Riccardo has been connected to community life since he was 8 years old through the Community of Living Ethics, in Italy, where he now lives and works on refugees’ hospitality and youth programmes. After studying anthropology and rural development, he connected to GEN in 2014 when working on an Urban Farming project in Auroville, India. Since 2017 he has returned to Europe as an active member of NextGEN Europe, going through various projects in the years, such as volunteering to set up the 2017 GEN EU Conference, and serving in both the GEN Europe and ECOLISE Councils. In 2020 he returned to his community in Italy and dedicated himself to supporting a generational turnover, and the Italian Ecovillage Network; first as a Council member, and now as Co-President.
In his Living Library book, Riccardo discusses the importance of connecting youth to the ecovillage movement from a realistic rather than idealistic perspective. By taking action through education, Riccardo guides youth through their ecovillage journey, helping them develop essential community values such as commitment, effort, and trust. Riccardo’s advice is to “focus on learning. The more you learn, the more you influence. This is empowering in action, not only at the thought level.”
In his consultations, Riccardo wants to help youth who want to discover the ecovillage world. He also offers coaching and guidance for anyone who wants to move to a community. Moreover, from his experience as Co-President of RIVE – the Italian national ecovillage network – Riccardo can give a panoramic about Italian communities.
