Taking place in the neighbourhood of Chiaravalle Milan (IT), Cucina Alchemica (Alchemical Kitchen) is a five-day artist residency developed by The Grampunce with Terzo Paesaggio, exploring material, mystical and poetical practices around fermentation. Departing from the Italian word fermento - understood as both a process of transformation in collaboration with microorganisms and a state of cultural and collective unrest - the residency asked: how can we reimagine lively spaces of learning, living, and cooking in times of systemic transition? The programme consisted of a series of roundtables, workshops, guided meditations, craft experiments, screenings and field research to gather knowledge around fermentation as a symbolic and magical practice linked to its environment. Set within the garden and architecture of Padiglione Chiaravalle, participants co-inhabited the site through tented sleepovers, collective meals, and open-ended creative processes. Alchemical Kitchen is one of three parallel projects from Terzo Paesaggio, which, under the title Container Rhapsody, transformed dismissed food shipping containers into gathering spaces, experimental food labs, and artistic devices. The result of this week-long residency was a blueprint for a nomadic laboratory of fermentation rituals, working side by side with the bread school of active citizenship (Madre Project) and an urban resting site (Rifugio Urbano). The completed lab was presented IN 2025 during Performing Architecture (by BASE Milan), Anguriera Chiaravalle (Terzo Paesaggio’s festival in support of Palestine food security) and Terra Madre (by Slow Food), amongst others.