In May 2015, I participated in a trip to Italy with two professors and 13 students, including myself. This was a study-abroad trip for a class called Protected Landscapes Community, which is a junior-level course. In this class, we had to create a Sustainable Tourism Marketing Plan for the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines National Park in Northern Italy, comparing it to our Adirondack Park. Our goal was to help them attract more tourists from the US.
Our three-week stay was very fun, but also very busy. On a daily basis we gathered information from either field trips, meetings with stakeholders, observations, reviewing documents, or interviews with park officials.
This trip wasn’t all just fun and games – but we had many amazing experiences and made wonderful memories. This is one of my favorites:
It was a beautiful, warm Wednesday, in Castelnovo ne’ Monte, in Central Italy. We traveled over to Pietra di Bismantova, which is the 84th mountain in Emilia-Romagna, and the 3686th highest mountain in Italy. At the bottom of La Pietra we received a quick rock climbing lesson. Although I was very scared, the other students practically made me feel guilty for not wanting to do it, so I ended up climbing.
When I started to climb, it was the greatest feeling in the world. I scraped my knees on side of the rocks, but it did not phase me. As I got farther up the rock though, I started to give up. I didn’t think I could go any further. My shoulders were getting weak, and I was afraid of letting everyone down. I was almost to the top when I realized that I had gotten farther than my best friend. At that moment, I was proud. I made it back to the bottom, and was so happy.
As the hour passed, we took a break to cool off in these really authentic Adirondack-type chairs that were reclined for resting. As we cooled down we talked about how thrilling it was to climb the rocks at the bottom, and how cool it would actually be to climb the rocks on La Pietra itself. We knew that wasn’t going to happen today, but why not another time later in life, right?
My best friend, Paula, and I ran up a set of very steep stairs. Next thing we knew, all of us were on our way up to the very top! We were all so excited that we just wanted to get to the top and never come back down. On our way, we stopped a couple of times to look at rock art of snakes and lizards. We thought they were the coolest things in the world! When we approached the top of La Pietra, I began to feel free. I had a huge feeling of relief, like weight off my shoulders. At that moment in time everything just escaped and nothing existed; there was no worries nor cares in the world.
The view from the top was an amazing 360 degree view that I will never forget. I could see all the little villages, which looked like little ant houses. The breeze that threw my hair around was chilly and all I could smell were grass and flowers. I saw the birds fly around me and I felt as if I were one of them. I stood there with my arms wide open and whispered to myself, “I’m free.” I stared into the distance and wondered what was in all the different directions around me. I wondered if the people down in the village could see us walking around on top or if we just looked like birds, as we pranced around in excitement.
Soon, it was time to head back down. Our adventure down was a rush. It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t trip, slide, or fall on the way, being the klutz that I am. When Paula and I reached the bottom we were exhausted and couldn’t wait to eat dinner!
We watched the sunset from tables outside of the place in which we were staying, Agriturismo “Il Ginepro,” and it was beautiful. As it got chilly, and the sun was setting – at that moment I knew I would never forget that day.
La Pietra di Bismantova from the base.
Photo Credit TJ Johnston
La Pietra di Bismantova is rich in history.
During his travels while writing Inferno, Dante came across this mountain. The unique shape of La Pietra di Bismantova lead Dante to base his mountain of Purgatory in its image.
Photo Credit TJ Johnston