MiColtivo, Orto a Scuola

Since 2012, Fondazione Riccardo Catella, in collaboration with the Municipality of Milan, has promoted MiColtivo, Orto a Scuola: an educational program for children and young adolescents aimed at fostering sustainability education and encouraging healthy and balanced nutrition. Through the hands-on experience of educational gardens created in public school courtyards, the project also redevelops these green spaces, often abandoned or unusable, returning them to the school community as places for learning and social interaction.

THE MICOLTIVO, ORTO A SCUOLA MODEL

MiColtivo operates on two parallel and integrated tracks:

Physical redevelopment of school courtyards, through the creation of inclusive and sustainable educational vegetable gardens. Teacher training, ensuring that the vegetable garden is not a one-off activity but becomes an interdisciplinary tool fully integrated into the school curriculum.

ACCESSIBILITY AND INCLUSION: EDUCATIONAL VEGETABLE GARDENS FOR ALL

MiColtivo is designed to be accessible to everyone, through a combination of structural and methodological interventions:

Structural accessibility interventions:

Raised Garden Beds: installation of six wooden beds, at least one elevated to allow access for students in wheelchairs.
Honeycomb Paving: use of stabilized gravel with a cellular structure, providing a safe and easily walkable surface.

Inclusive educational methodologies:

TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication Handicapped Children): creation of an independent work structure to support students on the autism spectrum, offering an organized and predictable space that facilitates participation and inclusion.
AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication): use of techniques and tools to facilitate communication for students with difficulties in traditional communication channels. The garden beds are equipped with visual labels showing images of the plants grown and a simplified activity calendar with texts and symbols.

Impact in numbers

ACHIEVEMENTS

Over 1,730 m² of redeveloped space

10 educational vegetable gardens in schools

COMMUNITY

Over 220 teachers trained

Over 12k students involved

Over 27,1k family members engaged

TRAINING

Over 180 hours of teacher training

Over 900 hours of student training

MICOLTIVO VEGETABLE GARDENS CREATED SINCE 2012

IC Renzo Pezzani (Corvetto – Municipio 4)
IC Italo Calvino (Precotto – Municipio 2)
IC Ilaria Alpi (Giambellino – Municipio 6)
IC Marie Curie (Dergano – Municipio 9)
Educandato Setti Carraro (Centro Storico – Municipio 1)
IC F.S. Cabrini (Primaticcio – Municipio 6)
IC Cardarelli-Tolstoj (Lorenteggio – Municipio 6)
IC Sant’Ambrogio (Barona – Municipio 6)
IC De Andreis (Forlanini – Municipio 4)
IC Calasanzio (San Siro – Municipio 7)