Italy
The social center concept has taken root most successfully in Italy, beginning in the 1970s. Large factories and even abandoned military barracks have been "appropriated" for use as social centers. There are today dozens of social centers in Italy, often denoted by the initials CSOA (Centro Sociale Occupato Autogestito). Examples include Pedro in Padova, Spartaco in Ravenna, Officina 99 in Naples and Forte Prenestino, and Corto Circuito in Rome, Leoncavallo in Milan, CPA Centro Popolare Autogestito Firenze Sud in Florence and Anomalia in Palermo.
The historic relationship between the Italian social centers and the Autonomia movement (specifically Lotta Continua) has been described briefly in Storming Heaven, Class Composition and Struggle in Italian Autonomous Marxism, by Steve Wright.
Social centers in Italy continue to be centers of political/social dissent. Notoriously the Tute Bianche and Ya Basta Association developed directly out of the social center movement, and many social forums take place in social centers. They are also used for hacklabs, activist copyleft centers (for example, LOA Hacklab in Milan).
Read more about this topic: Social Center
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