About Us

Sotto la Panca ODV

About us

A community that chooses care over exploitation and works to protect animals, affirm their rights, and build a safe place in Sicily for every rescued life.

Our identity

A sanctuary, even before being a place

Sotto la Panca ODV is a Volunteer Organization founded in Sicily to protect and safeguard animals, welcoming and caring for those who have suffered abuse, abandonment, farming, or other conditions of suffering.

We are an anti-speciesist and 100% vegan project. We promote the recognition of animals as subjects with rights and a culture founded on respect, opposing all forms of violence and exploitation.

As stated in our statute, our commitment combines welcome, solidarity, education, and awareness: we want to prevent abandonment, support animals and people in need, and build a community capable of recognizing the value of every life.

Nina nella sua cuccia al Santuario Sotto la Panca
Every life welcomed becomes part of a bigger story.

Where it all began

From a wound, a promise was born

At the origin of Sotto la Panca are two Sicilian sisters, always united by their love for animals and the same idea of justice, compassion, and respect.

A profound loss transformed pain into a choice: to dedicate time, energy, and the future to animals who suffer in silence, especially those the world only considers for what it can get from them.

That personal promise became a shared project.

The full story is on the "Our Story" page, where we cherish the people, animals, and moments from which it all began.

Read our story

A shared reality

From a personal vision to a collective project

From this vision, a collective project was born. Sotto la Panca ODV was founded by seven founding members, united by the same commitment to animals and the desire to make this dream a reality.

The association does not belong to a single person: it is an autonomous, free, apolitical, non-denominational, and non-profit organization that operates through its associative bodies as provided by its statute.

All funds raised support its institutional activities and animal care.

7 founding members Non-profit ODV RUNTS 155195 100% vegan
Cani e gatti accolti dal progetto Sotto la Panca