URBINO, Italy – Deep in a lush forest on an Italian hillside, Serena Panti encourages a small group of preschoolers to face their fears.

The typically small stream, after a few days of rain, has become whitewater rapids – at least in the eyes of a small child. Hesitating in their colorful rubber boots, the children line up to jump over and continue their hike.

Panti grabs the hand of each student and helps him or her leap over. As each student lands safely on the other side, praise erupts from the others and from Panti herself. With each trip across the stream the children become more confident, some no longer needing assistance. Eventually all fear subsides, and the new game of jumping back and forth across the stream becomes more important to the children than continuing the hike.

Serena Panti is one of four teachers at this outdoor school, Maestra Natura, an educational project of a new organization in the Marche region called L’albero Maestro, or “The teaching tree.”

“L’albero Maestro was established on the fundamentals that children should learn to be autonomous through self-exploration,” says Panti, who taught in traditional schools before teaching at Maestra Natura. “Some people think the children just run around like wild things, but we follow all the institutional guidelines.”

L’albero Maestro started nearly three years ago in 2016 as an association which offered weekend nature outings for families. Enthusiasm from parents and children of the Marche region encouraged L’albero Maestro to establish a permanent location to provide nature experiences daily.

Thus, the magic of Maestra Natura blossomed.

Maestra Natura is a completely outdoor preschool located a few miles outside the walls of Urbino. With 23 students from 9 months to 5 years old, and four teachers, the school provides more one-on-one attention from instructors than does a traditional school, Panti says.

Parents agree that this is one of the school’s attractions.

Francesca Guidarelli, whose daughter Alice, age 4, attends the school, says that children need more than what the traditional Italian school system can offer. 

Francesca and her husband, Luigi, wanted something different for Alice, “something that considered the full and happy development of the human being as the first need for a child.”

The Guidarellis enrolled Alice in Maestra Natura almost two years ago. Francesca Guidarelli believes “having grass, pebbles, trees, and sky all with different colors and moods acting as a classroom is an incredible advantage.”

At Maestra Natura, students are able to learn through action and creativity.

Each day starts with a “circle of greeting” where students sit in a circle overlooking Italian hills and mountains and discuss how they are feeling that day. After the initial morning greeting, students get a quick, gluten-free snack prepared by one of the parent volunteers. From there, children get to decide individually what they want to do for the day.

This is one of the primary reasons the Guidarellis enrolled Alice in Maestra Natura. “We wanted something that would consider her as a complete and unique person,” Francesca says. Much of the school day at Maestra Natura is left to the discretion of the children, as the school aims to offer a routine without imposing a structure.

Children can choose from activities such as tending to the class’s two chickens, Clara and Belle, or by sitting on a quilted blanket and reading.

With the school being completely outdoors, the chance for new activities and adventure can happen at any moment. “Alice has no fear in clearing the way for her mates in the forest,” her mother says.

A common crowd-pleasing activity is a hike into the woods after snack time. With steep slippery hills, rivers to splash in, and trees to hang from, the nearby woods act as nature’s best jungle-gym for the tiny children.

Students work up an appetite after such an adventure, so lunchtime quickly follows.

Appetites satisfied, the wind acts as a soft fan and the birds provide a sweet lullaby. The children sprawl on mats under shady trees to catch a quick nap.

Once children wake, there is free time for play until parents arrive to pick them up for the day.

The parents’ involvement with the school is not restricted to the drop off and pick up. From the establishment of the association nearly three years ago, L’albero Maestro has strived to keep families involved with their children’s education.

One of the ways parents and guardians can get involved with the school is through a “time bank” initiative established by the nature school association. Parents can receive discounted tuition rates by helping cut grass, caring for the hens, or doing other tasks around the school.

The benefits of the time bank initiative go beyond the economic help.

“It is a way of realizing the participation in first person,” says Francesca, “ so giving a true sense of community to the project.”

“It is important to maintain healthy relationships amongst families as a way to teach the children about the importance of cooperation.”

In between educating children about fair trade, and running her own business in Urbino, Francesca spends time working in the kitchen and doing chores around the school to help out. Her husband helps by doing more physical chores, such as cleaning the chicken coop and maintaining the grounds around the school. Francesca admits that with hectic schedules, it is not always easy to face all the needs of the school, but with collaboration anything can be done.

 “It is important to maintain healthy relationships amongst families as a way to teach the children about the importance of cooperation.”

They say it takes a village to raise a child, and L’albero Maestro seems to do just that.

With the late afternoon sun beaming through the shade of the tree leaves, a father arrives to retrieve his young daughter just as she is waking from her nap. She stretches her tiny arms and rubs her eyes. A wide smile spreads across her face as she spots her father and scurries toward him. Kneeling down to match her height, the father wraps his daughter in a warm hug. The pair say goodbye to Panti, gather the young girl’s backpack, and head home for the day.

Translation of interviews and other language assistance by University of Urbino student Antonia Perreca. 

Video by Kelsey Robertson & Eliza Friel

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Video by Sam Parker

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MONTEFABBRI, Italy—Enrico Libanore, owner and farmer of La Fattoria del Borgo (the village farm), walks through the fields among the hills near the small town of Montefabbri. He reaches up and picks a cherry. “You can eat them off of the trees,” he says.

