Calascio, Italy – For five days in March, the small, historic center of Calascio, nestled in the Apennine mountains of central Italy, transformed into a dynamic laboratory of creativity, technology, and community engagement. The second edition of Calascio Innovation Playground, an initiative spearheaded by Giffoni Hub within the broader ‘Rocca Calascio – Luce d’Abruzzo’ program, concluded recently, leaving a lasting impression on the 500 middle and high school students and 50 educators who participated.
From March 9th to 13th, the Convento di Santa Maria delle Grazie, the Church of San Leonardo, and the streets of the medieval village served as immersive learning spaces. The program aimed to connect a new generation with themes of territorial regeneration, demonstrating how technology and tradition can coexist and enhance the resources of even the smallest communities. This initiative underscores a growing trend of leveraging Italy’s rich cultural heritage to foster innovation and attract new opportunities to its often-overlooked interior regions.
A particularly engaging element of the 2026 edition was ‘Play Calascio, before the journey,’ an immersive gaming experience inspired by the historical practice of transhumance – the seasonal movement of livestock – and set in the 17th century. Students were invited to inhabit roles, complete missions, and interact with real-world locations, learning through direct engagement with the village’s history, and landscape. The experience was developed by Cronosfera, an agency specializing in immersive games and live storytelling, utilizing theatrical techniques and game mechanics to transform Calascio’s heritage into an interactive learning environment.
The Innovation Playground also placed a strong emphasis on preparing students for the future of work. A dedicated laboratory, curated by Triality Studio, a firm specializing in digital solutions, recreated a working digital office within Calascio for five days. Students gained hands-on experience in the digital project lifecycle, from ideation and 3D modeling to programming, with a particular focus on immersive technologies and virtual reality (VR) headsets. These workshops, alongside others focused on artificial intelligence, digital storytelling, and cultural heritage, solidified Calascio Innovation Playground’s position as a platform for co-creation between schools, professionals, universities, and local communities.
“Calascio Innovation Playground demonstrates that even a small municipality can turn into a place of experimentation and future growth,” stated Paolo Baldi, the Mayor of Calascio. “For five days, Calascio transformed into an open laboratory where young people, schools, technology, and cultural heritage came together in a concrete way. This is an crucial signal: the regeneration of territories depends on the ability to involve new generations, offering them opportunities for learning, creativity, and participation. Seeing hundreds of students experience and share Calascio with a fresh perspective was a source of immense pride for the entire community.”
Luca Tesauro, Chairman and Founder of Giffoni Innovation Hub, and Jacopo Moretti, Head of Events at Giffoni Hub, echoed this sentiment. “We brought the Giffoni Hub experience to 1,000 meters above sea level to demonstrate that the talent of young people doesn’t belong only to large cities, but can flourish anywhere there are places that believe in the future,” they said in a joint statement. “In Calascio, we created laboratories where gaming, emerging technologies, and cultural heritage converge to imagine new professions, new economies, and new ways of inhabiting territories. We believe in an innovation that isn’t measured solely by speed, but by its ability to generate real value, activate communities, and open up new possibilities for places. When young people, creativity, and skills connect with the strength of territories, even a small village can become a global playground for innovation.”
Further enriching the program, Odda Studio, a talent hub for IT professionals, hosted ‘IA – Immagina Abruzzo .02: Restare è una rivoluzione lenta’ (AI – Imagine Abruzzo .02: Staying is a Slow Revolution), a workshop dedicated to artificial intelligence. Participants explored concrete design methodologies, from design thinking to mood boarding, experimenting with creative and collaborative processes to transform ideas into tangible project concepts linked to the local territory. ‘OperaParla,’ a technological platform for narrative exploration of places, brought ‘I racconti nell’aria’ (Stories in the Air) to the village – a geolocated audio experience that allowed participants to explore Calascio through immersive audio content activated at key locations, complete with quizzes and creative prompts.
DeepCube, a company specializing in innovation and digital learning pathways, presented ‘Viral Tomorrow,’ a workshop focused on conscious innovation and the languages of the digital world, prompting participants to reflect on the relationship between technology, social media, and community. Professor Alfonso Forgione, a professor of Christian and Medieval Archaeology at the University of L’Aquila, contributed by showcasing the ‘Rocca Calascio’ project, utilizing archaeology, digital surveying, and 3D reconstruction to create a historical and digital representation of the castle and its fortified landscape.
The festival concluded with a clear vision: young people are the driving force behind territorial regeneration, and even in small centers, it’s possible to build experiences where technology and tradition coexist, generating new cultural, educational, and professional opportunities. The success of Calascio Innovation Playground highlights a broader movement within Italy to revitalize its smaller towns and villages, leveraging innovation and technology to attract a new generation and secure a sustainable future.
For those interested in learning more about the ‘Rocca Calascio – Luce d’Abruzzo’ program and Giffoni Innovation Hub’s initiatives, you can visit their official websites: Calascio Innovation Playground and Giffoni Innovation Hub.
The next scheduled event within the ‘Rocca Calascio – Luce d’Abruzzo’ program is the continuation of the intensive pastoral school, with details to be announced by the Comune di Calascio in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to Archysport for further updates on this exciting initiative and the ongoing efforts to revitalize Italy’s historic heartland.
