The RESTART GABANEL project was born as a tourism-social proposal with the intention of combining a tourist accommodation service with projects related to inclusion and the enhancement and return to the community of a confiscated property. The project takes the form of the creation of a structure dedicated to hospitality, specifically with the bike hostel formula, with also multifunctional spaces open to new projects (training, events, conferences, cultural activities…)

THE PLACE – GABANEL takes its name from the place of the same name located in the municipality of Bussolengo along the road that, crossing the morainic hills of Garda, connects the capital with the municipalities of Pastrengo and Sona. The structure consists of a newly renovated villa that consists of two floors, a large basement area, a garden and an appurtenant swimming pool.

THE BIKE HOSTEL – The first floor and second floor of the facility house the hostel, aimed specifically at bicycle tourists, with a total of 17 beds divided into three dormitories and a single room, with a bathroom for each room. The facility also consists of a lounge and dining area, a kitchen that can be used in self-management by guests, and a large outdoor area with a porch, panoramic terrace, swimming pool, lawn, and wooded area. Additional guest services include e-bike charging points, laundry, and a fully equipped workshop for minor maintenance. The decision to focus primarily on cycling tourism is based on a number of factors: first of all, the geographic location of the site, located along well-trodden bicycle routes, close to the Ciclopista del Sole and placed along one of the routes leading from Lake Garda to the city of Verona, the two main tourist destinations of the province. Added to this is the glocal and territory-enhancing vocation that is a constituent part of the project.

GABANEL is characterized not only as an accommodation facility, but also as a meeting and starting point for tourist, cultural, awareness and discovery activities; the proposal is that of a slow tourism, aimed at the living experience of the places that are crossed, with the intention of discovering and experiencing what the different local realities can offer to the traveler. GABANEL therefore promotes the network of actors in the area, activating numerous partnerships and giving prominence to those who, with similar sensitivity, make the principles of sustainable environmental, cultural and social development their own; along this path it offers an enriching experience for the hostel guests and, in a circular way, contributes to giving a boost of growth and well-being to the inhabitants.

THE HISTORY AND PRINCIPLES – The villa complex that houses the project consists of an asset confiscated from organized crime in the 1990s. The structure, now owned by the Municipality of Bussolengo, in 2018 was given on loan for use to the Hermete Social Cooperative until 2036 with the agreement to renovate it and with the objectives of creating a new tourist reception facility and making it a space that can be used again by the community, creating networks and planning to implement the development and well-being of the area. In line with the spirit of the Cooperative, GABANEL is distinguished by a strong social-educational imprint.

In addition to the aforementioned goals of promoting the area, a strong idea behind the project is to use this space to provide an opportunity for young people with social distress, especially NEETs, to try their hand at activities that develop entrepreneurial skills, the assumption of responsibility and the ability to reactivate themselves and thus become a living part of the community again.

Some initiatives already activated in this sense have seen groups of young people involved in educational experiential campuses that, through activities such as renovation, maintenance or the creation of furniture, have been able to confront themselves in a protected way with the world of work and its challenges. This attention is also another declination of the hospitality that, in direct form in tourist hospitality, is one of GABANEL’s key values.

The construction of the furniture followed the principle of self-production by adhering to the lines of self-design proposed by the Milanese designer Enzo Mari in his book of the same name from ’74; again, the making of the furniture in wood allowed the children, accompanied by an educator with carpentry skills, to experiment with active techniques that refer to learning by doing and that gave them a way to learn and implement working and transversal skills and competencies.

Other principles that characterize the new life of the GABANEL are those of design for all, another declination of hospitality that runs through the entire structure, and environmental sustainability: the villa is energy-efficient and aims to become completely ecologically sustainable; again, the promotion of slow cycling tourism contributes to the reduction of the carbon footprint.