The Santa Teresa Civic Market on Sanna Street was built as part of the expansion plan that affected the Pirri suburbs between 1984 and 1987. In the mid-1990s, the market was closed and abandoned to continuous decay for about fifteen years, becoming the site of illegal trafficking. Thanks to the Domus de Luna Foundation’s recovery project, today the Santa Teresa market has become ExMè, a modern community center where the character of the market is still alive, thanks to the desire to maintain not only the spirit but also the logic of the original structure. From a food market to a commissary, today Exmè becomes the marketplace of ideas, of creativity, in a space where you can make music, art, sports or simply meet. Exmè has thus breathed new life into the abandoned market through a transformation that is always careful and respectful of the old building. The food stalls have become music rooms, the public area has become a small theater, in the original slits where the fish water was drained, cables connecting the audio and video directions now run, and finally, the original flooring is still visible, as is the large-pipe air conditioning system typical of the market. Reviving an abandoned and decaying building was also possible through the tool of color. Exmè decided not to bow to gray, but chose the bright colors and all their hues that now distinguish the walls of the Center. Writings, boats, animals and fantastic creatures animate the walls of Exmè. Drawings made by the young people who attend the Center, whose ideas and colors have changed the gray face of Exmè, and by professional writers who are friends of Domus de Luna, including Marta Anatra, Bros, Crisa, Conan, Finez, La Fille Bertha, Manu Invisible, Stefano Melis, Prosa, Skan and Ufoe, among others.
