It is difficult today to imagine living far from everyday comforts and not having everything at hand. As regards supplies, for example, we have convenient supermarkets, home shopping and apps. This is perhaps why Martina's story takes on heroic notes when you listen to it. She has definitely made an unconventional choice: living in the Ligurian countryside, raising animals, cultivating the land and taking care of bees.
The first steps in nature
Martina grew up in Ovada, a small village in the province of Alessandria. The countryside settled in her heart already as a child, when she spent the summers at her grandmothers' house, who taught her a lot about nature and its secrets.
When the grandmothers passed away, the countryside moved away a little from its customs, leaving room for many activities, first of all sporting activities. Martina has played volleyball for twenty years and has collected various work experiences that have kept her very busy.
«At 19, to support myself at university, I started working, in the meantime I also played volleyball, I was really overwhelmed with commitments. Then in 2020 I met my future husband. Despite having lived in the city all his life, he also cultivated the dream of living in the countryside, of a change of pace, so the following year we started looking for a house that was secluded and immersed in nature".
Dreaming of the countryside, direction Liguria
«We found our dream house in Liguria. A magical and decidedly unique place. It is located at the top of a staircase with three hundred steps, which cannot be reached by car, and is surrounded by classic Ligurian terraces with dry stone walls. We immersed ourselves in a major renovation, but the land also needed to be tidied up. We must imagine that we are in an area with its harshness, very abandoned and not easy to maintain given the difficulty in reaching it."
And when it comes to rough terrain, who better to take care of it than animals.
«The sheep help us clean, by grazing they work together with us to keep the land in order.».
Martina's sheep are in good company: there are the chickens, which lay excellent eggs, the donkeys, which always help in the maintenance of the land, and the dogs. In short, a large and varied family.
«I completely fell in love with my animals. They were puppies when they arrived here and we have built a special relationship. Of course, I have chosen a life that requires sacrifices, because I cannot leave them alone, even organizing a trip can be difficult. The same also applies to the vegetable garden, which requires constant care. However, over time I have realized that when I am away I can't wait to come back."
The vital role of bees
«Arriving in Liguria I met a beekeeper who invited me to visit his hives and there I was totally fascinated by bees, which are tiny yet powerful creatures. As soon as I bought the house, before we even moved in, I brought in my first hives, and from that moment on, taking care of the bees has been part of my daily life."
Bees have a fundamental role on the planet, as they protect its biodiversity, and then produce a precious and exquisite nectar.
«We also make our own honey, not in very large quantities, because I stubbornly chose to place the bees as far away from the road as possible, so it's difficult to go and get it and carry it down by hand. Furthermore, I don't feel like taking it all from them, because in the winter I decided not to feed them with water and sugar, but to leave them a reserve of what they produce."
Telling, transmitting, disseminating
For Martina it is important to convey what it means to live in the countryside, to be surrounded by nature and to take care of it.
«I started with dissemination in schools and I realized that the children, but also the teachers, were surprised and fascinated by my stories. I realized that there is really a lot to say about the countryside and animals. Over time I transferred this story of mine to the social , which allow me to reach an even wider audience and then we are working to be able to organize days here. I opened an association called Loving you APS , to be able to continue and grow in terms of dissemination, but also to be able to purchase other land "to be saved", because there is a lot of work to be done around here."
A look at the future
«I learned everything in the field, with a lot of patience, work and commitment, both with the animals and with the vegetable garden. We grow everything that is in season, we also realized that this warm climate favors the growth of mangoes, avocados and citrus fruits. In the future we would like to create a bee garden, with different and seasonal blooms, which perhaps one day will become a path to tell the story of the seasonality of flowers."
One of the things Martina is asked most frequently is what steps a person who wants to "give up everything" to go and live in the countryside should take. The answer, she says, is not simple, for her and her partner it undoubtedly took the right motivation and a series of conditions, let's call them astral conjunctions, the first of which: jobs that allow them to live in a secluded house, at the top of a long staircase, maintaining a daily routine linked to the needs of the animals.
Cultivating the land and obtaining products for yourself or to sell requires time and also requires learning a real trade. There should probably be support policies for those who want to make this choice and then there would also be less abandoned land, less neglect.
«It certainly takes a spirit of adaptation, as well as the ability to reinvent oneself. Ours was not an easy choice, nor even an ordinary one, but we made it with love and we defend it every day through hard work. I like to think that by telling my life, in its simplest aspects, people will get closer to nature and animals, and maybe, who knows, someone with the same dream as me will find the courage to take the first step in my story."
In the first two photos Martina is wearing the Apollo Dungarees in indigo blue jeans
Sprouts is the new column dedicated to the stories of those like us who have decided to put our heart and soul into planning a dream. Every month here you can read a new story.
