A bike ride is the best way to release stress, get our body moving and also getting to know the territory around us. The last is mostly important if you are an immigrant or if you are new to the city, to explore your possibilities and why not, make better decisions about your life.

Within the Bridges project, Cospe, in collaboration with the association Io Voglio Associazione dei desideri, organised an exciting bike tour called the Gran Tour (Grand Tour). A journey through the history of the city of Scandicci, to discover step by step the community of the past and that of the present which created the social composition of the city.

The activity involved a group of unaccompanied minors living in recipient structures in the suburbs of Florence and close to the city of Scandicci, which is exactly a bike ride away.

The Gran Tour included 14 stops some of which told the story of resistance against fascist squads like Bridge and Marconi Square (Ponte Piazza Marconi) and others took us to the industrial area of the city where many international companies work, such as the Gucci brand or Powersoft, which created the audio amplifying system in Mecca with 4000 amplificators that 5 times a day broadcast the call to prayer for the faithful.

During the stops, participants were asked to interact and share their opinion on the specific topic of the stop. When asked what they wanted to do in life, one of the participants expressed the desire to become a welder.

A very special moment afterwards, was stopping by the house of Paolo Staccioli, a former welder and a famous sculptor in Scandicci. They had the opportunity to take a look at his laboratory and admire some of the many sculptures that filled his garden.

“That is how you can decide about your future, by knowing what the territory is offering you. Scandicci has one of the biggest leather industries in the world. Just know that your options are wider”- Francesco Gori, (the tour guide) said.