Peaks of Words: Inhabiting the Margin with a Gender Perspective
The Local Challenge
Life in the Alps promises health, authenticity, and sustainability, but decades of depopulation have brought service shortages and isolation. In Cuneo province and its mountain valleys, these barriers are especially acute for women, who have historically played a key role in preserving rural memory and driving social change, yet remain underrepresented in shaping the mountains’ future.
The Nuto Revelli Foundation’s work has shown that for people in provincial and mountain areas, thinking through a transfeminist lens is still a radical act. Many feel the need for a “community of meaning” to counter the isolation of rural life. This is particularly urgent in places like Paraloup, a former partisan stronghold now home to fewer than 100 residents, where the challenge is not only to preserve heritage but to imagine new, inclusive ways of inhabiting the margin between city and mountain.
The Initiative
Peaks of Words (Cime di Parole) is a reading community exploring what it means to live in rural, marginal mountain areas through a transfeminist lens. Inspired by bell hooks’ From Margin to Center and the Wecho project, participants connect literature with lived experience, linking gender, geography, and community. Meetings take place in Cuneo, Paraloup, and online, bridging physical and social distances, and selected voices are captured in a bilingual Italian–English podcast.
What’s Next?
In early 2026, an open call will invite participants from the Wecho network and local communities. After a kick-off meeting to set the reading agenda, monthly sessions will rotate between Cuneo, Paraloup, and online platforms. Following the final session, interviews will be recorded for a bilingual podcast. By the project’s end, Peaks of Words will have built an active network of readers advancing a transfeminist perspective on rural life, while the Nuto Revelli Library will have launched its first major public initiative, forged new partnerships, and positioned itself as a hub for dialogue on gender, geography, and cultural participation in the Alps.
Contact theeuropechallenge@culturalfoundation.eu if you have any questions or want to be connected with the team behind the project.