“The process of making our cherry jam is not very demanding like making the honey or wine,” Libanore explains. “However, it is important that the cherries are washed fresh to get the best quality jam.”

He adds proudly, “People know us for the quality of our organic products.”

Cherries are just one kind of many kinds of produce grown on the farm. There are also apricots, tomatoes, olives, elder flowers, sage, lavender, and rosemary. Libanore is equally proud of the many products he makes from those raw ingredients. These include Sapa (a thick liquid to pour over ricotta polenta and ice cream, made from crushed grapes), Visciolata (a dessert topping, made from forest cherries left in the sun for 60 days), Il Riparaguai (“the repairman,” a cherry-based Sangiovese wine drink), and Sciroppo di Fiori di Sambuco (a healthful drink containing elder flowers, lemon, and cane sugar).

Many of these can be found in restaurants, specialty food shops, and food supplies centers in and around Urbino.

Libanore and his wife, Olessia Tambovtseva, purchased the farm in 1996. “We were shown a hundred houses before this, and I knew this was the house I wanted to be in,” he says.

“The quality of our jam is what we are most proud of, not the amount we make.”

Libanore began with bee-keeping to make honey, but soon expanded.“I realized how much produce was already being grown on the farm and thought to make goods out of them.” He says his organic techniques started from his belief in the quality of the produce he grows and the organic lifestyle he and Tambovtseva follow. “The quality of our jam is what we are most proud of,” he says, “not the amount we make.”

On a recent June morning, Libanore is making wild cherry jam in the laboratorio, or workshop, about a five minute walk from the cherry trees. This is where most of the products are made and packaged to be taken to stores and restaurants. There is a loud hum of the machines. He goes through the process step-by-step, paying close attention to detail. The farmer washes the cherries and then puts them in a container before they are then poured into the pulper. He then grinds the pulp to create the sticky jam.

Libanore leaves the workshop and heads to his little shop alongside the family’s home. Here is where he keeps a small supply of his products on shelves for selling

“All are for sale here,” says Libanore, “but as a farmer, my success depends on the products being sold in local shops and larger scale distributors in the region and internationally.”

In Urbino, the owner of Raffaello Degusteria, a popular restaurant and shop offering authentic local food, describes Libanore and his family as friends. Fausto Foglietta says, “I love their juices such as elder flower and I use their cherry jam for our pies.” Foglietta says he appreciates the farm not only for its products but also for its values in organic living.

La Fattoria is also a favorite of Degusteria customer Carlos Carlini. “I am a fan of all the products that La Fattoria sells,” says Carlini, who visits the farm once a month to shop. Andrea Ceccarelli, president of L’Emporio AE, a large healthful food supplier in Fano, says items from La Fattoria del Borgo are among his favorite products in their warehouse.

Despite the farm’s success, Libanore says he will not try to increase sales by expanding his shop at the farm. “I don’t want to open a bigger shop to sell because farmers should focus on farming, and not trying to be shop sellers.”

“Our goal is to get the community to understand the importance of an organic lifestyle.”

But La Fattoria has recently expanded by taking on a government-funded project called “Active Longevity.” Tambovtseva is in charge of this program, which encourages older people to be mentally and physically active while on the farm. Like most of the activities she directs at La Fattoria, it also teaches why and how organic living is important.

While Libanore spends most of his time farming, and leaves much of the activity planning to his wife, he often takes time to explain the same principles to groups of visiting schoolchildren.“We started these activities to become a more social farm,” says Libanore. “Our goal is to get the community to understand the importance of an organic lifestyle and to promote longevity.”

Translation of interviews and other language assistance by University of Urbino students Liliana Cogliandro, Bianca Sartini, Francesca Massari, Tonia Perecca, and Lisa Olivia.

Video by Sabriya McKoy & Sara Amil

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URBINO, Italy— The sun has barely begun to rise, and the streets of Urbino are still quiet. Giuseppe Romeo’s broad back is hunched over a cold metal table as his thick arms, both adorned with dark tattoos, are working fast. His forehead is lined with sweat, his face is laced with a small smile, and his hands and clothes are covered with stains of bright red.

Romeo dips his wooden spoon into a pot of tomato sauce and spreads it across a crisp crust. Then he embellishes the blank red canvas with white mozzarella cheese. After letting the mozzarella and tomato sauce blend together in the warmth of the oven, Romeo takes out his finished artwork and grunts in approval. His rough, calloused hands gently slice one of the last pizzas he will ever make in Urbino.

Romeo is the manager and pizza maker for Quadro pizza and is often praised for the quality of the products. He learned all there is to know about making pizza at San Patrignano, a drug rehabilitation facility in Rimini, just 30 kilometers north of Urbino.

San Patrignano helped Romeo recover from a 16-year addiction to drugs and gave him a second chance at life with the opportunity to manage Quadro Pizza. He had hoped his new life would continue in Urbino, but Quadro is closing its doors and relocating to nearby Montecchio at the end of the summer. The pizzeria is taking away not only its delicious products, but also Romeo. He says he has handled a major change in his life before.

“I started from scratch once and I’m not afraid to do it again,” Romeo says, laughing as he shows pictures of his younger self with shaggy black hair, pale skin, and a thick, silver septum ring—all of which contrasts with his now buzzed head, pink plump cheeks, and piercing-free nose. “Except this time, as a different person.”

