STATUTES
Il Fondaco Siciliano
Association for the arts and the crafts, with the everyday name Al-Funduq as-Siqilli.
Name and purpose, the members, the bodies, the work and the crafts, the related entities, the property.
TITLE I — NAME, SEAT, NATURE AND PURPOSE
Art. 1 — Name and seat
1. An association is constituted under the name «Il Fondaco Siciliano — Associazione per le arti e i mestieri», with its registered office in Catania, Via Giuseppe Simili 63, 95129.
2. The association adopts the everyday name «Al-Funduq as-Siqilli», which it may use in its activity, in its dealings with third parties and in its distinctive signs, in addition to the official name.
3. The house of the crafts has its operational seat in a historic masseria in the province of Ragusa. The transfer of the registered office to the house, once the building is available, is resolved by the assembly without any need to amend these statutes.
4. The association adheres to the common protocol «Dar al-Hiraf» and adopts its fundamental clauses set out in art. 7.
5. The association is constituted for an unlimited period and has no profit motive.
Art. 2 — Nature of the association
1. The association is not a religious body, does not conduct worship, is not the expression or emanation of any confession, religious authority or organisation connected with one, and does not proselytise.
2. The association is a community of adults who give themselves a rule of common life, practise and transmit fine craftsmanship and train themselves in self-government.
3. The religious affiliation of the members is their own affair. The association makes a space available for the prayer of those who wish it, and neither attendance nor abstention has any bearing on admission, on membership rights, on the assessment of the work or on continued residence.
Art. 3 — Purposes
1. The association pursues, without profit motive, civic, solidarity and social-utility purposes, and in particular:
a) the vocational training of young people in the crafts, by apprenticeship with masters;
b) the conservation, practice and transmission of the techniques of fine craftsmanship, with particular regard to saddlery in the combined working of leather, wood and metal, calligraphy and the book, zellij, plaster and muqarnas, weaving and brocade, wood and carving;
c) the protection, recovery and enhancement of the rural architectural heritage and of historical building techniques;
d) the organisation of cultural activities open to the public — exhibitions, lectures, concerts, short residencies — aimed at mutual knowledge among the cultures present in the territory;
e) the education of the members in self-government, in common deliberation and in respect for the rules they give themselves.
Art. 4 — Activities
1. To achieve its purposes the association carries out activities of general interest in the form of workshop-schools, courses, training building sites, the production and sale of handmade work, cultural and publishing activities.
2. The production is fine craftsmanship made to commission, in single pieces or short series. The association does not produce serial catalogue objects nor objects intended for sale to the casual visitor.
3. The association may carry out other, secondary and instrumental activities, within the limits of the law, and raise funds.
4. Restoration works on the properties available to the association are carried out, for the operations compatible with learning, by the masters with their apprentices, in compliance with safety regulations and with structural works entrusted to qualified firms.
5. The association attends, directly or through the entities referred to in Title V, to the administrative formalities and the permits that its activities require under the law in force.
Art. 5 — Activities open to minors
1. The association may carry out educational or outreach activities addressed to minors only during the day, without overnight stays, in spaces distinct from those intended for common life and for the lodging of the members, and outside the building-site areas.
2. Such activities take place with the consent of those who hold parental responsibility, with dedicated staff and in compliance with the legal obligations on the protection of minors, including the verification of the requirements of the staff who come into contact with them.
3. The activities referred to in this article normally take place at schools or training institutions of the territory. In no case does a minor take part in the common life of the association.
TITLE II — THE MEMBERS
Art. 6 — Members: equality and operational hierarchy
1. All members have equal rights. Each member has one vote in the assembly, whatever his function in the work, his seniority or his financial contribution.
2. Operational functions — master, deputy, head of workshop — pertain exclusively to the organisation of the work and to technical and safety responsibility. They confer no further right in the life of the association, neither plural voting nor a power of veto.
3. Where an employment relationship exists between members, the mandatory rules governing it remain in force, including the bond of subordination in the performance of the work.
4. No outward distinction of treatment is allowed among the members on account of anyone’s economic or family circumstances. Hours, table, lodging and common services are the same for everyone. The only distinctions allowed in dress are those that mark a workshop function.
Art. 7 — The fundamental clauses
1. The following seven clauses constitute the foundation of the association:
a) Admission by individual application. One is admitted by name, on one’s own application, and never on account of origin, descent, faith or membership of a category. Any application may be refused with reasons given.
b) No residence requirement. The member lives in the house or elsewhere, and nothing in membership decides where he sleeps.
c) Free withdrawal. The member withdraws at any time by written notice, without penalty or payment, keeping his own tools and whatever he has accrued, and with no consequence other than ceasing to belong.
d) Reciprocity. The association makes its statutes and its rules available, on the same terms, to any community that intends to found a similar house.
e) Restriction on the buildings. The buildings are bound to the purpose set out in art. 3 and may not be sold nor their use changed except by unanimous resolution.
f) Autonomy of the bodies. No powers of appointment or designation in the bodies, no additional voting rights, no special categories of members and no power to suspend the effect of resolutions are reserved to the founders, the funders, the supporters or those who endow named funds (art. 24, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3).
g) Lodging of the founders and its limits. The right of lodging reserved to the founders, and the limits that circumscribe it, are those and only those laid down in art. 24, paragraphs 4, 5 and 6.
