The Forest Farm-House of Andrea Zenari

Andrea Zenari has a degree in forest development and for about ten years, he worked at international level and travelled to look at the forests in different parts of the world, especially Europe. In 2018 he decided that he had travelled more than enough and needed to settle down and grow his roots.

For settling down, he chose the edge of a forest near a tiny village-town called Caltrano with around 2,500 residents, where his family had some pasture lands. On this land, with the help of some of his wood sawing and cutting students, he has built a wood house.

Around his wood house, Andrea has set up a farm-house called Fattoria del Legno with a number of activities for teaching interested persons, especially children about nature and the role of farm houses.

Reaching Andrea's Farm-House

Caltrano is located on the road going up towards the high-plains of Asiago in the province of Vicenza. It is about 11 kms from Schio.

To reach Andrea's farm-house you can leave your car at the parking of the cemetery of Caltrano, and walk up on the road passing behind the cemetery and going up. It is a ten minutes walk up the hill. Along the way, you will pass different areas each dedicated to a specific activity, from Christmas pine trees to the sheep and hen raising areas.

Andrea has a Facebook page of his farm-house where you will find his phone number and email.

Our visit to Andrea's Farm House

With our Book Reading group, we went to visit him a couple of weeks ago.   Each of us brought something to eat or to drink and we had planned to visit him, talk to him about what it means to be living in a forest and to have an open-air dinner.

As we entered his home, we were welcomed by Andrea's friendly and curious cat, Pici-Pici.  

We started by sitting on benches around a big table, both built by Andrea, talking about his life. His grandfather had his farm-house here but after his death in 1966, no one was living here and the grassy pastureland was taken-over by the forest. This change, from pastures and farmhouses to forests, has occurred in many other places in the hills and mountains around Schio. In the nineties, his parents used to come here in their roulotte.

Since 2018, when Andrea decided to settle here, he has reclaimed some parts of that forest to create his farm-house.  It aims to be a forest-farm-house for teaching and learning. The first building was smaller, 30 sq.meters. Two years ago, it was enlarged around the first building and now it was a bigger kitchen, living room and a covered veranda.

He has a bathroom inside the house and an open-air wooden tub with a shower made from an old flower watering can, for the summer. We were wondering about the tap of this open-air shower, which is very high and needs a ladder to go up to open and close it. He said that he is working for a wooden extension rod, so that the tap can be turned on and off more easily.

Apart from tree trunks used for the wood, everything else in his house is made from recycled materials. He has solar panels for energy, which can be saved in batteries for using fridge, computer, etc.

Some of Andrea's Activities at Fattoria del Legno 

He runs different training courses. Young children come to see how a farm house works. Adults can learn the use of electrical saw and wood-work (short course of 8 hours and a long course of a couple of weeks, both recognised by the region). People can learn basics of being a carpenter, making tables, chairs, cupboards. 

We talked of his experience of raising a variety of heirloom sheep called Lussò. There are around 200 of these sheep in the world. This part of Italy has four varieties of the heirloom sheep and ensuring the survival of those old genetic pools is a challenge. Andrea told us about the difficulties of guarding these sheep from the attacks of wolves. Wolves had become extinct from these areas and have been reintroduced in the recent past. However, with increase in their numbers, there are difficulties in avoiding human-animal interactions and safeguarding the sheep.

Andrea has lost some of his sheep to the wolves in January this year, and now has just 3 female sheep left, two adults and a baby (Lussò dwarf-sheep, originally from Groix island in Brittany). He is hoping to get a new male sheep. The Italian law says that only the males with high genetic values can be used for reproduction of the heirloom sheep.

In the winters, Andrea rents pine trees for Christmas - after Christmas, you can give it back to him. When the trees grow up, they are planted. He also keeps bees and grows vegetables.

Another recent initiative of Andrea, in collaboration with a bio-architect Maurizio Signorini, is that of creating a natural open-air church / meeting hall called Vegetalis. 1,150 trees and creepers were planted all along its walls in February 2021. Birch trees play a central role in this building. As they grow up, they will create the building, which can be used for meetings as well for silence, reflection and meditation.

In the End

Our book-reading group called Lettori in Circolo, is very active. Some months ago, we had visited an expert in old books and the art of book-printing (I still need to write about that).

This was our second outing this year and I really enjoyed meeting Andrea and visiting his forest farm-house.

I felt that apart from thinking about nature, farming and how the human experiences keep on changing with new technologies, an important part of this visit was the discussions on the re-introduction of wolves in these forests and the challenges that creates for human habitats.

It is wonderful to be part of such a group of people, with whom I share the love of books. At the same time, it gives us opportunities to visit new stimulating places, which force us to share, think and discuss.

