To reconcile working and family life for women and men . Recipe n.36   Tempi e orari della città" (Times and hours of the town) What In December 1993, according to the law 142/90 art 36 the project Tempi ed orari della città was started in Catania, giving the majors the power to co-ordinate the office, shop, school hours in order to make them meet the needs of the citizens. In April 1994 the Council agreed the deliberation about the criteria which the Office Tempi e Orari will have to submit when it will draw the town hours plane. How much The action performed till now have had, for the Administration, low costs, equal to the human ressources used and to some advertising expences for the project diffusion.   How The methodology implemented in the three areas of intervention was based on the survey of the needs of the directly concerned people; on the creation of an action plan, emerging from the agreement of the social parties; on evaluation and monitoring of the results obtained; and in some cases on the remodulation of the previous plan. Why The promoter of this project was the Assessor delegate of the Major. After a survey made by a questionnaire addressed to 1200 citizens, the priorities of intervention have been detected, concerning the hours of municipal offices, shops, schools. Results   Each one of the action performed has had a result. As for the municipal offices, it was the extention of the public receiving hours to two afternoons a week, without exluding the reception on Saturday mornings. The different needs of the citizens have been taken into account, and a wider service has been offered.. As for shops, the possibility for the owners to choose, within some agreed rules, their hours, gave to the sector a new hint, making it possible to have different hours according to the shop's target, to its typology, to its location. In all, the offer of services to the citizen has been increased: department stores open full time, museums open until 10 o' clock in the week end evenings, libraries open in the afternoon, schools open after school hours. Generally speaking, we could say that citizens showed they enjoy this initiative: the trust of citizens has increased towards the Public Administration, and this last is equipping itself in order to give efficient answers to the real problems of people.   References for further informazion: COMUNE DI CATANIA UFFICIO TEMPI E ORARI DELLA CITTÀ VIA SANTA MARIA DEL ROSARIO, 18 - CATANIA, ITALY TEL.: 0039 095 7425537/7425538 FAX: 0039 095 7151896