Diversity For Biodiversity

“Farfalle in Tour” is a completely new citizen science project that starts from citizen and not from scientists. In fact the project was born from a particularly group of citizen: doctors and users of mental health centers of Turin. The project is a metaphor: like the butterflies that need flying from one green area to another and meet each others, taking care of them together is the necessary enrichment to come out from a relational isolation, which feeds the pleasure to do things together. So mental-care users and the staff of educators became available to the science and have developed the project that gets them involved in the activities. Mental health centers of Turin are surrounded by green spaces so far uncultivated or managed to urban garden. Through the 'Farfalle in Tour' project, green areas are transformed into oases attractive to butterflies with nectar sources (i.e native Thymus, Oreganum, Lavandula) and foodplants (i.e Plantago, Ferula, Crataegus). Butterflies that reach the oases are annotated and photographed by patients. All the data are validated by scientists and published on the website. The project involves also primary schools, where patient and student observe the development of some visible species like Papilio machaon and Aglais urticae. The final aim of the project is to create a network of green areas with the participation of public and private social institutions, actively involved in the care, that provide places to meet, create new relationships and transform the urban architecture in a permeable barrier for butterflies.