Who are we?
Given the more and more frequent enquiries from international media, this is a short summary of “who we are”, what we do and why, how to contact us.
“Gruppo25aprile” is the largest NGO standing and campaigning for residents’ rights in Venice. It is not a political party and its 4,463 members (current membership, November 2022) have decided to join forces irrespective of their political affiliations, social status or religious beliefs.
“25 aprile” was chosen as our common flag because 25th April is St. Mark’s day and also the day of freedom for all Italians (25 April 1945, end of World War II and of the Nazi occupation of Northern Italy).
In these five years we organised a number of “creative” flash mobs including the 1,000 flyers floating in the air at the opening of the Fenice opera house in November 2017 (“Basta alberghi, Venezia vuole vivere”), which proved successful in raising awareness with local and national media.
On 2 July 2017, faced with the ever increasing difficulties in finding long term accomodation in Venice, we organised “MiNoVadoVia” which means “we will not go away”, with more than 2,000 people marching from the Arsenale to Riva degli Schiavoni.
This followed the campaign “My future is Venice”, launched on 2 July 2016, which is now a facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/veneziamiofuturo
Since 2018, the “gruppo25aprile” association is also publishing the “Venice calendar” aimed at raising dedicated funds by which it helps people who seek accommodation in Venice with individual grants.
In 2014 we collected 32,000 signatures against the dredging of a water motorway for big ships (the “Contorta” channel) which would have devastated the Lagoon, and succeeded in stopping the project. This was our first success in building coalitions on a given topic, in other cases we support other NGOs in creating the critical mass to promote changes and to advocate common goals.
When we say “no” to something we always propose solutions, and sometimes achieve tangible results. Our “twenty proposal” for Venice were the result of public assemblies in each and every venetian district and are updated on a regular basis. Some of them have been to some extent followed by the local authorities.
On top of standing for citizens’ rights and collective interests with a focus on social and environmental issues, we organised nonprofit events which proved very popular, such as the outdoor cinema in campo San Polo.
Since October 2018, our headquarters in the very heart of Venice (the Arsenale district) host every week public debates and a wide range of cultural events. In this last picture, the “scoletta di San Giovanni in Bragora” on the day of its opening.
Our email address is:
25aprileVenezia@gmail.com
This blog is our “official” communication channel but we also interact on facebook and twitter:
Gruppo 25 aprile 