Angels of Beauty: How volunteers help to keep Florence beautiful

Objectives

The Foundation Angels of Beauty pursues the key objective of improving the quality of the built environment in Florence. In particular, the initiative aims at reducing the degradation of the historic environment and strengthening civic feelings of ownership of the historical sites through volunteering.

However, the activities of the volunteers are not intended to substitute for the statutory services provided by the local authority of Florence, such as refuse collection. The President of Angels of Beauty, Giorgio Moretti, highlights what the volunteers care about: “The love for Florence; the wish to get involved; to undertake specific actions for the city; to be on the street; to be recognizable; to be a point of reference. These are the motives of the volunteers of the Angels of Beauty - a mix of patience and determination to maintain the beauty of the city”.

The mission of the Foundation, as stated in its statutes, are:

1. Promotion of activities which aim to improve or maintain the beauty of public spaces, buildings and green spaces. This includes activities to clean up specific areas and to reconstitute the order or beauty of public spaces. However, this excludes regular refuse collection or collection of dangerous litter.
2. Promotion of educational activities which strengthen civic ownership and raise environmental awareness of service providers, associations, schools and universities.
3. Collaboration with citizen associations and neighbourhood forums to manage joint environmental projects and to coordinate the work of volunteers.
4. Organisation of training courses and fundraising events
5. Creation of education materials.
6. Building of public relations between the press and public and private agencies to promote the objectives of the Foundation.