Borgata Paraloup, Italy

Nuto Revelli Foundation preserves one of the most important oral history archives in Italy, with thousands of hours of audio recordings, letters and photographs about the Second World War, the Italian Resistance, the experience of Alpine troops in Russia, and rural and farming culture. It promotes historical awareness, democracy, civil commitment and sustainability as its main values. This approach is best embodied in Borgata Paraloup, an Alpine hamlet that has undergone several identities over time: from summer pasture to refuge for the Partisans during the war and then almost abandoned.
After a 15 years renovation, Paraloup aims at representing a physical and dynamic place, witness to a double memory: the partisan war and the rural mountain life. Today, the Borgata Paraloup is a new cultural centre and it consists of 7 huts: a site-specific installations space, a museum, a multi-purpose space, the kitchen and the restaurant, with a terrace overlooking the Maritime Alps, 2 guest houses, and an open-air theater, with a capacity of 200 seats.

According to the tourism observatory, on average every month about 3,000 people walk or bike along the path that leads to the village. They are hikers (summer and winter), bikers and ski mountaineers, including more and more reaching Paraloup for the eno-gastronomic offer of the restaurant, but most of them are unaware of the history of the place and our cultural offer.
Our goal is increasing the awareness of the place identity in people attracted mainly by outdoor activities and bring in new audiences interested in our cultural offer, to strengthen the hybrid identity of Paraloup and to improve the accessibility of cultural tourism in a marginal and mountainous area such as Borgata Paraloup.
Borgata Paraloup’s aim is  to represent a micro-system of historical culture, creativity, tourism 2.0, sustainability and social innovation, open to different languages and audiences, on the forefront of national and European debate on well-being and participation. Our main projects include "SWITCH", an internal capacity building program focused on digital transformation and on data-driven organization processes.

Contact: Alessandro Ottenga  

Email: direttore@paraloup.it

Adress: Fraz. Paraloup, 12010 Rittana (CN) Italy

Open Street Map/GPS location:  Borgata Paraloup

Website: www.paraloup.it

Information for tourists: www.cuneoholiday.com/territorio/le-valli/valle-stura/
https://tajare.it

Number of inhabitants: 3  
Area:  Mountain, rural and marginal area
Number of tourism enterprises: 1 (Impresa Sociale Rifugio Paraloup SRL)

Links: 

• Fondazione Nuto Revelli
• Unione Montana Valle Stura
• Lo Stato dei Luoghi
• Paesaggi della Memoria 

Links to EU-funded projects: Wecho - the echo of mountain woman (European Cultural Foundation)

Social Media:

• Facebook
• Instagram

Cultural tourism hashtags:  #QuellidiParaloup #rinascitaculturale  #MuRac 

• the special mention at the prestigious Konstruktiv Prize for the best sustainable alpine architecture in Europe in 2011;
• the Legambiente Green Flag of the Alpine Caravan in 2011;
• the Gubbio Landscape Prize 2012, shared with the Murate prison in Florence;
• the AAA Arco Alpino Architects Award in 2017
• the mention at the UUIAA international award in 2018
• in September 2018 Paraloup was selected for the Arcipelago Italia exhibition at the Biennale dell’Architettura di Venezia
• the Marcello Meroni Prize in 2021