Thanks to Andrea Zenari for being such a wonderful host and for sharing his life and Fattoria del Legno with us. 

***** 

Some Beautiful Minerals from GM Museum of Schio

I like beautifully coloured minerals and I like to learn about ancient beliefs about the power of different minerals. For example, in India, based on people's astrological birth-charts, they are advised to wear certain mineral-stones to build up their positive energies and to counteract the negative influences. 

However, minerals have also played a fundamental role in the human history. In my first post about the  Geo-Mineralogic Museum (GMM) of Schio, their president Alessandro Sella had talked about the mineralogical history of Schio and surroundings starting from the Copper age mines.

This post is about some specific minerals from Schio and its surrounding areas. It also has information about 6 of my favourite exhibits from the GM museum.

Alessandro Sella about local minerals of Schio in the Museum 

I asked Alessandro Sella, president of the to tell me about the exhibits of the local areas around Schio. 

Alessandro: We have samples of the oldest Quartzite rocks present in this area, which are metamorphic rocks (1) primarily composed of quartz. These have more than 300 million years. These can be found in Pasubio valley, Torre Belvicino, Recoaro Terme, etc. They are important because these are the base for all the successive sedimentation leading to our mountains.

Then we have Yohansenite, a mineral found in Monte Civillina in our territory, which is recognised widely. For example, I found references to it in a book in Ottawa.

Around 15 years ago, some of our members, while on an excursion in Monte Trisa in Valle dei Mercanti, came across an old mine-complex, where the rare mineral Laurelite, as well as corkite and lanarkite were found.

We also have the quarries of Pearl-grey Marble in Val Posina along th Astico river, as well as in Ronchetta (in the Pasubio valley). These abandoned quarries were active around mid-18th century, and this marble was used also for the altar of the church in Valle del Pasubio.

Then there is the Sandstone of Val Gardena, which is a sedimentary rock that comes to the surface in the Pasubio valley and Torre Belvicino, cut into round-shaped stone disks with lathe machines, which were used for sharpening knives and scissors, as this sandstone is formed by sand which is rich in quartz, which is one of the toughest stones (7th on the Morse scale). The image below shows quarzite and sandstone specimens in the GM museum. (You can click on all the images for a bigger view) 

We also have the Agate stone (a kind of Chalcedony) found in the Timonchiello torrent which joins Timonchio, and comes down from San Rocco under the Tretto area of Schio. Agate is also a quartz, it is very beautiful stone even if the ones in Schio are not as colourful like the ones found in Brazil.

 

Among the precious stones, not so much in economic terms but in scientific terms, we have Pink Quartz from Campo Grosso. Then we have brucite (magnesium hydroxide) and magnetite (ferrous oxide), both from the pearl-grey marble quarries. We also have zircon (zirconium silicate) found in the caves of Novale. 

Among the minerals from other parts of the world, we have some big and imposing looking Amethyst from Brazil, which is a quartz stone in a shade of violet colour. 

My Personal favourite 6 minerals from GMM

To conclude this presentation of GM Museum of Schio, let me talk about 6 of my personal favourites.

Malachite: In the museum, there are two rocks with Malachite from Namibia with beautiful velvety looking green deposits over white crystals. It is composed of copper carbonate hydroxide. The name comes from Greek and literally means Mallow-green because it has the colour of Mallow leaves. Since ancient times, Malachite was used to produce copper as well as, used as a semi-precious stone. It was also used as a green pigment in paints. 

Xonotlite: The specimen in the museum is from Spagnago, south of Valdagno, not far from Schio. It is an ino-silicate mineral with prismatic or needle like crystals. Xonotlite is a luminescent mineral, producing grey-white florescence in short UV light. I like its creamy and chalky white flower-like appearance. 

Blue Smithsonite: The beautiful turquoise blue rock in the museum is from Sardinia. The zinc containing smithsonite mineral comes in different colours. It was discovered in 1802 by James Smithson, the person who donated money for the creation of the famous Smithsonian museum in the USA. People who believe in powers of crystals, say that it helps to calm the mind and they recommend it for anxiety, depression, low energy and even, shyness.

Iron Pyrite: It is also called Fool’s gold. Schio’s GM museum has different samples of this minerals, which were found when the tunnel connecting Schio and Valdagno was built in the 1990s. It is an iron sulfide mineral, with a metallic brass-yellow hue. Striking against pyrite can produce a spark and in 16-17th centuries, it was used in firearms.

I especially like the sample of reticulate pyrite found near Schio, it looks like a shining lace overlaid on a black rock (in the bottom-right part of the image below - click on the image for a bigger view).

