience that combines education and work.
The first training and work project ‘Second Chance’
Is bornTo unite educational and operational activities.
A confrontation with institutions begins.
In order to realise an innovative idea to combat school drop-out and to help young people start work.
The project is ready.
An old disused tannery in the centre of the city of Turin is identified and the transformation begins.
The Piazza dei Mestieri is inaugurated.
A beautiful place to welcome young people,
to make them feel at home, to make them passionate about study, work and life.
The Cultural Events Playbill is born,
curated by the Piazza dei Mestieri Association (established in 2004), with the aim of educating to beauty in order to perceive the attractiveness of reality.
Scholarships are activated
to help the neediest and most deserving students, and the National Poetry and Narrative Competition is born, aimed at all technical and professional schools.
The “La Piazza” Cooperative and Business Units are established
To bring chocolate and beer production up to speed with the inauguration of the brewery and restaurant.
Partnerships with companies grow.
This is an essential feature of the model of Piazza, with a view to the successful and functional insertion of young people into the work world.
Piazza dei Mestieri 2.
is created for the construction of a place for non-academic tertiary training for young graduates.
ITS ICT Piemonte.
A Higher Technical Institute for young graduates specialising in information and communication technologies is founded.
Launch of the Catania Piazza and twinning with Belo Horizonte.
To accept new challenges and to show that there is always a hope, even in difficult contexts
The 10th Year Anniversary
Eight days of meetings and events to tell the world that it is possible to build something. Not just celebration for us, but also for the territory that has bet on us and with us.
A confrontation to judge the past work and to develop ideas for the future.
First feasibility studies for the Piazza dei Mestieri in Milan
To continue taking up the challenges and proving the project’s worth in different contexts.
The second branch opens in Catania.
To expand the training offer dedicated to young people in the area.
The restaurant receives a Michelin Guide recommendation.
Soft Skills enter the educational systems
Experimentation begins in training activities and extra-curricular educational projects.
The first crowdfunding
project starts on the ‘ForFunding’ platform of Intesa Sanpaolo involving hundreds of donors.
Pandemic changes the way we study, work and relate to other people.
New inclusion projects
Regional, national and European projects for young people and adults with a migration background are structured.
The Piazza dei Mestieri in Milan is inaugurated.
The Foundation obtains membership in the RUNTS
It is the year of the 20th Anniversary
Some important people
These are some personalities who have met Piazza dei Mestieri over the years and that have expressed their admiration towards our commitment.
What our students say about us
Anas
Here at Piazza dei Mestieri I found much more than a school: it became my home.
Here I felt listened to, welcomed and considered. Today, 14 years later, I’m on the other side: I take part in the “former students” association and I’m happy to lead young new students in their training and their growth”.
Marco
I chose this school for a very specific reason: from the very first day I came in I felt welcomed. Now I’m very happy about my choice.
Giorgia
When you finish up a hairstyle you realise that with life it’s the same, from a small
gesture anything can change.
Alex
I would come to school and leave whenever I wanted. I had so much freedom, but I wouldn’t learn anything, not how to be in the world or how to study. I finally found my place here as a baker and I started doing it.
This school teaches you not only how to work, but also how to live.
Martina
Just one smile and I finally understand.
Cosmin
There can also be fun, perhaps with my friends I can come here to the pub, in a place that I trust, and not go somewhere where who knows what we could do.
Jessica
I’ve seen a lot of creativity, a lot of manual work and a lot of beauty. You need all that to do your job well. My head is full of ideas, I feel like an artist.
Emotion and gratitude were both felt today at the Quirinale for the presentation by President Mattarella of the title of Officers of Merit of the Italian Republic for these 20 years of Piazza dei Mestieri awarded to Cristiana Poggio and me.
Dario Odifreddi
In it I see all the faces of those who have shared this experience with us from the very beginning or even just for one day. Without the friendship and esteem of so many it would not have been possible to welcome tens of thousands of young adolescents and help them discover their talents and their value, accompanying them in their studies, in their work paths and in general, in this part
of their lives.
Only gratitude. Hearing Piazza dei Mestieri be defined as “the fruit of a friendship” made me tear up, but also seeing the look on President Sergio Mattarella’s face.
Cristiana Poggio