The first big change in Romeo’s life was his family’s move from Naples when he was seven years old. After the death of his father, Romeo, his brother, and mother found it hard to get by in Naples. His mother worked several jobs to try and make ends meet, but that was not enough. Eventually, Romeo’s mother remarried, and their family moved to north Tuscany.

“I didn’t like rules and norms. I guess you could say I was a rebel.”

“People in the north tend to look down on those who come from the south because they believe they’re more educated and wealthier,” says Romeo. He remembers the neighbors turned backs and harsh whispers about his family. “I was discriminated against from the very beginning.”

Young Romeo was isolated and vulnerable. Even after years of trying, he found it hard to find someone close enough to call a “friend.” Feeling desperate and lonely, at the age of 13 Romeo began experimenting with drugs in hopes it would help him fit in. Soon enough, the mere experimentation became a dangerous addiction.

As time went on and people came and went, Romeo says, he found drugs to be the only stable way to satiate his hunger for love and security. His addiction became too much for the people around him, causing him to lose many relationships. His mother cut off contact with him when he was 19.

“I didn’t care, I didn’t like rules and norms. I just wanted to be free from everything,” Romeo says, laughing. “I guess you could say I was a rebel.”

Eventually, Romeo says, even he had enough. He was constantly losing sight of his future and was tired of bringing everyone around him pain. The heart-racing excitement he once felt from the drugs was now replaced with a dull, aching pain in his chest. He checked himself into San Patrignano when he was 29, where his next transition in life would begin.

San Patrignano is a drug rehabilitation facility that does more than just help with recovery. It also gives residents opportunities to learn various crafts and skills—such as wine-making, agriculture, and cheese-making—in hopes of helping them pursue future careers. The program also aids residents in their communication skills, so they can find a way to rejoin the society that once discriminated against them. The facility is where Romeo learned to change his negative mindset for the better.

“San Patrignano made me an entirely different person,” Romeo says. “It was a turning point in my life. It’s where I learned that self-esteem is key to success and confidence in everything that a person does.”

Romeo spent a total of five years at San Patrignano, most of them learning about dairy, then spent the rest of his time working at Spaccio, one of the two on-site restaurants. There he learned several baking techniques that he still uses to this day. Working at Spaccio was unpaid and included long work hours. Romeo says many of the employees made it a point to complain. He, on the other hand, enjoyed everything he did. “Learning to make pizza was something that came easy to me because it came from the heart. I wanted to know how to do everything properly” he says.

San Patrignano is also how Romeo came in contact with Paola Uguccioni, the owner of Quadro pizza.

“He always got his work done. He got even more mature when he got himself a girlfriend.”

“Ever since the first time I met him, he was responsible,” says Uguccioni, with a wide smile on her face. She is dressed in a bright neon floral shirt and sits at her desk surrounded by pictures of her family and thank-you notes from San Patrignano residents she has helped. She is a volunteer for the nonprofit organization Associazione Volontariato Antidroga Pesaro (Anti-drug Volunteer Association Pesaro). The organization works with San Patrignano to help residents find jobs after they leave. When she met Romeo, she had already invested in Quadro pizza and needed a responsible figure to manage the store. After watching him work at Spaccio and witnessing his skills grow before her eyes, she decided he was the perfect fit.

“He always got his work done. He got even more mature when he got himself a girlfriend,” she says, laughing.

Although Romeo was a completely different person, he knew he still had a reputation in Tuscany that would be hard to change. “Once people label you, they will always stigmatize you, no matter how hard you try” he says. So when given the opportunity to work in the quaint city of Urbino doing what he loved, he jumped on the chance. Uguccioni was essentially the key that opened the door to Romeo’s future, and to this day they still remain in constant contact.

Quadro Pizza opened in Urbino in August, 2017. Romeo, who has been working there since day one, sees the restaurant as his personal escape from the outside world. He can do everything he wishes to do while on the job, and genuinely loves what he does. He is greeted by the same familiar faces and has established a sense of security within the environment. Day by day, he grows stronger and more confident in his skills.

“No one has ever complained about the way I make pizza. People have complained about the prices and other external factors, but nobody has ever said anything about the quality of the pizza” Romeo says with a puffed chest and proud smile.

Romeo says Urbino gave him the chance to become “fully human” again. He even has a girlfriend and two month old daughter in the city, making it truly a place he can call home. Since the initial move from San Patrignano to Urbino, Romeo says has adopted a positive mentality in life and chooses to display it as much as he can. That is why he is choosing to think positively about his next change in life, when Quadro closes its doors in Urbino and makes the move to Montecchio.

During Quadro’s first year, people were frequently coming to enjoy the new flavors and textures the pizza introduced to them, according to Uguccioni. However, as the restaurant entered its second year, profits began to slow.

“I like Urbino, I really do,” says Uguccioni,“but it’s not open to new things, and Quadro is new pizza.” She sighs. “Urbino is beautiful and has a great history. But it’s not good for owning a business. I couldn’t even decorate the store in any way because of the rules of the city. They were afraid it would hurt the history.”

In Montecchio, Quadro Pizza will have more room and will sell products other than pizza, such as french fries and sandwiches

Uguccioni is not the only business owner who feels this way. Sonia Rizzoli, who owns Nuova Tandem, a small fabric and lingerie store on the same street as Quadro, agrees with her. “Urbino is a beautiful small city,” says Rizzoli, who opened her store 12 years ago. “But lately, less tourists are coming which can slow down the sales. It’s hard to maintain a business with people constantly coming and going.”

