Ortoalto Le Fonderie Ozanam (OrtiAlti Rooftop Garden)
Turin, Italy · Operator: OrtiAlti (social promotion association) with Meeting Service / Fonderie Ozanam social cooperative
Overview
A 150 m² community roof garden created on a former factory building in Turin, directly linked to the restaurant below. As the first 'ortoalto' (elevated garden), it demonstrates a model for regenerating unused urban rooftops as places of food production, employment and neighbourhood exchange, and is referenced in Italy and abroad as an approach to rooftop-led urban regeneration.
Citizen participation
A pilot project realised in 2016 by OrtiAlti, a collective of architects, landscape designers and agronomists. The roof of Fonderie Ozanam—a social cooperative restaurant in a regenerated former foundry—was turned into a community garden linked to job training for disadvantaged youth and people with disabilities. Neighbours also join through workshops and harvest events, making it a new gathering place for the district.
Operating model
A social-enterprise model in partnership with a social cooperative. Vegetables grown on the roof supply the restaurant below, while OrtiAlti's green-roof design and dissemination work, grants and corporate sponsorship sustain the activity. OrtiAlti has been recognised in the European Investment Bank's Social Innovation Tournament, among others.
Impact
Recognised as a pioneering combination of rooftop farming and work-integration by a social cooperative, it became the starting point for further rooftop-garden projects in and beyond Turin. Environmental benefits such as improved building insulation and rainwater use have also been reported.
Land tenure
The garden uses the roof of a building run by the social cooperative under an agreement with the cooperative.
Crops
- vegetables
- herbs
- leafy-greens
Scale
150 m² — 150 m² community roof garden with a 15 cm growing layer on the roof of the Fonderie Ozanam cooperative restaurant, growing about 29 kinds of vegetables
Sources（3）
This entry is compiled from the public sources, official sites and research below.
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