Living Lab Actions

Tuscany Living Lab has outlined 3 project lines:

1. Fostering a healthy and conscious approach toward food and nutrition in middle and high school students within Piana di Lucca and Valle del Serchio District Zone.

Around 100 students are participating in the project, which aims to foster a conscious approach toward food and to accompany students in the process of adopting and maintaining healthy and sustainable eating habits. Following an initial phase of data collection and analysis on nutritional knowledge, eating habits, and related influencing factors, 7 thematic modules were identified together with the students to be explored in depth over the course of the school year. The modules, characterized by practical and theoretical parts, were a journey through nutrition, starting from learning how to organize meals to delving into topics of environmental sustainability and protein transition. This last module was prepared and presented by Slow Food Lucca. In addition, USG students produced 5 original, simple, tasty, and healthy video recipes to provide middle and high school students with simple and practical examples to improve their eating habits. Lastly, a final questionnaire was administered to assess any changes from the initial phase of the project.  

2. Nutrition & Healthy Aging:

To promote a healthy aging population, the Tuscany Living Lab created a “box-event” of good practices that, thanks to the positive participation received, was replicated six times during the year 2024. Specifically, the event aims to:
Raise awareness of topics such as healthy eating, physical activity, the importance of vaccination, screening exams, and the proper use of antibiotics
Share strategies, materials, best practices, and useful information that can be applied in everyday life.

3. Outpatient pediatric nutrition clinic

Piana di Lucca District Zone has instituted a free pediatric nutrition clinic for children and adolescents aged 6 to 16 residing in the Piana di Lucca and Valle del Serchio District Zones.  The initiative aims to encourage healthier and more conscious food choices by providing children and their families with useful strategies and tools they can apply in their daily lives. Among them, is the Cross-Cultural Food Pyramid of the Italian Society of Pediatrics, which the Tuscany Living Lab translated into English to promote its dissemination. The service, with a current flow of about 50 visits and steadily increasing, provides an important response at the territorial level to counteract unhealthy eating habits already in the younger population to foster a healthy community both now and in the future.