From Piazza Magione, beyond barriers. Flying over Palermo ✈️

There are borders that cannot be seen, but that can become walls that are hard to get past. Borders that narrow horizons, fuel inequality and risk turning the neighbourhood into a maze with no way out, especially for the youngest. In the Kalsa, Piazza Magione is home, belonging, joy and pride. But it is also a place where many children and young people grow up in contact with urban decay and deviance that can limit their future. That is why, sometimes, you need to rise high to learn to look far.

Yesterday, thanks to the valuable collaboration of the Aeroclub di Boccadifalco and the support of the Otto per Mille of the Waldensian Church (Tavola Valdese), thirty children from the Kalsa had an extraordinary experience: flying over Palermo, discovering the city from a new perspective and, above all, imagining wider horizons for themselves.

Setting off from Piazza Magione aboard the Open artour open-top bus, they were welcomed at Boccadifalco by the Aeroclub pilots, who shared with the young participants their passion for flying and the chance to look at the world from a different height.

From the sky, streets become thin lines, neighbourhoods lose their borders, distances seem to shrink and differences fade.

Tackling urban decay and deviance does not only mean supporting those who report extortion and stand up to organised crime. It also means addressing inequality, poverty and the lack of opportunities. It means offering young people concrete alternatives, spaces for socialising and experiences that can spark curiosity, confidence and a desire for the future.

This is the meaning of the work we carry out throughout the year in Piazza Magione: creating opportunities for people to come together, opening up new possibilities and showing, through concrete experiences, that no neighbourhood should become a cage and no young person should feel imprisoned by the place where they grow up.

Amid the roar of the engines and eyes full of wonder, we saw something more than thirty children flying over Palermo. We saw smiles break free, fears give way to amazement and new horizons take shape. Because sometimes a single flight is enough to discover that flying high is not just a dream. It is a possibility we must guarantee to all our young people.