Buon Vicino, which means “Good Neighbour” in Italian, is a social experience designed to reconnect the citizens of Bergamo with the rich food culture growing right outside their doors.
While grocery stores make food purchases convenient they lack the quality that local markets provide. Food cooperatives producing, gathering, and distributing local harvests across the city are a strong alternative while supporting the local ecosystem to be nurtured. Nonetheless, they tend to be in locations out of reach for the citizens of Bergamo. Buon Vicino asks the question: what if the neighbourhood itself became the source?
Considering that Bergamo has a strong commitment to regenerative agriculture and offers a great diversity of fresh and processed products, Buon Vicino is an initiative designed to transform urban gardens into community hubs. By partnering with local government, food cooperatives like Aretè, farmers, and community volunteers, Buon Vicino reimagines the home-delivery basket: instead of arriving at your door, the weekly share arrives at your nearest urban garden, turning a transaction into an encounter.
At these gathering points, seasonal produce that would otherwise go to waste becomes an opportunity: on-site tastings, live cooking demos, and recipe sharing spread culinary knowledge while deepening community ties. Gardening activities woven into the experience further close the loop between consumer and land.
Buon Vicino taps into the “power of we”, the belief that gathering people around food builds not just appetite, but belonging, ecological awareness, and a stronger local economy. It is a designed nudge toward a more grounded, more flavorful, and more connected way of living in the city.