2. The clauses of this article, and the provisions of art. 24 to which they refer, may be amended only with the favourable vote of all the members. Failing unanimity they stand.
Art. 8 — Admission
1. The signatories of the deed of constitution are members from the constitution of the association, with the same rights and the same duties as every other member.
2. Whoever intends to join submits an individual application. The governing body decides within thirty days and communicates the outcome in writing.
3. Admission is preceded by a paid trial period of between two and four weeks, spent on the building site or in the workshop.
4. Once the trial is passed, the applicant is admitted as an apprentice under a fixed-term apprenticeship contract, with a start date and an end date.
5. After six months of apprenticeship, the assembly decides on the admission of the apprentice to membership with full voting rights. The passage of time produces no effect by itself: admission is always put to a vote, a refusal is reasoned in writing and does not terminate the apprenticeship contract in progress, and the assembly may be asked again.
6. Only adults are admitted as members, apprentices and applicants. No minor is admitted to common life, to lodging, to work shifts or to the building site.
Art. 9 — Duties of the members
1. The member observes the statutes, the rules referred to in art. 12 and the resolutions of the bodies of the association.
2. The member is bound to loyalty towards his companions, to the care of the tools and the common spaces and to participation in the service shifts resolved by the assembly.
Art. 10 — Loss of membership
1. Membership is lost by withdrawal, by forfeiture, by exclusion or by death.
2. Exclusion is resolved by the assembly for serious breaches, after written notice of the charges and the granting of a period of not less than fifteen days for the defence. The member concerned does not take part in the vote.
3. An appeal against exclusion lies to the arbitral panel within thirty days.
TITLE III — ORGANISATION
Art. 11 — Assembly
1. The assembly is composed of all the members and resolves by a majority of those present, except in the cases where unanimity is required.
2. The assembly approves the accounts, elects and removes the governing body, decides on admissions to membership and on exclusions, approves and amends the rules referred to in art. 12.
3. A member abstains from a resolution when it concerns his remuneration, his contract or a measure against him.
Art. 12 — Rules of the house
1. Hours, shifts, use of the common spaces, custody of the tools, internal sanctions and the manner of settling disagreements are governed by rules resolved by the assembly, called in the usage of the house nizam ad-dar.
2. The rules are reviewed at least once a year. Any member may propose an amendment.
3. Removed from the assembly’s deliberation are the rules on safety and hygiene at work, the prescriptions on the restoration of listed buildings and the obligations of law, which constitute the perimeter within which the assembly is sovereign.
4. The first rules are provisional. They lapse by right at the first assembly in which the members other than the signatories of the deed of constitution form the majority, and are there readopted, amended or replaced. Until the new resolution the provisional text remains in force.
Art. 13 — Governing body
1. The association is administered by a collegial body of three or five members elected by the assembly from among the members, which holds office for three years and may be re-elected.
2. The governing body is responsible for ordinary management, for deciding on the applications referred to in art. 8, paragraph 2, and for legal representation.
3. Office is incompatible with holding shares or administrative functions in the corporate vehicle that runs the guesthouse (art. 21).
Art. 14 — Arbitral panel
1. Disputes among members, and between members and the association, in contractual and associational matters, are referred to an arbitral panel of three members, under the annexed rules, which govern its appointment, procedure and time limits.
2. Excluded in every case from the panel’s jurisdiction are matters not within the parties’ power to dispose of, criminal matters, family law and the non-waivable rights of the worker.
TITLE IV — THE WORK AND THE CRAFTS
Art. 15 — Workshop functions
1. Each workshop is directed by a master, who answers for the organisation of the work, for the quality of what leaves it and for safety. The master may be assisted by a deputy, a function assigned and revoked according to the needs of the work.
2. The functions referred to in the preceding paragraph do not constitute ranks and do not produce advancement. The provisions of art. 6 remain in force.
Art. 16 — Passage to master
1. The qualification of master is conferred by the master of the workshop in which the apprentice has trained, and rests exclusively on his skill in the craft. It is not a matter for resolution by the assembly.
2. No minimum or maximum term is set. Continued membership of the association produces no advancement by itself.
3. The test consists of a complete piece, made by the candidate alone from beginning to end, with the materials, the tolerances and the times of a commission. The master does not touch it and does not correct it while it is being made.
4. The qualification conferred under this article has effect within the association and the houses adhering to the common protocol. It has no legal value and is not equivalent to any Italian or European professional qualification, and the association does not present it as such.
