"When there's food distribution, I always tell people to come by the office around 11 a.m., so we have time to pick up the bread, fruit, and vegetables they donate, and bag the meatballs, burgers, and slices. And yet, at 10 a.m., they're already here. The reason? They feel good. So we make coffee for everyone, we laugh, joke, and spend time together. It's a moment of togetherness, and that's a really nice thing." She gets emotional. Marina Tattoni when he talks about the mornings spent with people elderly women who frequent the Social concierge of Testaccio, the Roman neighborhood with an authentic and popular soul. Most of the regulars are over 75. Between one chat and another, loneliness is combated and anxiety and depression are warded off. "Generally, they're all lonely people: that's why they come here an hour early," adds Marina.
The Social Concierge of Testaccio is an initiative of TestaccioinTesta, an association founded in 2015 with the aim of promoting cultural, social, and recreational activities and reporting neighborhood issues, from potholes to outdated streetlights, to the relevant authorities. "We've become a social promotion association, so we also handle the recovery and distribution of surplus food, but above all, we try to entertain the people who come to us by talking to us. Many don't just want to take food home; they need a word, comfort, and someone who understands them. And we try to support those in need in the best way possible," she explains. Goffredo Taricone, founder and president of TestaccioinTesta.
"They feel at home here: what's really noticeable is that they want to talk. If possible, they choose their own food to take away, almost as if they were in a store: no one should feel like they're in trouble. The important thing is to 'be together,'" she adds. Mauro CoppolaMarina's husband, and since 2016, both volunteers at the Testaccio Social Concierge Service. This is also why we organize evenings at a nearby venue, "The Little Bottle” – continues Mauro – where they have a lot of fun with karaoke.
The room where Marina and the other volunteers arrange the food and prepare cups of coffee is a riot of voices, chatter, and laughter. Among the ladies sitting around the table chatting is Fernanda CoronaShe's 73 years old and a volcano of energy, capable of engaging everyone with her cheerfulness. She broke her femur, underwent surgery, and now has difficulty moving: but this isn't an obstacle for her. "Once a month we go to Botticella: I sing and dance, I don't care that I have a crutch," she says, her hearty laugh infecting everyone with her good humor.
Every week, based on food availability, Marina contacts residents who collect surplus food donated by local businesses: from the bakery to the butcher, from fruit and vegetable shops to the stalls at the Testaccio Market. and to the historic pastry shop which, as Marina says, never fails to stock a "bag of pastries and biscuits."
It was 2016 when Marina and Mauro, after a lifetime spent working in the administrative department of a company operating in the entertainment industry, came across TestaccioinTesta: they had read about a neighborhood concierge service opening in Paris. "The initiative piqued our interest because Testaccio is like a village, an island in the heart of Rome, with everything: shops, a square, children's playgrounds, the church. It was therefore the ideal place for something like this. So, in 2016, my husband and I approached the association to propose the Testaccio Social Concierge project. The French one was a kiosk where people in the neighborhood would go to contact an electrician or find a babysitter. For a small fee, they could get the requested service. We didn't really like this system, however: we wanted to offer similar services but with a social focus," explains Marina.
Alongside local services like grocery deliveries for elderly residents or prescription and medication pick-up for the most vulnerable, the Testaccio Concierge maintains a database of local artisans and professionals who can be contacted in case of need. These are well-known and trustworthy individuals, an important consideration especially for the elderly. The Concierge connects the user with the professional free of charge, and they then independently arrange payment for the work. Requests can be made directly through the Concierge website by filling out a form, although Marina, smiling, points out that this system is now a bit outdated: "They call me directly. Now the whole of Testaccio has my number; it's become a public number, a toll-free number."
For a year now, free courses have also been organised at the Portierato knitwear, crochet, and burraco, open to all seniors in Testaccio. The participants, expert in knitting and crochet, teach others. It's a moment of sharing and personal enrichment, where the joy of being together prevails. So, while Rosalia Caruana, 72, shows Marina how to knit, Fernanda makes a soft and warm neck warmer to give to her daughter.
Marina is also a support administrator and is currently registered in the register of volunteers of the Municipality of RomeIt's an important point of reference for many elderly and disabled people in the neighborhood who live alone and often have no one to provide them with even simple assistance or to accompany them when they need to see a specialist. This support has become the most precious thing during the pandemic, when many elderly people suddenly found themselves isolated in their homes and overwhelmed by fear.
In 2020, faced with the spread of the emergency, with all the problems that confinement within the home brought with it, Marina, Mauro, Goffredo, and the other volunteers of the Testaccio Concierge Service made a choice: not to stay home but to take immediate action to help those in need. As Marina explains: "During the pandemic, the Municipio I granted us authorization that allowed us to continue delivering medicines collected from pharmacies and to go grocery shopping for anyone who couldn't leave their homes. Once appointments were scheduled, people would leave a note outside our door with a shopping list and money, more or less what they thought we'd spend. We went to the supermarket wearing masks, glasses, and gloves, did the shopping, and then took the bags with the products, the receipt, and any change from house to house, leaving everything behind the door. Each of us had appointments, every day."
Marina's eyes shine as she recalls the days spent fearing contagion, but determined not to give in to despair, so as not to lose the strength to be there for those who, at that moment, had no one by their side. "When I returned to drop off the groceries, they would leave me a note that said 'Thank you, Mrs. Marina' or 'Thank you for helping me, because otherwise I wouldn't know how to do the shopping.' Or, when we left, they would look out the window to thank us. It was a beautiful, very special moment."
When it was time for grocery deliveries, leaving the bags outside the door, Marina never had a chance to see the people she'd been working for. However, she did hear from them on the phone. Chat after chat, she began to realize that there were indeed many people struggling financially, often due to a very meager pension.
Throughout the pandemic, Marina, Mauro, and Goffredo had also been delivering packages of shelf-stable food that the Food Bank, in collaboration with the neighborhood church, delivered every two weeks to the needy individuals and families of the neighborhood. Between deliveries, they began to think of a way to be even closer to these people. Thus, the TestaccioinTesta association applied to join the Food Bank network. After passing all the procedures and bureaucratic checks, the Social Concierge Office also became a Food Bank delivery point. "We are the first secular Food Bank: almost all food banks are managed by the Church. Therefore, we are the first secular Food Bank in the 1st District," explains Mauro.
On several occasions, Marina, Mauro, Goffredo, and the other TestaccioinTesta volunteers have raised funds to help those with urgent needs they didn't know how to address. TestaccioinTesta and the Social Concierge are funded through a small annual membership fee and contributions from various sponsors of their activities, almost always neighborhood businesses. All funds are then reinvested in the association's various activities and in initiatives for the Testaccio neighborhood.
As in a shared neighborhood, the Social Concierge of Testaccio also tells its activities through the TestaccioinTesta periodicalThere's news about the neighborhood, historical stories, and poems in Roman dialect. "It's an important part of our work: we care deeply about it. None of us are journalists, but we put a lot of passion and care into our writing," Goffredo concludes.
The project is a candidate for the 2024 Non Sprecare Award, in the "Associations" section. To submit your projects, follow the instructions provided. here.
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