Crossing Belmonte: Architecture Workshop Merges Migration and Culture in Calabrian Village

From July 3 to 13, 2018, the village of Belmonte Calabro in southern Italy hosted Crossing Belmonte, a workshop series merging architecture, art, and social integration. Organized by the cultural group Le Seppie since 2016, the initiative brings together local residents, immigrants from the nearby refugee camp in Amantea, and students from London Metropolitan University, guided by the architecture collective Orizzontale and Gian Piero Frassinelli, co-founder of Superstudio. The workshop produced twenty seats and two canopies described as 'nomadic objects' that create 'instant squares'—temporary installations reconfigurable as needed. The projects reinterpret local folklore and religious processions as shared heritage with newly settled communities. The goal is to build a new local community based on dialogue among refugees, citizens, and public administrations, testing shared management of spaces. Events included concerts, seminars, and workshops with international artists, emphasizing cultural contamination and diversity. Orizzontale adopted a laboratory approach to reduce distances between actors in architectural creation, hybridizing research, design, and construction phases.