There are experiences in life that build up almost without you noticing, that shape you so well that you can never shake them off.
They accompany you throughout your life, silent, sweet, and nostalgic.
And they leave memories and emotions of all colors. Bright, muted, luminous, indispensable, unforgettable!
It all started with a simple request for directions to climb the mountain.
It was the first half of 2016, we were studying the possible routes for the CNP with long site visits and we were exploring the slopes and inhabited hamlets of a little-known ridge of peaks because it was close to the Sibillini and Monti della Laga peaks.
We had to reach the ridge, but we lacked knowledge of the right dirt roads, the ones that would take us up the mountain without making a mistake.
In every small village, there were the usual few curious faces as vehicles passed by; and as we were about to cross the last one, before reaching Accumoli, we rolled down the window and asked a man from Terracino for directions.
That man, with his ready helpfulness and hospitality, and unexpected guide for the rest of that day, became the Giorgio I hold dear in my heart today, whom we hold dear in our hearts, our close-knit group who run the CNP.
In the afternoon, at the end of a day full of human warmth, we said goodbye with a passionate farewell… which was never more bitter!
Long dark periods arrived for him, his family, and their fellow citizens.
The upheaval of the earth in the summer of 2016 and the heavy snowfall of the winter of 2017; in short, the natural elements were doing their best to clumsily pile up on top of each other.
Yet Giorgio and Annarita, his incomparable life partner, found themselves in a small caravan on the outskirts of their village, in the historic center of the red zone, in the early autumn of 2016. Although they were exhausted and deprived of many things, they had not collapsed.
They were worn out, tired, sometimes angry at the slowness of the administrative machine, but they had exemplary strength of character, capable of supporting their family and even us who went to visit them and spoke to them on the phone.
And every time, on my way back, I found myself thinking with amazement and admiration that this was the substance of true Wisdom: knowing how to withstand the storms of life with balance, firmness, humility, and harmony. Knowing how to absorb the blows.
I remember as if it were yesterday, and with great emotion, the day I brought him the pair of boots we all gave him together. These are tears that are good for the soul.
And the barn with its crumbling roof, with its cows forced to graze in the deep snow… Misfortune after misfortune, long hard years, and we, with our occasional visits and phone calls, tried to offer some small comfort. But they were so strong inside that the coffees we drank together on the step of their trailer, admiring the vast views of the Laga and Gran Sasso mountains, were always accompanied by smiles and heated stories about their new life of hardship.
Accompanied by a warm welcome in the background, first on the side of the main road, then in a small house next to their animals and the damaged barn, and now in their prefabricated home, to be remembered forever as a good practice.
We met several times, although we would have liked to have seen them more often, both down in Terracino and, more often than not, on the wide, rolling pastures where he managed his herds.
We interviewed him, he showed us the best paths to draw the CNP, suggested the best passages, invited us to return soon each time, but the aspect that best represents Giorgio is his GOODNESS.
And as Victor Hugo wrote, in front of it, we walkers of the Natural Path of the Parks and throughout our lives, we can only kneel.
