Woodvivors B Y S I LV I A G A L L I A N I
“Woodvivors - L'Italia a passo di mulo” is a project born in 2016 from an idea of Francesco Paolo Lanzino. Departing these days from Pantelleria, the 2500km long adventure, would like to tell the rural world, its cultures, traditions and lifestyles and its struggle for survival, collecting testimonies from those who led a simple life but full of sacrifices and limitations.
A 6-month journey from Sicily to Turin following the Sentiero Italia, strictly unsupported and on foot or by mule. A real dive into the past that will result in a docufilm that will tell the story of the journey, but also the ancient knowledge of the Italian rural world to stimulate a new interest in local practices and to build a sustainable future rooted in our heritage.
the past to give life to ideas that can help us build a more sustainable future. Trekking and rediscovery and redevelopment of the suburban areas. How do these two aspects go hand in hand? In the suburbs very
often there are shortages in terms of roads and infrastructures. Arriving on foot you not only connect these places by creating a sort of map but you can also create an economy of exchanges and trade between the various territories, giving life at the same time to a kind of tourism that would like to visit these places in a slower and more symbiotic way.
Where did the idea of Woodvivors come from? What’s its goal? And why a mule? I have been
practicing outdoor sports since I was little, I have been in the national sailing team and I have competed for many years at a competitive level. On the other hand, the mountain for me represented a moment of relief and taught me how to move outdoors. In Sicily 10-15 years ago there were no huts or well-marked trails, so I have always moved unsupported. In 2017 I had 6 months free and I decided to cover the whole Sentiero Italia that connects Sicily to Piedmont with a mule as my only travel companion. On the third day, despite walking on my home streets, I felt like I was passing through unknown places. The mule was a real time machine that allowed me to get to know the elderly people I met along the way in an empathic and spontaneous way. The goal is precisely this: to come in contact with that almost forgotten world that still exists, before it's too late. A real journey into
Can you tell us what will be the stages of the journey? We are leaving the island of Pantelleria
in these days. We will cross Sicily fairly quickly and once we arrive in Calabria we will continue on the Sentiero Italia reaching the Aspromonte Park, Sila and Pollino, entering Basilicata and climbing up to Campania. After a short day in Lazio, it will be the turn of the Abbruzzo National Park, Gran Sasso and the Sibillini Mountains. Then Umbria, Marche, the Appennino Tosco-Emiliano Park, Liguria and finally Piedmont. We will arrive in Turin, one of the first industrialized cities in Italy and therefore a symbolical arrival point of the migration that came from the countryside to the city.
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