From «soleggiato» to «someggiato» there is only an exchange of vowels, and yet the word overturns the whole concept of summer vacation and a summer camp for kids. The first is the adjective referring to beautiful days, the second to activities on the backs of pack animals, such as donkeys and mules, which make them lively.
That’s what he does.Permission to pass the muzzle»the summer camp that brings together over 200 kids between the ages of 8 and 18, every summer, once school is over, to spend a week at Camparonetta mountain huton the Monte Grappa massifin the Municipality of Great Dane of Piave (Belluno) to learn the simple life of shepherds who spend their days at high altitude in holy peace. Right there, where a good part of the paths, mule tracks and Italian military defense lines of the Great War.
Six days and six nights in close contact with donkeys And goats, horses And cows, dogs, cats And rabbitsplus other farmyard animals, to learn the essential laws of life and respect for it, where the pet therapy and wildlife education are at the heart of the sports and educational activities conducted by a group of experts. With lessons held not indoors in a room but in the woods in the open air.
Adventure camps without cell phones
The association that organizes all this has a curious name that immediately summarizes and clarifies the priorities: Permission to pass the muzzleto signify with this alliteration, that animals in general and mules transporters in particular, take precedence over everything, being indispensable to life in 1300 meters above sea level with very little else around. They are called nature fields, adventure camps or residential camps those that take place at Malga Camparonetta and the sharing of basic things and essential goods is the number one rule for participating. After all, there are only two toilets and a rainwater tank collected from the roofs for the shower; to heat the water there is a wood-fired water heater and a liter and a half per person must be enough; to refill the individual drinking bottles, each person must go down the slope and fill them at the drinking fountain. So, without a smartphone and without comfort – because it is not a colony house equipped with all the comforts but a former monticata mountain hutthat is, structured to accommodate herdsmen and livestock – the boys learn to take care of the animals and manage resources away from home, chatting all together around the fire and sleeping in the dormitory. To return to their families after a week regenerated and full of emotions.
The magic of simple things
This magic made of small things, they managed to achieve it with success and a lot of effort Lisa Ferraresi and the husband Thomas Berinirespectively president and vice president of the association Permission to pass the muzzle which has been under concession since 2021 Camparonetta mountain hut from the Municipality of Great Dane of Piave with a reception capacity of 24 bedsincluding the former stable turned dormitory.
“The experience of residential camps began in 2012 in the Dolomites,” explains Lisa, who has a teaching diploma, has always worked with children and trained as a donkey assistant and pack animal trekking. I later thought of exporting it, combining my passion for animals with activities with students, so groups were formed that gradually expanded and now it is common for those who go on excursions on Grappa to meet the kids while they are walking the mules.”
Lisa and Thomas are supported by collaborators and teachers such as the wildlife technician Fabio Dartora and the historian Davide Pegoraro. But the staff of practical helpers includes more and more former kids, now adults, who grew up in that hut summer after summer.
In fact, at Malga Camparonetta, guests arrive as children (by choice of their parents), return when school is over (by their own firm decision) and leave (by necessity because they have reached the age limit) on the threshold of maturity. With great regret, because they become so fond of the solitary place and the climate of complicity that is established with their peers, that they are eager to repeat the experience.
Real emotions, zero emoticons
«The proof that the kids, both boys and girls, are happy here – Lisa observes – is that they come back even though they know that there is a shortage of water, since the Mount Grappa a karst area. Here they learn to live with little, without the distractions of the cell phone, to roll up their sleeves and work, becoming sensitive to consumption, so much so that when they return home they turn off the tap while they take a shower. In the mountain hut the kids manage to spend 24 hours together and there are real emotions to manage, because chatting is one thing and looking into each other’s eyes is another.
Here there are real hugs and authentic emotions around the bonfire, like around a table. We teach them to know the mountain, to climb treesto to shoot with the bow to bathe in the spring. We don’t show the animals inside an enclosure, on the contrary: we make the kids interact directly with the animals, we make them independent with respect to some choices, because here not everything is punctuated and programmed: half a day is structured with activities, but the other half is decided together how to develop it. There is freedom of thought to decide collectively what to do. And to be well together».
TO Camparonetta mountain hut wake up and first breakfast are set to 7:45 in the morning and the boys divide into small groups to carry out the tasks: setting and clearing the table, washing the cups and putting away the food. At mid-morning there is a snack with organic products. The lunch is set between 1:00 pm and 1:30 pm, depending on the outings and excursions, and the menu is based on genuine and fresh local products, to boost the economy of a place that is not very touristy and to help each other among the mountain huts. The afternoon snack is at 4:00 pm, and dinner is served at 8:00 pm. Usually, after eating, if it doesn’t rain, the kids collect some wood in the woods to light the fire. bonfire and listen to music but when it hits 11pm everyone is in bed. “My husband and I sleep in the dormitory with them, in case we need help at night. If there is some particular emergency we call the helicopter and it arrives in 3 minutes, because the ambulance from the plain would take a long time to reach us.”
Animals called by name
The initiatives of «Permission to pass the muzzle» they are varied and diversified but basically consist of activities to learn about animals. «Before going out on a donkey trek, we familiarize the kids with the brusca and striglia, which are the brushes used to clean the animals: it is a mediated way of approaching, an approach that promotes tranquility on both sides».
There are 6 donkeys present at the mountain pasture and they are called: Rhodes (saved from slaughter), Bastille, Melissa, Pancho, Valentino And OlliThe 4 goats instead answer to the name of Grace, Cream, Cocoa And Cookiewhile the mule, a rare animal to find as it is the cross between a mare and a donkey, is called helium. At Malga Camparonetta they also gave stable shelter to the horse Beana twenty-three year old returning from equestrian shows, and also the cow Nutella at three years old she is taken to pasture in the meadows with a halter and a lead rope, as if it were a leash.
A privileged observatory
The couple Lisa and Thomas who manage Malga Camparonetta are present in the mountain pasture 4 months a year: from June 1st to September 30th. The nature camps with the kids, divided by age groups, start since the end of school and continue until Ferragosto: two full months, where families arrive one after the other, taking turns from Sunday to the following Saturday. “Small children require more practical, almost maternal management, which goes from personal hygiene to clothes in the suitcase – explains Lisa. They have primary needs, they are tender and therefore often cry because they are homesick. High school kids, on the other hand, are in full adolescence and in the period of first loves, and with them we talk about affection and sexuality because they ask a lot of questions. They run into small crises and are moody because they are under pressure with school. Ours is an interesting observatory from a psychological and mental point of view”.
Valentina And Nicholas they are the Paduan parents of two twins, a boy and a girl, who have been attending the residential camps of Alano di Piave for years. «My daughter – says Valentina – before leaving told me “I can’t wait to unplug and turn off my cell phone”. They hand it over when they arrive, midweek they make a phone call, but my son has already told me he prefers to call his grandparents».
“We would need two mountain huts for the requests we have – conclude Lisa and Thomas who add: “here the kids themselves abolish the cell phone for the whole week, eager to immerse themselves only in the adventure”.
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Source: Vanity Fair
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