We are convinced that one of the first interventions the University should put in place to provide for the needs of students that cannot use the canteen service o that prefer for their personal reasons to bring their food from home is to create some common rooms: common spaces in which students can, among other things, consume a meal they prepared at home. To identify suitable spaces, the first step is to map all the areas managed by the University, so that unused rooms could be put to use and already used ones can be optimized.

The common rooms are already a well-established reality in many Universities, in Italy and abroad, as they allow students to spend all the time they need at University, without having to go back home to eat lunch. They also promote socialization among students and an attachment to the place where students spend their time studying.

At the moment, the University of Padua does not have any common rooms, with some notable exceptions. One of these is the common room of the DiSSGEA Department, inside the Luzzato Dina palace. We therefore want to propose to the competent UniPd bodies to extend this initiative to all Departments, taking the room from the DiSGGEA as an example.

We are fully aware that common rooms cannot and should not replace the canteen service, especially for students with a scholarship, who have the right to a free meal every day. At the same time, this solution would offer a warm place to eat to all students who are now forced to eat outside University buildings, without the possibility to reheat their food.