Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Viale dei Mille Consortium - Poster

Milan, March 17 2023 – "Regenerating bicycles, regenerating people": this is the focus of the first of a series of meetings open to the public dedicated to the prison economy which will be held on Saturday 18 March, at 10 am, at the Upcycle Milano Bike Café (via Ampère , 30). An opportunity to highlight and discuss the opportunities and prospects for the development of new work and entrepreneurial activities restricted to the cycling mobility sector. 

Giorgio Leggieri, director of the Bollate prison, the largest prison in Lombardy and one of the most large ones in Italy characterized by an advanced treatment regime and by the involvement of a large part of the prisoners in training and work activities both internally and externally; Paolo Manfredi, national contact person for the digitalisation of Confartigianato businesses; Filomena Dragonetti, head of the Social Economy Unit of the Municipality of Milan; Alessandra Naldi, director of the Viale dei Mille consortium; the city councilor of Milan Marco Mazzei; Roberto Senesi of the "Fuga forward" project; Gabriele Cury, Cristiano Sciascia and Chiara Cheloni of the Ulisse social cooperative of Florence, who will present the "Piedelibero" project, dedicated to the regeneration of abandoned or stolen bicycles.

And again: Paolo Bozzuto, professor at the Polytechnic of Milan, expert in the study of the relationship between the sport of cycling, contemporary cities and territories; Matia Bonato, entrepreneur of the Milanese bike brand and of the historic Rossignoli shop and president of Assobici Confesercenti; the lawyer Carla Broccardi and Ilio Mannucci Pacini, a magistrate who has been involved for years on cycling issues and a member of the "Rights Network", created to promote spaces for discussion and growth of the culture of rights, offering civil society positive and aggregation, which also includes lawyers, university and school professors, restorative justice experts and professionals.

The objective of the series of meetings is to promote knowledge of the realities of the prison economy that employ people who are prisoners, ex-prisoners or those under external criminal execution, to raise awareness among citizens regarding the issue of the redemption and reintegration of prisoners through training in the field and work, to encourage the birth of new productive activities, inside and outside penitentiary institutions, strengthen the network of stakeholders to support the prison economy and show the opportunities generated by the collaboration between public institutions, prison administration, private business entities and non-profit entities.

"For years – declares the Councilor for Work and Economic Development Alessia Cappello – the Municipality of Milan has been committed to supporting and accelerating various entrepreneurial realities active in the prison economy with which we can give a new possibility and a new life to those who are been or is still in a penitentiary institution, contributing at the same time to the growth of the city's economy and that of the country with an entrepreneurial system that is sustainable and virtuous. With this first meeting we inaugurate a series of events that will allow us not only to talk about the commitment of the Municipality of Milan on this front, but above all to create a synergy and an increasingly close network between public, private and third sectors which has proven to be successful".