Roots & Reads. “Radici comuni, pagine condivise. La nostra comunità in Europa”.

On Saturday, October 17, at ten in the morning, Orto Domingo opens its Children’s Theater for its kickoff meeting. It’s the public presentation of roots & reads, the Erasmus+ project through which our community tries to do something simple: set the stories of older people in motion, let them meet other stories, let them recognize themselves. The date falls on the last day of ErasmusDays, the days when all of Europe shares what the program makes possible, and we like to think that our voice joins those of the gardens. The title of our project already says a lot: a Mediterranean alliance for storytelling across generations. Our travel companion is La Casa con Libros, a place in La Zubia, at the foot of Granada, where books aren’t kept on shelves but are passed from hand to hand, read aloud in the courtyard, and become an excuse to talk to each other. In the spring of 2027, twenty people over 65 from our community, along with five companions, will go there. They will be greeted with days of shared readings, poetic collages, exchanges in the garden, partner dances, and, to wrap it up, the awarding of Europass certificates recognizing what they’ve learned. Saturday’s meeting is meant to go over all of this calmly, for those who have already heard about it and for those who are just curious. We’ll explain how the project started, who the people building it are, what the months leading up to the launch will look like, and how to sign up, because that’s the day registrations open. The selection will follow clear and public criteria, with special attention to those who have had fewer opportunities to travel and take on challenges. No one should feel out of place: all it takes is a willingness to listen and, maybe, to share a bit about yourself. Our meeting will be in a community that for 10 years, in that garden, has learned to cultivate relationships even before vegetables, and that now is expanding its circle all the way to the other side of the Mediterranean.