Casa Bufalini

About

Maurizio Bufalini was an important and revolutionary 19th-century Italian physician, who is known for his science and views on pedagogy,  as well as his literary activities. Casa Bufalini is the birthplace of Maurizio Bufalini. This house was built around the 1700s and is located in the the heart of Cesena’s historic center. It is attached to the old building of the church of San Francesco, originally built in 1250/1290 in Gothic style.

In 2019, large scale renovations have taken place on the building. Parts of the building that could not be recovered, like the attics and the roof, were demolished and replaced. For the parts of the building that could be restored, particular attention has been paid to the recovery of characteristic elements of the building, including the apse of the church of San Francesco, which now houses a café. Before redevelopment works commenced, artistic performances were organized in the abandoned building, in order to revitalize the vacant site, and participation processes were organized to co-design the current use of the incubator. [2;4]

Nowadays, Casa Bufalini is a sharing space where citizens, associations, businesses, professionals, cultural institutes, schools and training institutions can develop, share and experiment with models, applications, products and services. The house has 8 offices, a conference room, an external courtyard, a cafeteria, services and common areas, resulting in approximately 450 m2 of experimental space in the hearth of the city.

With the opening of the Open Laboratory, the Municipality of Cesena hopes to achieve multiple goals. Fist, it wants to promote the cultural and touristic scene in Cesena, supported by the development of territorial marketing strategies. Second, it aims to develop new job opportunities and innovative entrepreneurship in the culture, creativity and tourism sector with digital technology as an enabler. Third, it wants to promote the digital inclusion of the local community in activities around material and immaterial heritage.

To achieve this, part of the activities conducted in Casa Bufalini are aimed at developing the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, for instance through training sessions, incubation and acceleration programmes, mentoring and networking events. Moreover, public events are organised aimed at spreading the use of technology among different age groups. [1;2;4]

Governance

Led by the Municipality of Cesena, the restoration and reuse of Casa Bufalini is a project under the “Attractive and Participated Cities” programme, initiated by the Region of Emilia-Romagna. This is an 8-year programme (2019 – 2027) that aims to increase the levels of attractiveness, competitiveness, economic and social cohesion of regional capitals through the creation of open laboratories. These laboratories are spaces equipped with advanced technological solutions and should stimulate the development of innovative forms of cooperation and collaboration between a wide range of stakeholders, including citizens, public administration, the third sector and universities. Casa Bufalini is one of ten Open Urban Laboratories funded through this programme.

The implementation and day-to-day management of the Open Laboratory is carried out by the non-profit joint stock consortium company Romagna Tech SCpA. This organisation promotes, accelerates and generates technological innovation processes. Next to the management of Casa Bufalini it, among others, runs an Industrial Research Laboratory focused on ICT and mechanics, manages two start-up incubators and runs a regional innovation centre.  [2;3]

Casa Bufalini has a strong connection with the Malatestiana Library. This Library was founded in the fifteenth century as the first civic library both in Italy and in Europe, and is inscribed in the UNESCO “Memory of the World Register”. There is not only a close physical proximity between Casa Bufalini and the Malatestiana Library but also a close collaboration in terms of activities. [5]

Business Model

The initiative is funded by the Municipality of Cesena, mainly through Axis 6 – “Attractive and participatory cities” – of the ROP FESR  Emilia-Romagna 2014-2020. Approximately €2.000.000 has been invested in renovation of the building, of which €1.600.000 are covered by the structural funds of POR FESR 2014/2020, Axis 6. [1]