“If I could change anything,” Rizzoli adds, “it would be an improvement in tourism because that’s where a majority of profits come from. But that’s something the government should change, not me.”

After two years, Uguccioni says she has decided that moving Quadro is the best option for the business. Montecchio, 23 kilomters from Urbino, is also a small town, buit she says it has more stores and opportunities to gain profit, and offers more possibilities. There Quadro Pizza will have more room and will sell products other than just pizza, such as french fries and sandwiches. And the one making and selling these products will be none other than Giuseppe Romeo, who will also move to a new apartment in Montecchio.

One morning only several weeks before Quadro’s closing in Urbino, Romeo opens the door to the shop, and lets the beaming sun and slight breeze fill the small space. The faint wind softly lets the scent of tomatoes, basil, and freshly baked bread escape the room.

On his right arm is a realistic tattoo of an owl. The eyes of the figure are bright enough to contrast against the dark, black feathers that frame its body.

“Many people see owls as a sign of bad luck, but not me,” says Romeo. His left hand brushes over the tattoo on his right arm and pauses. “You know, owls are the only animals that can turn their heads completely backwards and then forward again.”

Some may view Urbino’s Quadro as a failure. But Romeo says he sees it as a new beginning, and new beginnings bring new possibilities. The optimistic perception of life he built at San Patrignano will now guide him through his next transition at Montecchio.

“I won’t say I’m happy about the move,” Romeo says. “I’m motivated.”

Translation of interviews and other language assistance by University of Urbino students Francesca Massari, Luca Cocozza, Lisa Olivia, and Roberto Giambona.

Video by Ester Jon

Urbino, Italy is a quiet city that holds significant history. It is also a city, like anywhere else in Italy, that has multiple pizza shops. Ester Jon takes us on her personal journey to nearly every pizza shop in Urbino in search of the perfect slice.

The post Starting From Scratch, Again appeared first on 2019 Urbino Project.

URBINO, Italy – Imagine a school that is all recess. In the hills on the outskirts of this ancient city there is a place where kids play outdoors all day.

At the preschool Maestra Natura, founded by the L’albero Maestro association, nap time is a picturesque scene of children sleeping on blankets underneath a shade tree. Their library is a tarp with books scattered around for the children to choose from. Even the bathrooms are potty-training plastic toilets outdoors in the open air right next to the colorful boots they use when they are about to embark on a muddy adventure.

You’ll find no technology or store-bought toys at this school. The children make toys out of whatever they can.

One recent morning, a group of three boys spent 45 minutes pulling benches and pieces of wood together and covering it with a tarp. In the hot sun, it seemed to be a strange project, until they started filling up pans, cups, and even balloons with water from the spigots and running back and forth in an attempt to fill their homemade pool. It barely covered the bottom of the tarp, but they were learning through trial and error how not to make a pool.

The children seem to have a different kind of curiosity than most. They are excited and intrigued by nature even if they have seen something a thousand times. A little girl screams “un fiore!” as she runs to show the teacher; the school is surrounded in these flowers. Some of the children are delighted to find a snail and examine it carefully with their magnifying glasses.

As other children run around joyfully screaming, a teacher pulls out a small black box and some kids surround her looking in. Inside the box is a baby bird that has fallen from its tree. The teacher begins feeding it with a small syringe filled with baby food while telling the children about the importance of respecting nature. She is not forcing them to watch her or calling all the kids over to see the bird. She is just waiting for those who are interested and curious.

This school allows children the freedom of finding what they are interested in, which you wouldn’t find in a traditional school, even another pre-school. Kids do what they want but seem to be more engaged than most children forced to sit in a classroom all day with only an hour recess, at most.

With freedom, what often follows is independence – and risk. As children explore the forest one chilly and muddy afternoon, a boy tumbles to the ground. At another school, you might expect worried teachers to hover over the possibly injured boy and call his home. Here the teachers just look to see him stand up. This atmosphere of not coddling makes the children less prone to fits and tougher than most. There seem to be no “crybabies” at this school, just happy children.

Among today’s children in general, the diminishing experience of freedom and the outdoors is creating a problem that American author Richard Louv calls “nature-deficit disorder.” Louv, an award-winning journalist whose 2005 book “Last Child in the Woods” was a national best seller, argues that kids are spending less and less time outdoors, leading to long-term behavioral problems.

Louv, when told about Maestra Natura in an email, responded that a preschool like this leads children to play more cooperatively and be more imaginative in inventing their own games. He also wrote in an email that such increased time in nature leads to gains in almost all areas of typical elementary study and better problem-solving, critical thinking, and decision-making. Later in these children’s academic career, he said, it could also lead to higher grade point averages and standardized test scores.

“People look at us like we are wild things, wild people.”

At Maestra Natura, co-founder Nicoletta Santini stands tall surveying the children with her months-old baby, her third child, strapped to her front. She is one of the school’s parents as well as one of the teachers. After working in a private preschool for 12 years, she raised her first daughter largely outdoors on her farm. With donkeys, goats, and other animals wandering around, she realized she wanted all her children to grow up this way.

