Located in via s. Giovanni Maggiore Pignatelli 2, in the heart of the historic centre, Santa Fede Liberata – often known as the “palazzo delle vecchiarelle” (palace of the old women) – along the course of its history has been a women’s penitentiary institute, a hospital for prostitutes, a conservatory and even Benedetto Croce’s printing house. It was occupied on the 13th of December 2014 by a group of associations, committees, citizens, which reopened it after decades of abandonment. This was an occupation that wanted to interrupt the long oblivion that had stolen a precious resource from the neighborhood, one of the many spaces remained unused, degraded or privatized because they are perceived as empty ruins.
With the recovery of Santa Fede Liberata, the community wishes to create a concrete communitarian experience, a complex process that would require large economic, organizational and social resources. For this reason, those who animate the space consider the current process as “a phase of long transition” from an abandoned to a collective good. The final aim of the process is the full recovery of the building, as well as its openness to the inhabitants of the neighborhood. The planning and realization of the restoration of the space are being carried out though participatory and collective designing process.
What are the activities of Santa Fede Liberata?
The projects and initiatives promoted by the community of Santa Fede Liberata are heterogeneous and numerous. They range from cultural events – presentations of books, films and magazines, musical and theatrical performances – to workshops of various kinds – both cultural and related to self-recovery and to the sharing of knowledge and experiences – and above all convivial moments, of aggregation and counter-cultural sociality, with the aim of experimenting a different way of being together.
The political project called “Let us give voice to the voiceless” is of particular importance, as it aims to highlight the problems experienced by the homeless people in the municipality of Naples, subjects which are often treated with indifference or hatred – sentiments often channeled by politicians desperately trying to gain consensus. Furthermore, Santa Fede Liberata hosts the initiatives of the Solidarity Health Post, a medicine and pharmacy presidium that is inspired by the idea of shared medicine, based on the will to share knowledge and practices for greater collective and individual self-determination. The presidium therefore tries to move away from the monolithic concepts of “disease” and “cure”, promoting a vision of medicine that focuses on people at 360 degrees according, with the political objective of building a caring community.
Santa Fede and its community also support numerous territorial initiatives, which involve several Neapolitan grassroots organizations which represent local or international struggles in the city of Naples. Among these, there are the organization of Parenti e amici dei detenuti a Poggioreale (Relatives and friends of the prisoners of the Poggioreale prison), the initiatives in favor of the Palestinian cause organized with the nearby Centro Culturale Handala Ali and the project of the Carnevale Sociale di Napoli.
The main contact of the community of Santa Fede Liberata is its Facebook page and the e-mail address liberatasantafede@gmail.com.