Angels of Beauty: How volunteers help to keep Florence beautiful

Performance indicators

The achievements of the 1800 volunteers who have been working with Angels of Beauty since 2010 are impressive, both in terms of ‘before and after’ comparison and the actual extent of activity. The performance information gathered shows that the volunteers have taken care of 21 kilometres of roads and 45930 square meters of wall space. On average, volunteers have invested about 165 hours per month, taken care of 17 roads and provided 453 hours of paid labour. .

Currently, there are 1800 volunteers who work in different parts of the city. Residents often express their satisfaction by offering the volunteers coffee and refreshments while they work and give small gifts to show that they appreciate their efforts.   

Overall, social control has improved and, on average, the amount of littering in the streets has been reduced since Angels of Beauty volunteers have started to operate in Florence. Sometimes volunteers have interacted with people causing litter in the streets. Moreover, the local court now usually sentences people prosecuted for writing graffiti in non-authorised spaces to work with volunteers with the aim of stimulating awareness of the consequences of their illegal actions