She met Serena Panti, another teacher, and together in October 2016 they founded L’albero Maestro, which means both “the mast” and “the teacher tree” in Italian. The association began with weekend excursions for children. They opened Maestra Natura in September 2017. Both say that this kind of school is drastically different from their own experiences. “People look at us like we are wild things, wild people,” says Panti.

Santini says that this school goes deeper than having the founders’ philosophy. It has also adopted their own pedagogy. The two founders took inspiration from other sources, like the teachings of Marie Montessori, a renowned educator who was from this region of Italy. They are focused on the children’s ideas, letting them decide the day-to-day routine.

The children are learning to be happy, Santini says. But what else are they learning? She pauses, then continues, “To know each other, to live, to know the world and respect it, to respect others.”

Translation of interviews and other language assistance by University of Urbino student Antonia Perreca.  

Video by Eliza Friel & Kelsey Robertson

The post Where the Wild Things Are appeared first on 2019 Urbino Project.

The rich aroma of freshly brewed coffee brushes against your nostrils as you enter the coffee shop. While you wait, your mind begins to wander, thinking about what you have planned for the day, what you will cook for dinner, or what you will bring to your office party next week. Then the barista calls, you grab your drink, and continue about your day.

But have you once stopped to think about the hands that prepared these coffee beans that you enjoy?

Massimo Mogiatti has, for more than twenty years. In 1993, Mogiatti co-founded Mondo Solidale—“world of solidarity”—a fair trade cooperative in the Marche region focused on creating equitable income for products from developing countries. In 2003, Mondo Solidale started a project with coffee growers in Guatemala, aimed at getting them paid a living wage for their labor. In September 2012, Mogiatti decided to focus solely on fair trade coffee and created Shadhilly, which now also has cooperatives in India, Haiti, and Uganda. And, for 25 years, he and the people behind Mondo Solidale have tried to educate others so that they will stop to think about the hands that produce the beans for the coffee they drink.

In Fano, at Shadhilly’s headquarters, Mogiatti slides open the green warehouse doors, revealing a huge white room. To the right is a custom coffee machine and burlap bags filled with coffee ready to be distributed in the Marche region and other parts of the world. The stores that participate in the fair trade world are ensuring that their products are sold at an ethical rate and producers are guaranteed proper payment for their labor. Typically, businesses like Shadhilly compete with larger corporations like the European chain stores Conad and Coop to grow and profit in the coffee industry. Carlo Mogiatti, export manager and son of the mastermind behind Shadhilly, ties his apron and prepares to serve a fresh batch of coffee. Mogiatti and Carlo then prop themselves against the burlap sacks to explain how Shadhilly came about.

In 2002, a Guatemalan working in Italy came to Mondo Solidale in Fano ready to tell his story. He explained that the price of coffee had dropped below $100 a sack and was continuing to fall. Many farmers were not being offered even half that amount for their coffee sacks, and while prices plummeted for coffee growers, large corporations increased their earnings. Guatemalan coffee growers had lost over $300 million since the end of 2000. Many farmers and their families had resorted to producing a lower-grade coffee or made the decision to immigrate to a new land.

That same year Mogiatti and others from Mondo Solidale traveled to El Bosque, Guatemala, to witness the problems first-hand. They saw children roaming the streets because there were no schools, abandoned crops, and people needing work. Mogiatti remembers seeing young boys waiting until they were old enough to leave their country because they saw how bad it was for their fathers and grandfathers. “These people do not want to leave their homes, so our goal was to help them,” says Mogiatti.

Mondo Solidale partnered with El Bosque to set up the cooperative La Nueva Esperanza, and registered Anacafé and Inacoop as cooperatives. The partnership allowed for the Guatemalan farmers to produce 100 percent Arabica coffee, which is known for its sweet taste, while also receiving adequate income and building relationships with other businesses. Mogiatti and members of Mondo Solidale sat with coffee farmers in Guatemala and created a price for the importation of coffee bags. “The people in Guatemala were planning to leave the plantation because it wasn’t useful working,” says Mogiatti, so Mondo Solidale gave the farmers roughly $50,000 to purchase updated machinery, a new warehouse, and an export license. Producers were now receiving income to continue producing uncontaminated, quality coffee.

In 2012 Mogiatti founded Shadhilly, solely to focus on coffee and to ensure farmers in developing countries were prospering in the economy. Mogiatti now has partnerships with La Nueva Esperanza, Anacafé, and Inacoop. Mogiatti says Shadhilly and fair trade rely on building trust with every partnership, so they give 50 percent of the agreed revenue to their farmers in the month of November in order for them to get proper materials and appliances to produce quality coffee. Roughly six months later, after the coffee has sprouted, been packaged, and shipped to Shadhilly, the farmers receive the remainder of their revenue.

Mogiatti regularly returns to El Bosque for updates and has seen the economic growth in the coffee community. Mogiatti says, “I see the young boys that were eager to leave their country now grown and married because they have seen the benefits of the coffee industry that once tore their people apart. Fifteen years ago in Guatemala there were no schools or healthcare, but now there are three primary schools, two secondary schools, a doctor that comes once a month and a nurse.”

The three projects now employ roughly 1,200 coffee farmers. In addition to their projects in Guatemala, Shadhilly now has projects in India, Haiti, and Uganda. Currently, the Uganda project includes approximately 20,000 farmers, India about 5,000, and Haiti about 200.