5. The association may enter into agreements with foreign guilds or craft institutions so that the qualification receives external recognition. Until such an agreement is made, the preceding paragraph remains the only exact description of its value.
TITLE V — RELATED ENTITIES AND HOSPITALITY
Art. 17 — Separation of the entities
1. On the same property stand four distinct legal entities, with separate accounts and offices incompatible with one another: the association; the farming cooperative (art. 18); the vehicle that runs the guesthouse Al-Munya (art. 21); the association of the supporters An-Nudama (art. 22).
2. The separation is a condition of adherence to the common protocol and cannot be overcome in practice by proxies, mandates or services that confuse the accounts or the responsibilities.
Art. 18 — Farming
1. The land is worked by a cooperative whose working members are the members of the association. The cooperative keeps the buildings in agricultural use, provides the common table and operates under the rules proper to agricultural cooperatives, with the licences and permits the case requires.
2. The cooperative may sell surplus produce to third parties and assign the proceeds to the association.
Art. 19 — Dar al-Bidaya, the trial wing
1. The association sets aside a distinct building, called Dar al-Bidaya, for the stay of those who have applied for admission and of those admitted to a fixed-term stay under art. 20.
2. The common hours, work, table and outfit apply there. No payment is due, and no payment, from whomever it comes and on whatever grounds, entitles anyone to the stay, determines its length or affects the outcome of the application.
3. Dar al-Bidaya is a building of the association, and not a distinct legal entity. It is not a paid hospitality activity and cannot be transferred to third parties for such use.
Art. 20 — The three kinds of stay
1. The trial. From two to four weeks, paid, on the building site or in the workshop, for those who intend to put themselves forward as members. At the end an apprenticeship contract is opened or the path ends.
2. The fixed-term stay. From two weeks to three months, for those who want to know the house without putting themselves forward as members. It is free, is granted on application by written decision with fixed dates, may be renewed once and does not convert into admission. It is open to anyone, whatever their origin, language or culture.
3. The stay at the guesthouse. Whoever comes to rest and not to know the house is a guest of Al-Munya, pays the rate set by that entity and does not take part in the hours, the shifts or the common table.
Art. 21 — Al-Munya, the guesthouse
1. The paid hospitality activity is carried out by a distinct legal entity, called Al-Munya, with its own accounts, its own members and its own investors, in a separate building with its own entrance.
2. That entity owes the association a fixed annual sum, set by agreement and in no way linked to revenue, to the number of guests or to the occupancy rate.
3. The agreement guarantees that the guesthouse keeps its full value even if the connecting passage to the association’s premises is permanently closed.
4. A stay at Al-Munya in no case entitles anyone to admission to the association or to access to common life.
Art. 22 — An-Nudama, the association of the supporters
1. The supporters gather in an autonomous association, called An-Nudama, which collects contributions, assigns them to determined purposes and capitalises the guesthouse referred to in art. 21, whose lodging it uses.
2. Membership of An-Nudama gives access to the public programme. It confers no entitlement to admission to the association, no access to common life and no voice in the deliberations of its bodies.
TITLE VI — PROPERTY AND FINAL PROVISIONS
Art. 23 — Property and restriction of use
1. The property consists of the members’ contributions, donations, the proceeds of the activities and the assets acquired.
2. The buildings acquired are bound to the purpose set out in art. 3 and may not be sold nor their use changed except by unanimous resolution.
3. The distribution, even indirect, of profits and operating surpluses is prohibited.
Art. 24 — Autonomy of the bodies. Founders, funders and supporters
1. The resolutions of the assembly are not subject to approval, confirmation, veto or reform by the founders, the funders, the supporters, those who endow named funds or any person outside the association.
2. To none of these persons are reserved powers of appointment or designation in the bodies of the association, additional voting rights, special categories of members or the power to suspend the effect of resolutions.
3. The contribution of means, on whatever basis, confers none of the powers excluded by the preceding paragraphs and cannot be made conditional on their being conferred.
4. The three founders will be reserved a personal, lifelong and non-transferable right of lodging in three apartments on the first floor of the north wing, to be constituted by notarial deed at the same time as the purchase of the building. The right is not transferable to heirs, does not extend to other premises or other persons, and cannot be enlarged except with the favourable vote of all the members.
5. Whoever lives in the house by virtue of the right referred to in the preceding paragraph observes the rules like every other resident. If he is a member he has one vote like every other member; if he is not, he does not take part in the deliberations. In no case may he approve, confirm, suspend or reform a resolution of the assembly.
6. The provisions of this article may be amended only with the favourable vote of all the members.
Art. 25 — Dissolution
1. In the event of dissolution the remaining property is transferred to another Third Sector body with similar purposes, in accordance with the law.
Art. 26 — Reference
1. For anything not provided for, reference is made to the Third Sector Code, the civil code and the rules in force.
The safeguards·The legal framework·Four entities, one property