Presentation of Cuneo's 'Bilancio POP'
Date of the event:
On 4 November 2026, at 5:30 pm, in the Salone d'Onore of Cuneo's Town Hall, at via Roma 28, the Municipality of Cuneo presented its "Bilancio POP" ("POP Budget"), a new social and economic reporting tool developed in partnership with the University of Turin's "Valter Cantino" Department of Management [1][2].
The project
The document, available in print and digital form, aims to make the municipality's accounts understandable to residents, moving beyond the technical language of public accounting and explaining how the council's resources are used [1]. The name is an acronym for Popular Financial Reporting, and it adopts a visual, accessible format in which financial indicators are paired with explanations and questions linking the figures to the services provided to residents [1].
Lecturers and students from the University of Turin's Department of Management took part in the work, collaborating with Cuneo's municipal offices to translate the budget data into information accessible even to those without economic or administrative expertise [1][2]. The project also analysed online conversations about the city to gather insight into how residents perceive their own community [1][2]. The document closes with a questionnaire open to public participation, through which the administration intends to gather residents' observations and input [1].
The presentation
The event, open to the public and the press free of charge, was attended on behalf of the Municipality of Cuneo by mayor Patrizia Manassero, budget councillor Valter Fantino and senior official Carlo Tirelli [1][2]. For the University of Turin, those taking part included Cuneo Campus coordinator Elisa Truant, the project's scientific coordinator Paolo Biancone, researcher Davide Calandra and researcher Silvana Secinaro [1][2].
Manassero and Fantino said: "We had long been asking ourselves how to make the municipal budget data understandable to residents, and in the Bilancio POP and our collaboration with UniTo we found an answer geared towards transparency. An informed community is a community that takes an active part in public decisions." [1][2] For Biancone, quoted by IdeaWebTv, the project shows that "research creates value when it is put at the service of institutions and citizens" [2].
Previous experience
The University of Turin's "Valter Cantino" Department of Management has previously carried out similar popular-reporting projects with other public administrations, including the Piedmont Region, the City of Turin, the Metropolitan City of Milan, the Municipality of Biella and the Municipality of Dogliani [1][2].
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