Rhodochrosite: This red coloured manganese carbonate mineral sample in the museum is from Peru. Its name comes from Greek, Rhodo means Red, and Chrosite means coloured. For people who believe in the power of crystals, this stone is good for getting love and compassion and it is supposed to help you get over heart-break.

 Crocoite: The beautiful saffron-red prismatic needle like crystals of Crocoite are from Tasmania in Australia. It is a lead-chromate mineral. Its name comes from the Greek “crokos” which means saffron. It is too delicate for jewellery, while people believing in the power of crystals use it for energy, vitality and detoxification.

 

In Conclusion

If you want to visit the GM Museum in Schio, it is located in the old Cella Barracks on Via Pasubio, not far from the city centre. The museum is open on saturday afternoons from 3 to 7 PM and entrance to the museum is free.

When I had asked Alessandro about the name of Monti d'Oro (Gold mountains) near Schio, he had told me that it was only a legend and gold had never been found in this part of Italy. However, this area is rich in iron pyrite, which is also called Fool's Gold. Looking at the samples found in the Schio-Valdagno tunnel, they do look shiny like gold. Thus, I was thinking that may be the toponym Monti d'Oro had come from pyrite rocks. What do you think?

I also think that apart from the scientific and practical curiosity about rocks and minerals, since ancient times, human beings also associate specific, or even magical, powers with some minerals, and create stories, legends and myths about them. I think that a guided tour of the GM museum, which touches on those myths and legends about the minerals in GM museum would be very interesting.

If you visit this museum, do share your experiences in the comments below. You may also like to check my earlier post about this museum where I had spoken to Alessandro Sella, president of the GM Museum.

***** 

Notes 1. Metamorphic rocks are formed when existing rocks are altered by heat, pressure, or chemical reactions deep within the Earth which changes the rock's mineralogy, texture, and chemical composition.

Geo-Mineralogical Museum of Schio

Schio, in north-east of Italy, has a wonderful little museum about local geology and minerals of the surrounding areas. It is hosted in the stable buildings of the old Cella military barracks, not far from the city centre. The Geo-Mineralogical (GM) Museum has free entrance and is open on Saturday afternoons, when the volunteers of the local Geo-Mineralogical Association (GMA) can guide you its collections.

Recently, I had an opportunity to visit the museum and to talk to Alessandro Sella, the president of Schio’s GMA. (The image below shows the museum entrance - you can click on all the images for a bigger view)

This first part of my blogpost is about my talk with Alessandro. A second part of this post will focus on some of the exhibits from the museum. Finally, there should be a third part, focusing on the contributions of Pietro Maraschin, a 18th century geologist from Schio.

Let me start this post with a brief history of the building which hosts the museum.

Cella Military Barracks: Brief History

These barracks were built in the second half of nineteenth century and functioned till the end of second world war. In September 1943, when Italy asked for armistice, it was hosting the 57th Infantry Regiment. It was attacked and occupied by the German soldiers, who used it for their troops as well as a prison for the partisans.

In 1945, when Germany lost the war, on 29th April, the German troops stationed in Alto Vicentino gathered in its courtyard and left for Austria through the Fugazze pass on the Pasubio mountains.

The old barracks were bought by the municipality of Schio and the old stables were renovated. These now hold the Geo-Mineralogical museum as well as the offices of Association IV November, involved in historical research, especially about the first world war.

Pietro Maraschin Exhibition

Though I knew that there was this GM museum in Schio, I had never been to it.

I learned about it in an exhibition on Pietro Maraschin organised by the museum in collaboration with local schools. He was an amateur geologist known for his mineralogical studies in Schio. That exhibition was an opportunity to know more about some of the local toponyms and their links with geology and history. It was also an opportunity to see some of the exhibits from the GM museum.

The image below shows the inauguration of this exhibition (click for a bigger view). Thus, I decided to visit the museum and asked Alessandro for an interview.

 Talking to Alessandro Sella, President of  the GM Museum

 Q: Alessandro, how did you develop an interest in geology and mineralogy? 
 

Alessandro: I was always passionate about natural sciences, I loved studying them at high school and university levels. I never lost that passion and thus even if I work in another area (as a product quality manager), I continue to be active in this area in my free time. I deeply love Schio and its surroundings, I was born here. (Alessandro Sella, left)

Ever since I was a child, I was very curious about places like the Pasubio Valley and the little Dolomite mountains. I wanted to know why a rock was dark and another was white, how were they formed, why do certain plants grow only in one area and not in another, why some animals live here and not others, and so on. About ten years ago, I became associated with the GM museum and I am its president for the last 6-7 years. My aim is that our little museum should remain alive and active. It is a private museum, maintained by the work of all the volunteers of our association called MUSA and the GM group of Schio. I feel that this museum is important because it narrates the natural and geological history of this area.

