“A place that makes you happy” is the tagline of the Farm Cultural Park, an urban rejuvenation project in a tiny town in Sicily called Favara, It is a far cry from the area’s former reputation, which just a couple of years ago was better known for desolation and urban blight.

The project started out as a single art gallery started a few years ago by a notary named Andrea Bartoli and has since evolved into an entire district, a tiny Southbank Centre in the middle of a nearly abandoned town. The Farm includes a big art gallery, two bars, a gift shop, a take away food stall, vintage clothes shop, and a secret garden, as well as a number of smaller galleries featuring photography projects and video installations. Bartoli’s permanent art hub quickly turned Favara from a swiftly dying town into one of the hippest locations in modern Italy, teeming with youth, ambition, and for the first time in a long time, life. 

As with any place that celebrates youth and progress, Friday or Saturday nights are the nights when the Farm is at its liveliest, and visitors can take in some live music, a DJ set, or film screening as well as all the art usually on display.