A LIFE DEDICATED TO WORK PART 4 CHAPTER 1

Earth houses the Emporium The helmet that saved my life in Ruacana in South West Africa My friends Nunzio Pino and Enzo Salsetta My friend Stefano Dondi, extreme sports climber photographer My Mother, model for a Madonna. Internet sites The journeys continue Travel to Venezuela Caracas The archipelago of Los Roques My daughter Nicole’s graduation The beloved Sicily Meeting with the white hunters With Mario Pieragostini Travel to Central America, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica The memory of other friends

Various until 2007

There are various themes that I had left out in this story that I propose again in this fourth part, scattered over the years.

A few years ago in Abruzzo I met Giuliano Di Menna, a dear architect full of initiatives.
Historian of the landscape and territory, of the popular traditions, of the culture and of the cuisine of this splendid region. Through him I also met Arch. Gianfranco Conti, very much in love with raw earth. In fact, we don’t pay much attention to it, but in Italy there are millions of people who have lived or live in houses made with raw earth.
Today, many of these are falling apart and / or being torn down to make way for modern construction in reinforced concrete, stone, solid brick or hollow brick.
When Italy was poor and millions emigrated from Italy to go to the new world to be able to work and feed their families, many of our ancestors lived in the countryside in houses made with raw earth reinforced with stumps or straw. They were very modest but livable homes. Today a movement of opinion of specialists has been born, which is trying to preserve a part of this historical heritage and to revive its feasibility. One of the research centers on clay houses was set up by the architect Conti and is located in Casalincontrada, with a museum and library. A permanent seat was also created with the collaboration of the Municipality to promote the preservation of the national heritage and the rebirth of these technologies. A praise to the Architect Conti and to the Municipality of Casalincontrada for this initiative. I refer you to the site of the Houses of Earth ( http://www.casediterra.it  ) so that you can explore this interesting field. I have participated in numerous conferences on earth houses, always finding the intellectual freshness of people in love with this theme, even if it is not an easy path since we are now used to breaking down everything to replace it sometimes with horrible things. Of course you can’t think of building a skyscraper with raw earth, but single-storey houses in the countryside that are ideal for bringing us back a little closer to the land to which, sooner or later we will all return.

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EDC postcard

A historic heritage land house

Earth houses the Emporium The helmet that saved my life in Ruacana in South West Africa My friends Nunzio Pino and Enzo Salsetta My friend Stefano Dondi, extreme sports climber photographer My Mother, model for a Madonna. Internet sites The journeys continue Travel to Venezuela Caracas The archipelago of Los Roques My daughter Nicole’s graduation The beloved Sicily Meeting with the white hunters With Mario Pieragostini Travel to Central America, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica The memory of other friends