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Basic planned activities comprise conducting a feasibility study within the framework of the Old City Pilot Project in Vodnjan for projects developed following the termination of the first phase of adaptive reuse of two heritage buildings, Fioranti Palace and San Martin Inn, ideally in Vodnjan, and replicating the model in other towns.  

Why start in Vodnjan?

Vodnjan is the ideal place for the implementation of pilot projects.  

It is an old, beautiful and neglected town. It has a vast and important archaeological, historic, artistic and architectural heritage, for the most part abandoned and dilapidated. Vodnjan is a small town perched on a hill situated in the predominantly agricultural territory, in the vicinity of Pula and the coast, facing the Brijuni Islands. 

Its beautiful but abandoned Trgovačka Street used to be the hub for a sustainable artisan and industrial experiment. Let us not forget the Voivoda master shoemaker’s workshop or Sottocorona’s silk factory, as well as today’s Infobip company.

Vodnjan is the ideal centre for project activities and alternative tourism combining culture and food. 

These are some possible activities:

1. Opening workshops for manufacturing sustainable solar roof tiles and the Centre for Research and Development of energy efficient materials in the protected historical core. Illustrative pdf   

2. Opening a multi-purpose Intercultural Office and the International Cultural Centre at the headquarters of the Ars et Labor Foundation at Fioranti Palace in charge of establishing and coordinating the Centre for European Project Planning and Management in the field of conservation and related cultural activities in collaboration with the City. The activities will be directly and autonomously managed by the Foundation, which will deliver assistance in training professionals, subsequently through collaboration with all interested parties in Istria, Dalmatia and other parts of Croatia ready to participate in economic activities of this type supported by natural persons and EU funds. The Foundation wishes to be a hotbed of ideas open for collaboration with entrepreneurial individuals with clear ideas about how to valorise the territory and create a microeconomy that will contribute to the area and be closely related to culture in a deeper sense.

This is how Vodnjan will become the centre and engine of recovery of its own historic role, continuing to deepen its work experience on renovation projects aimed at the revitalisation of abandoned city spaces. 

It is a project that the Ars et Labor Foundation intends to carry out in collaboration with all seriously interested parties and competent entities of the City, local communities, the Region of Istria and Veneto Region.

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