Carlo explains that his father started Shadhilly because coffee is the most consumed beverage around the world­—in America alone, more than 100 million people drink it daily. Along with roasted Arabica coffee, Shadhilly now imports roasted Robusta coffee, which is stronger in taste and easier to grow than Arabica, as well as green coffee, which is linked to weight loss and other health benefits. And still, says Carlo, “Mondo Solidale and Shadhilly are close friends, currently working together to help the coffee business.”

—

Displayed in the windows and glass doors of the small shop at the bottom of Urbino’s Via Mazzini are handcrafted decorative glass bowls, hats, and wind chimes dangling from fixtures. Inside, a rainbow canopy drapes from the ceiling and the smell of incense sticks, tea, spices, soaps, and coffee send the mind on a trip to Tunisia, Kenya, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and many other countries. Displayed in a glass case are toy cars made from recycled tins from Madagascar, and the tables and shelves are filled with colorful jewelry, stationary crafted from elephant dung in Sri Lanka, pasta, wine, and honey from the Marche region, and coffee from Shadhilly cooperatives.

This is one of 16 shops throughout the Marche region operated by Mondo Solidale. The organization has few paid employees but some 250 volunteers who are passionate about educating the world about fair trade. These shops import products from developing regions in Africa, South America, and Southern Asia, providing consistent income for the businesses and changing the lives of the families involved. Mondo Solidale is well known in the fair trade world around Italy because they have many paying subscribers supporting the movement. Those volunteers around the Marche region as well as customers pay a one-time membership fee and own their own part of the cooperative. They believe everyone plays an important role in the economy and must act responsibly so everyone benefits, from producers, to consumers, to the environment.

Sandra Abderhalden, vice president of Mondo Solidale, says it is difficult for the shop in Urbino to grow because it is strictly volunteer-based, and volunteers are hard to come by. In addition, the idea of fair trade is becoming popular among people with larger businesses. Ironically, some fear that the Mondo Solidale shops will close because of competition from businesses offering similar fair trade items.

Abderhalden says, “Coming from a farmer family, I always knew about fair trade.” Now her goal is to get the people of Urbino, all of Italy, and around the world to know what Mondo Solidale does and what they can do to make a difference. “What we do is inform, our main goal is to educate,” says Abderhalden. There are people in Urbino that stumble across the shop and believe it is new, so volunteers take the opportunity to discuss the importance of their products because they want people to be aware of the craft and dignity of the producers. Products like wine, chocolate, coffee, and the occasional bananas continue to draw many customers back into the shop. Once they learn about the mission and products they realize the difference between Mondo Solidale and large chain stores.

Francesca Guidarelli, coordinator of Mondo Solidale in Urbino, began volunteering after being a frequent customer. In the beginning she was not convinced about the idea, but she decided to learn more about the industry. Today, Guidarelli and other volunteers go out to the local middle schools to educate students about fair trade, water conservation, immigration and other sustainability issues. The goal is to teach kids at a young age, because they will be the new voices in society fighting for humanity. “We are very lucky to be born on this side of the world, but a lot of people don’t understand this fact,” says Guidarelli.

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The Conferenza Regionale del commerico equo e solidale, the “Regional Conference of Fair Trade,” is held annually in the Marche region. This year, the 10th conference is held at Abbadia di Fiastra, a nature reserve in the province of Macerata. Outside, tents and signs for Mondo Solidale, Shadhilly, and other cooperatives welcome attendees to Aula Verde, the “green room.”

As attendees file into the room and fill the chairs, Leonardo Becchetti, economics professor at the University of Rome, and Roberto Mancini, theoretical philosophy professor at the University of Macerata, are found sitting in the front of the room prepared for a panel discussion about fair trade in a changing world equipped with new ways of creating businesses. A slide on a screen behind the men reads, “We are not super heroes, but we have superpowers.”

The discussion focuses on the main principles of fair trade, which are creating economic value and growth in a sustainable environment and establishing groups that trust each other. Becchetti says, “Fair trade is not just about the products, but through the products you can understand the culture.” Following the panel discussion, attendees gather outside while Mogiatti speaks about the challenges in the coffee industry. He explains that farmers are struggling to produce coffee due to various diseases, some are placing rocks in their packing to meet weight requirements, and it all ties back into creating an ethical way of doing business with these individuals, so their farms are in good shape.

Afterwards, speakers, volunteers, and families line up to sample fair trade wine, juice, cheese, and bananas. As all the attendees socialize, Jabel Kanuteh, a Gambian musician, plays the kora, ending the day with musical selections from old traditions of his ancestors. These individuals know to appreciate the hands that crafted the products sold at Mondo Solidale.

A photo that accompanies this story (see the second photo in the slide show above) won a Raffie Award for Best Magazine Photo. Translation of interviews and other language assistance by University of Urbino students Liliana Cogliandro and Luca Cocozza. This article also appears in Urbino Now magazine’s La Gente section. You can read all the magazine articles in print by ordering a copy from MagCloud.

The post Feel Good, Trade Fair appeared first on 2019 Urbino Project.

Video by Elizabeth Brown

The post Stronger Together: Women Farmers of Urbino appeared first on 2019 Urbino Project.

