
Gardener, builder and guide: life returns to the abandoned village.
Predalbora, municipality of Farini province of Piacenza.
It happens that being an agricultural entrepreneur ends up becoming the guardian and guardian of an entire country. Gardener, maintainer, sexton and even mayor, if your vote alone is enough to elect you. CÃ pita, and it happened to Francesco Chinosi, who clung his fate to the memories of a child. Of that child who was led by the hand by his grandfather in what was an abandoned village, with a few elderly peasants left, a few chimneys still lit and a small and sad church. Francesco has decided to return to that village. And to stay there. To reopen the stone street, to rebuild the alleys, alleys, to keep landslides and landslides at bay, to rearrange the gardens, to guard and take care of the church. Here Francesco decided to bring back to life and definitively cut the inextricable tangles of brambles that devoured the houses. Everything starts from the idea of reviving an ancient crop. To go back to planting potatoes. Francesco buys and rents the land and, after having cleaned and re-fertilized it, starts the agricultural activity of the organic plantation of potatoes and cereals for the production of flour. Those that even Oscar Farinetti asked for for his Eataly shops, ground with an ancient artisan mill. Today Francesco has the keys of the village, those of the church and of the houses. Who is it who said that to become great you have to know how to make yourself small

Arrivarci non è semplice e fino a poco tempo fa lo era ancora meno se non ci pensava Francesco e ritirare fuori il sentiero dai rovi


C'è ancora molto da fare per riportare in vita le case e i capanni lasciati abbandonati ma come si dice: chi inizia bene è già a metà dell'opera


La fatica non può spaventare chi quest'avventura prima di compierla ha avuto il coraggio di pensarla


Le case ristrutturate

C'è sempre qualcosina da fare. Un muretto da tirare su, una tegola da sostituire l'erba da tagliare ... ci pensa Francesco

Custode e cicerone

Quei campi che fino a poco tempo fa ospitavano rovi ed erbacce oggi servono per coltivare le patate e i cereali per la produzione delle farine

E' sempre meno solo Francesco adesso anche suo padre Domenico e il suo amico Armando si adoperano a Predalbora

E' lui che ne custodisce le chiavi, che lo pulisce e lo mostra a chi gli fa visita



Con Francesco che sorveglia, il vecchio villaggio sta ritornando a sorridere come un tempo