While many students may have class at Florence University of th Arts' Via Ricasoli 21 building, did you know that it is also home to the university's Palazzi Community Center (PCC)? 

On Wednesday, October 7 at 6:30 PM students and community members alike are invited to the PCC for the final Garden Social event of the Fall semester. This event is a great opportunity to make new connections and get to know what is available at the community center beyond the social event. 

The Palazzi Community Center is open to the public throughout the academic year, with services including the university cafe & bistrot, Fedora and the Sorgiva Spa. Each week, the community center hosts a whole lineup of events, including yoga lessons, AperiArt paint & sip courses and daily seminars hosted in the community garden. 

The cafe is managed and run by students who are completing experiential learning hours in their classes. This allows students to get hands-on real world experience. Most of the pastries that are sold at Fedora are made by the pastry students. The spa is also used as an experiential learning laboratory. Additionally, depending on their program, some students may have units they can use to pay at the cafe or spa. 

The events that the Palazzi Community Center hosts can vary from book presentations to Thai yoga massage. While some events target students specifically, others are completely in Italian making the target audience locals. However, there are some events that target both audiences. One of those events is next week's upcoming Garden Social. 

The Garden Social is an event where students and locals can come together to socialize, meet new people and play board games. The idea came from students that wanted to bring two communities together in a fun way. These students were enrolled in the Summer 2026 Social Media Experiential Learning course taught by FUA faculty and instructor Alex Klein. 

“Something that we could do that was fun to still involve both students and the community would be board games,” said Klein. 

There were a variety of games that were available at the event but there was one game that was made specifically for this event, Mingle Bingo. 

“Mingle Bingo was brought up by one of the students as a quick icebreaker between community members and students of asking questions in both Italian and English to just get to know each other real quick before the evening began,” explained Klein.  

While the Garden Social was only meant to be a summer event, it is being brought back due to how well it went. The first event went so well that some students formed close enough relationships and even made plans to go on weekend trips together.  

“There were around 20 students that showed up and five to six community members. We would like for there to be more community members obviously, but it was a nice event where students and community members were able to mingle and get together,” mentioned Klein.  

The next Garden Social will be held on October 7 at 6:30 PM at the Palazzi Community Center. There will be games, snacks and drinks available for all who attend.  

Bringing this event back right now at the beginning of the semester allows students to meet each other, plan activities in or outside of Florence, and also interact more with the community center. Although this is the last Garden Social of the year, this event poses itself as an introduction to events and activities available at the Palazzi Community Center for the remainder of the semester.

Click the button below to reserve your spot!