27 May 2007

For the last week we have been enjoying the beauty of Umbria.

We've seen fields with scattered poppies everywhere here, very beautiful.

A time for making hay before the dry of summer really sets in.
At the same time my hope of connecting with some people in the valley we are staying in was realized. It has been a wonderful week, relaxing for the girls and Karen and for the most part for me as well ... the one downside is a mark inside the lens of the film camera which has me concerned. I filmed anyway yesterday to capture important material.

The first few days here we were finding our feet, me still getting used to driving on the right side of the road, finding local supermarkets and so on. In between I managed to make some good connections. With the help of a young Italian couple staying in the apartment next to ours I managed to talk to Guiseppe, the co-owner of La Casella Marilena where we are staying, about my interests. He then connected me with a local woman, Katharina. Through Katharina we met Alfredo and Christine, a couple who own a 100 ha organic farm and a restaurant in the hills here. On Thursday night we had dinner at their lovely restaurant and talked about our journey and my work. They were very interested. It emerged that they are part of a group of people who moved to this valley in the 1970s and have been working over a long period of time on environmental issues. Some of their networking activities can be seen at http://lareteinrete.net The challenge they have had is being seen as outsiders by the long-standing local farmers and community. However, over time, they have worked to make connections and try and influence positive changes with the community. I see a real opportunity to help facilitate stronger connections and interactions. Now is the time for this to happen, as we've seen and heard in every place we've visited so far on this journey. More on this later...

On Friday we went to Assisi. This was a very special day. St Francis of Assisi was a very special person at a time of much conflict, with a universal message that is very relevant now. It is worth repeating part of the text from the brochure we collected from the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi...

“Franciscan existence is an immense space where God, man and the world of nature harmoniously find their place. In Assisi even the sun, moon, stars, fire, water and wind feel at home because Francis dared to call them 'brothers' and 'sisters'.”

Reading this reminded me of a movie I saw about 32 years ago, about the life of St Francis “Brother Sun, Sister Moon”. This movie made a very big impression on a then 16 year old. What moved me most in the Basilica was the Giotti painting of “The Sermon to the Birds”. We walked from the Basilica to the highest point in Assisi, a beautiful view over the village and surrounding countryside.

A view of the Basilica of St Francis
As we left Assisi I was captured by images of field and sky, with Assisi and the Basilica in between. And then a sign to the Sanctuary of Rivotorto caught my eye. This is named the 'hovel of St Francis' where the first Franciscan community was briefly housed... the humble, simple dwelling now overwhelmed by the church of Rivotorto.

The village of Assisi, between earth and sky

The hovel of St Francis within the Church of Rivotorto

On our return to the commune of Lisciano Niccone we drove into a thunderstorm and then beautiful scenes of sun radiating through clouds over the nearby village of Mercatale.

A stunning scene from our temporary home at Marilena la Casella, looking towards Mercatale

Yesterday (Saturday) we drove to Alfredo and Christine's farm, first in mid afternoon to film and photograph scenes on and from the farm and later in the evening to film an interview with Alfredo. It was this on this morning that I noticed a spot through the film camera and discovered some sort of mark inside the lens. This was quite distressing, but I worked my best to manage filming to avoid this mark coming through... and in some cases filmed anyway in the hope that with modern technology something can be done in an editing process to remove the mark that is very obvious at times on the screen.

Alfredo and Christine came to this valley in the mid 1970s, students from University in Rome coming to live an ideal in the countryside. They discovered this beautiful place in Umbria, 100 ha of abandoned land in the hills. The hills were mostly abandoned in the 1960s, with people either moving to the cities or down into the valley to work on tobacco farms which predominate here. They chose an organic approach, consistent with traditional agriculture in this environment, but with contemporary ideas and technology. The forested hills here provide a protective cover that is very important in an environment that becomes very dry in the summer months. But there are problems. The hills and forest are no longer managed in a way that supports sustainability of the whole environment. Mostly now they are occupied by tourists, with over use of water becoming an issue. People are having to drill deeper to get water. The winter snows of 30 years ago are no longer happening, an important source of groundwater recharge. There is heavy use of water in the valley. Alfredo talks to the old people and they say that the agriculture in the valley has been destroyed. Local people hear through the news about climate change, they are experiencing local climatic changes, they wonder if there is a connection. They lack relevant information to help make the connections. The potential here is in the forest, the environment, the mix of people ... the likes of Katharina, Alfredo, Christine and the long-standing farmers and others in the community being supported and empowered to work together for the future.

A traditional storage dam, on Alfredo and Christine's farm. The majority of these traditional dams have been abandoned.

Alfredo cutting hay. In the past the grass would have been 3 times this height at this time of year. Hotter weather and less moisture are possible causes for the lower production in Alfredo's view.



A balanced farm forestry environment.

A view of the farm homestead, with olive grove.

The valley, looking towards the commune of Lisciano Niccone. A very balanced, harmonious environment but with important issues that need to be addressed.

Alfredo, a man who has dedicated his adult life to being a 'doer', putting his ideals into practice in partnership with Christine ... together providing real leadership for the future.

Being in this beautiful valley in Umbria, visiting Assisi, has been very uplifting and a further affirmation of what motivated me towards undertaking this journey with my family. We continue to meet people doing good things... now stretching from Thailand, Viet Nam, Nepal, Egypt, to Italy. It is my goal to work to strengthen the connections that have been made, to create the possibility of bringing some of these grassroots people from different places together. I can do this through a documentary film if I ultimately find the extra support needed to realise this. But I also now carry a goal to physically bring grassroots people from different places together ... to facilitate an interaction that I think could be very powerful and really help guide a true action focused approach to addressing the real issues of our time in a realistic manner.