A lively, open place inside Palazzo Biscari, where work, learning, culture and debate live side by side: people looking for an opportunity meet those who can offer one.
Coworking and events
For anyone who wants to work as part of a community, and for anyone who wants a unique, meaningful setting for their event.
For those passing through, those who come back and those who stay. Work in a place full of beauty, connections and meaning, as part of a community that shares a purpose.
Explore the coworking space
A unique setting that adds value to your event. You focus on the content, we take care of the rest.
Find out more about the event spacesWho brings this place to life
Social innovation doesn't happen at a distance: it needs a place where it can happen. Our hub is a lively, open place where work, learning, culture and debate live side by side: a point of reference for the local community and for those who come from elsewhere, designed to spark encounters, even chance ones, between people who would otherwise never have met. That’s where the best ideas and projects are born.
Through coworking, activities and events, different worlds cross paths and people looking for an opportunity meet those who can offer one: on the same day our building hosts the people who work here every day, a training course, the startups of an acceleration programme, an exhibition or a book launch.
Palazzo Biscari
A listed heritage building in the heart of Catania, part of the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto, a symbol of the city's late Baroque rebirth. Choosing it as our home is a statement of intent: to bring tradition and the contemporary into dialogue, to breathe new life into historic heritage, and to show that a region can rebuild on its own beauty.
Find out more about Palazzo BiscariWho has come through our doors
We are an open platform that draws people, organisations and events from all over Italy and abroad, creating connections, investment and a new perception of the South. That’s why our building isn’t just a place but a piece of infrastructure, and a decisive part of the impact we create.
2024
Gen-E, Europe’s largest festival of youth entrepreneurship, promoted by Junior Achievement Europe and Italy, brought a thousand people to the heart of Sicily: students, teachers, entrepreneurs and public officials from more than 40 countries. For the first time in the South, not in Berlin, Paris or London: a sign that an international vision can grow from here too.
2024
The international gathering on social entrepreneurship and impact investing, run by Fondazione OPES, brought more than 370 participants from 41 countries to Catania for the edition titled “Beyond Inclusion”. Four days between Teatro Sangiorgi, Monastero dei Benedettini and Palazzo Biscari, with 170 scholarships awarded to young entrepreneurs, changemakers and people working in the third sector.
2024
Pratolungo Unconference, a format with no roles or hierarchies organised by Plurals, Campobase and Onde Alte, came to Catania and Mount Etna from 15 to 17 November. Isola was the starting point, from which the group moved through exceptional venues such as Palazzo Biscari, Radice Pura and Teatro Bellini, on a journey of beauty, connections and ideas that become reality.
2023
For the Impact Entrepreneurship Option-E master’s programme, Isola was the base for 15 European students, organising meetings with startups, companies and innovation hubs to discover entrepreneurship in Catania. These meetings led to a concrete action plan to encourage new startups in the city, with visits to 3SUN, Monastero dei Benedettini and Palazzo Biscari, where history and technology meet.
2024
On 18 December, International Migrants Day, 423 Pioneers from all over the world gathered at Palazzo Biscari to bring Fondazione Marea to life. A signature that became a collective gesture, celebrated with the voice of Anna Castiglia and Sasha Vinci’s installation, “Sento le Maree”. An idea born a year earlier is now a foundation ready to become concrete projects.
2024
A project with Fondazione Moleskine, born from the Creativity Pioneers Fund, hosted four Mediterranean organisations for three days that use creativity as a lever for social change. A journey through Sicilian organisations to build new ties: Fondazione Oelle, Farm Cultural Park and Cantine Altamora, with talks, exhibitions and mutual exchange.
2025
From 7 to 9 November, itWikiCon, the annual conference of the Italian-speaking community of the Wikimedia projects, came to Sicily for the first time, in the spaces at Isola. Three days of talks, workshops and round tables with cultural professionals, museums, libraries and universities, working together to make knowledge a common good, free and shared.
2024
A training project for journalists and communication students on disinformation and fact-checking, delivered with the support of US Mission Italy. Five days with outstanding teachers, combining lectures and practical workshops, free for 30 participants from all over Italy, to strengthen the skills behind free and informed journalism.
2024
Risonanze was the evening that closed the opening day of Farm Cultural Park’s project “Abbiamo tutto manca il resto”. An event that brought together music, dance and performance to tell the story of Sicily, migration and collective responsibility, with Alessio Bondì, Katadeo and Ocram Dance Movement. It also featured Sicilia 2224, the pavilion curated by Isola on the story of the Sicilian diaspora.
2024
“Exploring Entrepreneurial Endeavors in Catania”: with the Woltemade Center, a delegation from Ohio came to understand how business is done in Sicily. Three days of meetings with startups, social enterprises and lecturers from the University of Catania, as well as visits to wineries and martech companies, with Mount Etna and the historic centre as a backdrop, to bring different worlds together in the same place.
2024
An event and a dialogue between those who grow food and those who cook it: farmers from the Boniviri network, chefs and international experts discussed how to make the food value chain more sustainable. There was also room for the Food Made Good Italia award, which rewarded the restaurants leading the way in responsible sourcing and low-impact menus.
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Una Sicilia possibile
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Una Sicilia possibile
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