Solidarity economy and the power of communing: Subverting the neo-liberal food market through self-governing the food system in Italy

This paper examines the solidarity economy and the practice of commoning as transformative responses to the dominance of the neoliberal food market. In a context where food systems are increasingly shaped by commodification, concentration of power, and profit-oriented logics, solidarity-based initiatives such as cooperatives, self-organised markets, and commons-based governance offer alternative ways of producing, distributing, and consuming food. Drawing on feminist and commons scholarship, the paper understands commoning not simply as shared resource management, but as an ongoing social practice grounded in collective responsibility, democratic participation, and social and ecological care (Federici 2018). The paper argues that solidarity economy practices subvert neoliberal market norms by prioritising use value over exchange value, cooperation over competition, and collective well-being over individual accumulation. In doing so, they challenge dominant assumptions about efficiency, value, and market rationality that underpin industrial and corporate food systems. However, rather than rejecting markets outright, solidarity economy actors actively engage with them on alternative terms. This engagement contributes to the diversification of the market by creating plural economic spaces in which different forms of ownership, exchange, and governance coexist with, and contest, conventional market structures (Diesner and De Angelis 2026). Empirically, the paper focuses on two solidarity economy initiatives in Bologna, Italy: CampiAperti, a network of self-organised farmers’ markets, and Camilla, a self-managed cooperative grocery store. Through these cases, the paper highlights how food markets can be collectively governed by producers and consumers, and how commoning practices reshape economic relationships across the food chain. CampiAperti illustrates commoning from the perspective of producers, foregrounding autonomy, fair prices, and ecological farming practices, while Camilla demonstrates how consumers actively participate in self-governing food provisioning. By examining the political and cultural dimensions of commoning in these settings, the paper highlights the potential of the solidarity economy to democratise economic life and to foster more just, inclusive, and sustainable food systems. Ultimately, the paper positions the solidarity economy as both a critique of neoliberal food regimes and a constructive project for reimagining markets beyond capitalist hegemony. References Diesner, D. & De Angelis, M. (Forthcoming) Markets as Common: Self-governed food systems, food sovereignty, and the struggle for urban space. Journal of Urban Studies, Routledge. Federici, S (2018) Re-enchanting the world: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons. PM Press, New York. Forno, F. & Graziano, P.R. (2014) Sustainable community movement organisations. Journal of Consumer Culture, 14(2), 139-157.