Crossing the past to design the future

In ancient villages, the wash-house was located in the centre of the village: here people did not only wash, but also discussed politics and innovation. Today in the village of Brè, the wash-house seems to be personified by the Prati family, ready to breathe new life into their birthplace.

And so it was that I found myself in Brè: a small mountain village on the outskirts of Lugano, Switzerland.

During its most flourishing period, Brè was home to majestic chestnut forests, community gardens, floriculture, vineyards and many pastures.

At the center of the village lies The Washhouse: symbol of femininity, politics, community and considerable discussions. Still present today, it has been dispossessed of its main socio-political function and serves as a simple architectural ornament. Similarly, the chestnut forests have disappeared, as have the vegetable gardens, pastures and vineyards.

But something new is stirring, and that is precisely in the surroundings of the majestic washhouse. In fact, a group of young natives of Brè is mobilizing to revive a village that has been punished by the lure of the big cities, ousting it from its agro-pastoral reputation.  

It is precisely through old traditions that these new projects want to challenge the future. One of the main proponents is Davide Prati, a resourceful young man with a passion for viticulture and agriculture. In his speeches one finds the desire to bring the past back to the present, recalling family histories and activities that are now abandoned. By re-inventing solutions, he aims at creating the conditions allowing the creation of a strong sense of belonging between the citizens of Brè and surroundings.

And that’s why I was in Brè: the sense of belonging to a common cause brought me there. But I was not alone that day. In fact, the Blue Arbor Foundation was also present around the washhouse and that’s because they have the ambition to bring a participative and multidisciplinary method to the implementation and the accomplishment of projects like Davide’s. It is thanks to them that the first foundations of action for the Brè project were laid (both in the agro-ecological and structural spheres), making it a mere reality ready to be ridden by their advocates full of a new energy.