From the city to the summit: the power of Nature

I was born in the beautiful medieval city of Bologna and I have lived there with my family until 1998, when the world fell apart. My mum suffered a severe nervous breakdown after the birth of her second child; a golden job (which occupied her for more than 18 hours per day) as a chief medical officer, two babysitters, no help from her family and a lovely husband who worked all around Italy. A very well paid job, no time to live her life and no chance to see her children growing. Some people can be wonderful mums and workers at the same time, some can’t, they are too sensitive, too fragile.

It was Summer, it was so hot in the city, but my mum was halfway between the house and the hospital, she was not in condition of travelling very far. So my parents decided to rent a hut in the Appennini mountains, just 50 min by car from the city, but still, in another world.

We spent there the three months that Summer, and we haven’t moved from there for 6 years. We’ve lived in the 48 square meters hut immersed in the nature, and we couldn’t ask for more.

My mum’s illness got better and better, she finally had time to spend with her children, to play with us, to cook healthy food, to read under the sun or in the shade of the cherry tree in our garden, time to go out and walk, walk in the forest, where the trees tell you that nothing is more important than feeling the connection with Nature, walk up the hills, where you can see all the clouds that cover the plain, walk along the ancient roman street which links Bologna with Florence, telling that we are just a little spot in a universe of stories and dreams.

I began to sleep (I haven’t slept the whole night until we moved to the mountains, because I suffered of asma and I was probably allergic to some paint used in our brand new apartment in the city or maybe, it was just fault of the air pollution) and my brother started to be more open and to enjoy being in the open air.

We were indians who crossed the rivers, explorers who discovered new horizons, we were poets, wizards, elves of the woods.

I couldn’t be more grateful for that day when my parents decided not to go back to the city. They chose to live a life with less money, less comforts, to wake up at 4 in the morning to clean the path from the snow and to renounce to travels, cinemas, restaurants, new clothes. But I have memories of my childhood which will accompany and help me for all my life, as I understood what are the important things in our life. And I can tell that the contact with Nature and the choice of a simple life saved not only a life, but also the integrity of a family.

#stories #childhood #intothewoods #hut #mountains #city #natureconnection #family #love