ABOUT PIACENZA VOICE
Our history: how and why Piacenza Voice was born
At the end of 2025, a small team of first-year students from the Medicine and Surgery degree program at the University of Parma decided to embark on an ambitious passion project: launching an online newspaper that encompasses all university campuses in Piacenza and serves their entire student body.
During our first few weeks of university, many of us realized that there was a lack of active youth associations capable of engaging the whole student community – especially international students who had just arrived in Italy. Furthermore, very little was known about the activities and opportunities offered locally by the Municipality of Piacenza. Our idea originated directly from the desire to address this deeply felt need for cohesion and inclusion.
With this vision in mind, we began planning and developing the project. After a year of hard work behind the scenes, we can now proudly open this website to the general public.
Secular, apolitical, and non-profit, Piacenza Voice covers topics ranging from local and global current affairs to culture, from history and traditions (of Italy and the world) to more scientifically focused subjects. Ample space is dedicated to columns, interviews, and personal experiences shared by our student editors. We also feature dedicated sections for creative works – such as drawings, comics, poetry, and games – alongside a constantly updated notice board highlighting local opportunities provided by the Municipality of Piacenza.
Our dreams and goals
Our team has set several goals for the future.
First and foremost, our main ambition is to build a united community of curious, creative, and enterprising young people who can cultivate their passions for writing and reporting in a welcoming, inclusive environment free from judgment.
Secondly, we aim to promote the expression of personal creativity, explicitly rejecting the use of recent technological innovations such as Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT.
By avoiding firm stances on political and religious matters, our purpose is to create a meeting place where people from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and ideologies can exchange ideas. This approach not only provides an opportunity to open ourselves to different perspectives, but also serves to engage newly arrived, disoriented students – especially international students who have just moved to Italy – offering them a point of reference and a way to build connections.
We therefore intend to celebrate both Italian and foreign cultures through an intersection of stories, traditions, and voices from all over the world.
Last but not least, this magazine aims to be a tool to showcase and bring visibility to Piacenza’s city and university life. For students who are new to the city, or who have yet to enroll, it will offer a valuable source of information.
Our constitution
In this magazine, we are free and equal students. The founders have equal powers and equal duties: they cannot override each other. The magazine’s direction is decided by vote by the founders, who actively communicate with members and make decisions taking into account the needs, opportunities, and requirements imposed by circumstances. The opinions of members and founders are equally important.
This is a free, independent, and universal space: everyone can express their opinion freely. Every opinion is free and fundamental, enriching the awareness and knowledge of readers and members.
Each author is free to express themselves as long as their freedom of opinion does not impede the freedom of others; in such cases, the article will not be published. Therefore, insults, bullying, direct attacks on individuals and their religious beliefs, as well as attempts of political propaganda that might divide members and readers into factions will not be permitted.
To avoid misinformation, every factual claim must be supported by facts and articles that corroborate it, especially in the socioeconomic and scientific fields.
Our audience
The intended audience is anyone interested in reading our newspaper: while designed primarily for the university community, this project can be enjoyed by all citizens of Piacenza and beyond. Since it is a website available in both Italian and English, it can be easily accessed by international students looking to learn more about university life in Piacenza.
The editorial board
The doors of our editorial office remain open to anyone who would like to participate or contribute, no matter how small the role.
Whether you are an experienced writer or have never written an article before, there is no reason to feel intimidated. You can contribute as often or as little as you like, and for those who feel a bit shy, we offer the option to publish under a pen name.
Active members
Elisabetta Vittoria Caiazzo, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief
After my experience with my high school magazine, Carpe Diem, I started medical school determined not to give up writing. And here I am, founding an English-language journal. If you want to embark on this journey with me, I would be more than happy to have you as a reader!
Omar Aboelfadle, Co-Founder & Technical Editor
I’ve always enjoyed being involved, contributing ideas, and taking an active role in projects I believe in. For me, being part of a team means more than simply being present; it means helping wherever I can and turning ideas into something real and useful.
Through this magazine, I’m excited to contribute to both the creative and technical sides of the project, while helping build the digital infrastructure and web experience that bring our work together.
Khaled Elnemr, Co-Founder & Technical Editor
As a medical student, I’ve always believed that knowledge becomes truly powerful when it’s shared openly, rather than handed down from above.
This magazine is a platform where I can contribute my own perspectives and ideas while also managing the technical side, building out the digital infrastructure and web architecture that keep everything running smoothly.
Giuseppe Pablo Calabrese, co-founder
With no prior experience in publications and a few projects still on hold, I mainly joined the project because I wanted to get rid of my own fears and stop making myself invisible by default. As much as this goal is not as grandiose as what you would expect, I will still try my best to reach it, and I think it’s enough for anyone to join. Hope you hear my Voice around.
Manuel Visani, Co-Founder
I’m a medical student. I wrote for the high school magazine Eureka. Member of Punto e Virgola. Numerous publications of poetry and translations in blogs and magazines. The driving ideas of my writing are The infinite complexity of things, streben and αἰσθάνομαι.
Acknowledgments
We extend a special thank you to Onur Şentürk, without whom the foundation of this magazine would not have been possible. His vision and hands-on dedication were vital to our organizational groundwork and core mission. Beyond his ongoing insight and support, we also thank him for designing our incredible logo. Unfortunately, his current workload keeps him from writing here, but we look forward to welcoming him back soon!