MONTEFABBRI, Italy—Schoolchildren dressed in bright rainbow colors dart across the yard of an orange stone house as a kind-faced woman opens a wooden gate. This is La Fattoria del Borgo (the village farm), a small farm located at the top of a winding dirt road, where visitors find hillside fields full of apricots, cherries, and strawberries, children rolling grains of wheat between their chubby hands, and smiling seniors carrying freshly-picked sage plants.

Twenty years earlier, the same kind-faced woman, Olessia Tambovtseva, and her husband, Enrico Libanore, discovered a space for their family home and business in a 129-year-old house overlooking the rolling green hills around Montefabbri, a quick 25-minute journey from Urbino. Reminiscing about that discovery over coffee on a recent day in June, Tambovtseva said they house-hunted throughout the mountains of towns lining the coast of the Adriatic Sea. She explained that it was crucial to find a place with open fields both for future planting and future activities.

Success can mean different things to different people, said Tambovtseva, looking over at Libanore. To them, it meant embracing an organic lifestyle. Connecting with nature, making products from scratch, and being surrounded by fruits and plants of all kinds are a few elements of this style of living.

Two roofed outdoor spaces, a patch of open green space, and leveled-log seating make up the designated activity areas closest to the house of La Fattoria del Borgo. Walking through the outdoor tunnel that connects the family’s living space to the activity areas, Tombovtseva said their emphasis is to be outside as much as possible. Holding bees, climbing on uneven rock, and clambering through tall grass fields are just a few of the many activities offered to the young and old alike.

“It’s important to have a certain quality of life. We believe that we have reached it in a place like this.”

Tambovtseva said a big part of their lifestyle is promoting Montessori, or hands-on, learning, that is supported by the government.

“It’s important to have a certain quality of life,” added Libanore. “We believe that we have reached it in a place like this.”

Their former business selling furniture was left dusty and empty once Tambovtseva and Libanore decided to pursue their dreams of educating people on farm life and nature. From the start, they intended to include educational activities. This resulted in them searching for a home with enough outdoor space for energetic children to play between activities. Years of house-hunting and a hundred lots later, Tambovtseva and Libanore fell in love with the space La Fattoria del Borgo offered. Two years after securing the home, cement mixers and cranes rolled onto the patchy grass to begin building the on-site product shop, indoor and outdoor activity areas, and appropriate laboratories for both learning and production.
“We were ready, but the place was not,” said Tambovtseva. “So, the activities went on all the same.”

For a determined woman, three years was far too long to wait to begin with her plans. Tambovtseva did not allow renovations to delay her passion for educating the youth on nature. Teaching in any classroom that would let her, working summer camps, and further educating herself occupied Tambovtseva’s time until La Fattoria del Borgo’s wooden gates opened for the first time in 2001.

More than a center for activities and education, La Fattoria del Borgo is a complex of countless fields sprouting grapes, apples, and peaches, to name just a few produce items they grow.

“Generally, it’s understood that if we wanted to work as a small farm we had to be multifunctional,” said Libanore of the farm’s success producing jams, honey, and fruit syrups in addition to running educational activities.

Juggling two sides of their business led to Tambovtseva and Libanore’s shared involvement in both. Although Libanore is more often in the fields with dirt under his nails from a long day of work, he can also be seen towering over kindergarten students listening attentively to his explanations of farm life. And while Tambovtseva runs between children covered in flour, seniors spreading jam, and preparing coffee for her guests, she can also be found in the beating sun picking plants for the day’s activities.

Working from dawn to dusk has paid off: Tambovtseva said profits from producing goods have helped fund some of the farm’s newer projects.

Being as close to nature as possible was not an idea Libanore and Tambovtseva credit themselves with. As he stocked shelves with freshly-made products, Libanore explained their inspiration for outdoor educational activities came from a European movement towards this style of learning.

Outdoor learning could not have happened without the success of the production side of the farm.

The push for hands-on learning in Italy did not come from bustling cities like Rome or Florence, but from the quiet rural region bordering the Adriatic Sea, Le Marche. Though Libanore first proposed including the learning-style because of a European trend he heard of in the 90s, he says the location they settled in, Le Marche, is responsible for the extent of the farm’s activities. The region highly encourages this learning style, incentivizing teachers to adopt the ideas by offering free training, according to Fondazione Chiaravalle Montessori, a private foundation. The region’s push for this learning style has touched La Fattoria del Borgo in recent years. Though nature-based learning has been a part of the farm since the beginning, backing from the regional government has helped La Fattoria del Borgo’s recent expansions.

Outdoor learning could not have happened without the success of the production side of the farm, which allowed Tambovtseva to get a jump start on Montessori activities. More unique than the learning style being used, Tambovtseva and Libanore used profits from their farm to self-fund their expanding activities.

Though the high-pitched laughter of children has existed on the farm for over a decade, the presence of those 65 and up is still considered new five years after its launch. Deciding to take a business risk by using their own funding to promote a previously unheard-of project, La Fattoria del Borgo opened its gates to the seniors of the surrounding area to become closer to both nature and one another.

“The project is a way to stay active,” said loyal farm volunteer Vanda Focarini a Montefabbri resident who has been visiting consistently with her husband for five years. “It’s a way to go out and do something.”

Whether its cooking fresh pasta, strolling through the fields, or discussing the day’s activities around the outdoor table, on any given day participants of the original project, known as Active Longevity, can be spotted in every nook of La Fattoria del Borgo.

