Ritmo Lento – ‘Slow Rhythm’ in Italian – is the name Pasquale and Alessandro chose when they founded a meet-up for young adults.
Together they opened a self-funded bar in the San Carlo district of Bologna, where they hold regular talks and events in an attempt to ‘rebel against time’.
Pasquale
“After university we found ourselves not knowing where to go, confused and unprepared.
“On the one hand, we were all still students. We needed a place to socialise, meet friends, hold events, to study and to debate.
Young people in Bologna are seen as a nuisance, even if they are very active in society
“On the other hand, we were all entering the world of work. We felt suffocated by the desperate effort to find a job that matched our aspirations.
“We wanted to get away from this, to slow down a bit away from the frenetic and often depressing search for a job. We all wanted to help each other.
“Today we live in a society where it’s extremely easy to find information and write down your opinion. People share experiences and ideas online, but it doesn’t translate into a practical or shared experience in real life.
“Young people in Bologna are seen as a nuisance, even if they are very active in society. We wanted to show residents that we could contribute actively to making people’s lives better.”
Alessandro
“I live Ritmo Lento as a personal and collective experience. In other words, what pushes us to have this experience is not just confined to this space, to these four walls, but we want to be involved in the city.
“We want to make a difference to society. We want to influence politics. We want to help young people get into work after graduating, which isn’t easy in Italy. Ritmo Lento is more a period of our lives than just a place to hang out.
We want to make a difference to society. We want to influence politics.
“It may sound trivial, but it’s revolutionary because it’s taking discussions off Facebook and back onto the streets.
“It’s not a question of it being an intellectual discussion, but being able to have an open and honest discussion, understanding the discussion and having the means to do something about it.”
Pictures were taken by James Whitty. You can learn more about Ritmo Lento on their Facebook page.
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