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Tuesday 1 September 2015

MONTE SAN COSTANZO - AN IDEA FOR THE FUTURE?

Following the fire on 13th August which caused extensive damage to the slopes of Monte San Costanzo , Giovanni Visetti has had what he defines as a "mad idea, but not that mad", regarding the future of its pinewood which he expounds in his latest blog.

The pinewood was planted in the middle of last century and covers about 13 hectares of the upper, southern slopes of the mount, stretching down from the ridge for about 200 metres. At the same time, a series of dry-stone walls was also built, creating numerous narrow terraces linked to one another by long horizontal (and therefore flat) paths in zig-zags, making going up or downhill as painless as possible. These trails are still evident but very few people have actually walked them and even fewer continue to frequent them.
Giovanni is one of the exceptions, especially when coming up from Nerano along the CAI300, since it is a good way of getting to the path leading to Campo Vetavole without having to take the steep and sunny route to the eastern edge of the wood.

Following his recent forages into the woods to monitor the damage done by the fire, Giovanni had one of his light-bulb moments: why not try to reap some good from this unfortunate event? This is his proposal:

  • clean and mark the trails of the pinewood in order to allow easy walks,
  • trace and map them with the idea of proposing a circular route,
  • facilitate access to the area in case of emergencies,
  • create a shortcut for the CAI300 trail,
  • make panoramic viewpoints and/or places for meditation easily accessible and put benches there (for example in stone). 
  • it goes without saying that barbecue areas are out of the question!
He concludes his blog with another idea, this one regarding the perpetrators of the fire which on all accounts was not in the slightest deliberate but a very unfortunate accident caused by imprudence and irresponsibility. Since it seems that the individuals involved are  more than contrite, why not suggest that they help voluntarily with the restoration of these footpaths and other necessary non-skilled jobs,  all under the direction and supervision of the municipal staff and the Forest Services?

These don't seem such mad ideas to me!

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