With inspiration from the region, Tambovtseva immediately began to mimic the existing activities of the farm, but it now had twist—the age of the participants. Older people slowly but surely flocked in to experiment with interactive activities like creating essential oils while getting to know members of their community. Because it had never been done before and was proposed by the region, despite the farm’s self-funding, the program had a set end-date: December 2016. Not imagining the success of the experimental program, both Tambovtseva and participants were disappointed when it ran its course.

Never one to wait around, Tambovtseva worked to get La Fattoria del Borgo a new classification that would allow them to continue with projects for older people. Not long after she set her mind to it, La Fattoria del Borgo was classified as “community agriculture” by the Le Marche region. The new classification brought more than just a title, with it came money.

“Le Marche is one of the most forward going” said Kay Mongardi when asked about the region’s push towards helping the older people of their community in comparison with the rest of Italy. Mongardi,a friend and neighbor of Tambovtseva and Libanore, has only been an active participant as of recently.

Two years after the end of their initial project, the farm’s gates once again opened in December 2018 for the seniors of the Le Marche region, but this time funded by the government.

“We wanted the new project to be an evolution, not a repetition,” said Tambovtseva. In order not to just redo their previous project, the farm emphasized more social interaction this time around.

Old members helped teach new participants, seniors interacted directly with the schoolchildren, and members of the Montefabbri community merged with those from other communities. More than just immersing themselves in nature, Tambovtseva wanted to make a push for creating greater social connections between community members, no matter the age or community they belong to.

They make visitors of all ages feel at home by giving the signature double-cheek kiss right away and bringing out the coffee tray and homemade bread and jam.

Mongardi is a widow with an empty nest and moved to Montefabbri from the United States 10 years ago. Though she loves where she lives, living alone surrounded by green space made her feel disconnected at times.

“It gave me a connection to the community” said Mongardi about her recent discovery of the farm’s newest project. Neighbor Tambovtseva invited her to one of La Fattoria del Borgo’s lunches about two months ago, and Mongardi has been a part of the new project ever since.

The new project, called Community Agriculture, goes further than La Fattoria del Borgo’s reach. La Fattoria del Borgo is just one of eight groups in the Le Marche region involved in the Programma Sviluppo Rurale, or Rural Development Program. The involvement of older people at La Fattoria del Borgo is their focus of a larger overarching program whose goal is to see longevity in older people. Longevity does not mean the farms want to literally lengthen the lives of the participants, but instead help them make the most of their lives.

As an informational pamphlet from Agricoltura Social: Percorsi Di Innovazione (Social Agriculture: Innovation Paths) explains, “Today for many ‘elders’ there is still so much to do, time to give a new meaning to one’s life, but also to review one’s social values, recover the best of oneself and also offer it to others.”

Combining the hands-on educational activities from the Active Longevity project and new plans to build community relationships is how La Fattoria del Borgo believes they can add to this project. In order to reach a larger community, Tambovtseva works with new groups in surrounding communities. Twice a month, two new groups unload from buses at La Fattoria del Borgo from Pesaro and Montecchio, supported by partner Associazione Nonno Mio, a group that encourages seniors to become involved in their communities to avoid isolation. When these groups come, members of La Fattoria del Borgo’s group transform from students to teachers and demonstrate things like making bread and honey.

Only just beginning, project participants have three more years of relationship-building ahead of them. Because the project is still new, it will continue growing over the next few years Tambovtseva said with a clear twinkle in her blue eyes.

The focus on nature and hands-on activities in education with older people remains new but seems to have a promising future based on the smiling faces and positive experiences of participants.

It even expands beyond Italy, with Dr. Cameron J. Camp, a psychologist from the United States who has studied Montessori learning with seniors for more than 20 years. Camp found himself in Le Marche many years ago when the region first began promoting Montessori learning and has remained involved through the newest project by visiting La Fattoria del Borgo and meeting some participants.

Despite their happiness with the reach of the project, Tambovtseva and Libanore prioritize keeping a welcoming atmosphere for local community members.

The comforting atmosphere Tambovtseva and Libanore maintain has long contributed to their success. Employee Alessandra Cerri said she was first drawn in to the farm 15 years ago when visiting her husband Emanuele Paceschi at work one day. Paceschi was recording the experiences of participants in the Active Longevity project. Cerri said she was attracted by the environment Tambovtseva and Libanore presented.

They make visitors of all ages feel at home by giving the signature double-cheek kiss right away and never hesitating to bring out the coffee tray and homemade bread and jam. From Tambovtseva and Libanore’s hospitality to the kids, seniors, and animals constantly running around, it is difficult to feel anything but happy when on the farm.

An even bigger project is on the horizon as the Le Marche region proposed using outdoor and interactive activities with those who have Alzheimer’s. The hope is that the same positive experiences discussed by current seniors would also happen with new participants who have Alzheimer’s.

However, Tambovtseva’s priority is improving one step at a time and not becoming involved in too many things. She said they plan on focusing on their current seniors program until its end before taking on another project.

Tambovtseva explained, “The project we have is already so rich.”

Translation of interviews and other language assistance by University of Urbino students’ Luca Cocozza, Francesca Massari, Tonia Perreca, and Bianca Sartini.

Video by Sara Amil & Sabriya McKoy

The post An Organic Lifestyle appeared first on 2019 Urbino Project.