Community

We conclude our journey by returning towards the village and its community.

It is a small village, but it is rich in so many ways: rich in passion, culture and solidarity. These qualities reveal themselves in many different ways. For example, when you walk through the village lanes, you may meet Irma, an elderly lady strolling with her friends. Perhaps not so much now, but a few years ago they would rise at dawn, go out to gather the wild herbs they knew so well, and then make syrups for their grandchildren. They did a little bit of everything. These women meet to play cards, they look after one another, and if someone is unwell, they will even go and live with one another for months at a time. It is something that comes straight from the heart. One of them was Grandma Silvana, who was a grandmother to everyone. She looked after her own grandchildren, as well as my children. She taught everyone how to sew, and she taught them many other things too. Everyone’s grandmother. Later we discovered that she also welcomed people who were going through difficult times. She would move into one person’s home or another’s and help however she could. She was an extraordinarily generous person. And then there are the children of the village too. There are quite a few of them, because many people have returned to live here, perhaps in their grandparents’ houses, or they have bought back the old family home. So, there are lots of children running around together, usually with one of the fathers taking turns to keep an eye on them. They are lively children, a bit wild perhaps, but they are happy. They wander about; they go into the woods. Then there are the teenagers. The village youngsters go fishing, they go out in boats, they help their parents cut firewood and tend the vegetable garden. But they genuinely enjoy these things. They become attached to the place where they live. They go fossil hunting, gather chestnuts, know all the secret places. They are still children who feel connected to their village and to their lake. And there are always remarkable people in the village who contribute to life here in countless ways. There is Antonio, who has dedicated his entire life to protecting this lake. There is Riccardo, who now helps the toads during their migrations. There is Giovanni, who goes out every day to take photographs. There is Martino, who, despite having a university degree, decided to return and work as a carpenter. Then there is Marco, who cultivates his family’s land sustainably. So, there are many people who live by the lake, know it and want to protect it. We have what we call a small working group. We meet together and try to understand what people outside think, what they would like to do with our lake, and we try to make our voices heard whenever we can. Oh, and then there is the Midsummer Dinner. We invented a sort of small village festival, organised entirely among ourselves. We close the village roads, the Nicola family make pizzas for everyone, each person brings something to share, we put up lights, and we stay there together, sometimes until dawn. At weekends, though, we do feel somewhat overwhelmed. When the weekend comes, we stay at home, close the windows, and struggle a little with all the motorbikes, the cars and the constant flow of people passing through. More than anything, it is because we cannot really go out ourselves, or even take the children out. Mine are grown up now, but I clearly remember that on Saturdays and Sundays there was absolutely no question of letting them go for a bicycle ride on their own, because it was no longer possible. We would like to be able to enjoy weekends too, somehow. Perhaps by closing the village roads. I do not know. Maybe there is some solution that could be found. The right way to look at the lake, in my opinion, is to put yourself, for a moment, in the place of the animals and plants that live here. Silence is what really matters. That would be the right way to experience it. We need to understand where to leave space—real space—for the true inhabitants of the lake: the birds, the amphibians and, at least at certain times, the people who live here. And then there should also be space for visitors, but in a way that is respectful and appreciates the phase this lake is currently going through. It is true, perhaps one day it will become a marsh. But from a natural point of view, that would not be a disaster. For nature, it would not be a disaster at all.