Last Friday, third‑year students from the Bachelor’s Degree in Planning and Environmental Sustainability (L21) of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the University of Catania moved through the city of Ragusa to continue the activities related to the People’s Plan. Accompanied by professor Giusy Pappalardo, they began the day with an exploratory walk in Cava Gonfalone, guided by members of the CAI (Club Alpino Italiano), who currently manage the site.
Cava Gonfalone bears witness to the ancient work of the pirriatura — the stone quarrymen who extracted the limestone used to expand the city of Ragusa — along with many other stratified memories. Today, the quarry’s microclimate makes it a space that could function as a climate refuge, thanks to its natural insulation from outside temperatures.
In the afternoon, the university students moved to the classrooms of the Vico–Umberto I–Gagliardi Secondary School, where they presented their preliminary work for the People’s Plan. They engaged in a collective mapping exercise on heritage and climate change, as well as a focus group dedicated to younger generations — a concrete exercise in active listening and imagining the future.
The results of this work will become part of the Ragusa People’s Plan.