This area known as Recoarese (area around Schio which covers Recoaro, Pasubio & Leogra Valley, Astico valley up to Posina and Laghi), is important because it is the southern most part of the Alps which have an outcropping of crystalline basement, which is a metamorphic formation, more than 300 million years old, on which different geological layers are located. Our museum exhibits showcase this big local geological and mineralogical diversity. At the same time, we have a lot of geological and mineralogical samples from other parts of the world, all the continents are represented here.

Q: Ancient humans have a long history mineralogical knowledge and discoveries. How was the situation in this part of the world?

Alessandro: In the Leogra valley, the area known as Valle dei Mercanti (Merchants’ valley), has traces of human occupation from the copper-age. They were using this metal because the rocks in that area have copper.

More recently, during the reign of the Venice republic (Serenissima) this area was known as a metal-district for the extraction of zinc, lead, copper, iron and even silver. For example in the Tretto area of Schio, around the area of the St. Patrick’s well (Pozzo di San Patrizio), there used to be extraction of silver, used for minting money. As the stores of silver were exhausted, the mines were abandoned.

From 1000 CE till medieval periods, groups of persons from Tyrol and lower-Bavaria regions, were invited by the local Bishops, to come and settle in the Leogra valley, as they had the necessary skills for fine wood work as well as for mining. These Germanic groups were called Cimbrians (Cimbri), literally, ‘good carpenters’. Many locations and family names of this area carry the traces of this immigration even today.

Then around the end of 18th century till the end of the second world, there was a new phase of mineral extraction in this area.

Finally, an important extraction was of Caolino, a special clay formed from alteration of volcanic rocks formed from ancient volcanic eruptions, in this area, which was used for a different kind of industrial development. It was linked with production of porcelain, ceramics and paper-industry, which were active till early 1980s.

Q: Tell us about the origins of this museum.

Alessandro: Schio’s mineralogical group was formed in 1973 by persons like Prof. Luciano de Zen, Girolamo Zamperetti, and many other friends. They were all passionate about geology and mineralogy. The group changed different locations along the years and started putting together some exhibit boxes to showcase their first collections of the materials made during their walks and excursions in the area. In the year 2000, the group was given some space in the basement of the old primary school building in Magre, where the first exposition-room was started.

The present location in the old Cella barracks was inaugurated in 2013, and it is no longer just an exposition room, it is a proper museum.

Q: Earlier you spoke about the valley of merchants in Pieve. It also has Monti d’oro (Gold mountains). Did they really find gold there? 

Alessandro: That is just a legend. It was an important area for different metals, as I have explained, starting with copper and iron. There are stories about finding gold there, but they are just stories. In more recent times, there was an article about finding a rock containing an iron-mineral, where they have found traces of gold, but it did not have any gold deposits.

Q: The area around Arsiero called Laghi is called Val di Ferro (Iron valley), did they have iron in that area?

Alessandro: If you go towards Valdastico, there is a place called Fusine, on the banks of the Astico river, where they did have smelting of iron (from the verb ‘fucinare’) found in that area, and used the water-energy of Astico river for this purpose. We have also found signs of Ematite (iron mineral) extracted in Valle dei Mercanti, which was taken to Fusine for smelting of iron.

Q: Tell me about the different collections in this museum.

Alessandro: The mineralogical collectors can collect materials from different parts of the world or they may limit themselves to some specific geographical areas, such as our collection of the minerals of Alto Vicentino. Some collectors focus on some specific kinds of minerals, for example, there are persons who collect only Agate stone, known for its colour bands. Personally I am interested in the geological aspects and minerals of our own geographical area.

Among the collections of our museum is that of Alessandro de Grandis, one of the founders of this museum, that is given on loan to us by his son Ugo.

There have been many donations as well, including one from Mrs. dalla Fina, who was a traveller, geologist and speleologist with geological and mineralogical samples from different parts of the world. She left all her writings and materials to the museum in her testament.

These persons leave their collections not just to us in the association and to the museum, but to all the population.

Q: Tell me something about the different aspects of the minerals which are studied.

Alessandro: Each mineral has a geometrical aspect, which is about how that mineral is built. Another is the aspect about its chemical composition.

When I talk to children about it, I explain that we can look at the ingredients of a mineral and then, we also need to look at the dress or the form those ingredients take which determines what kind of mineral it is going to create.

Knowing both, the form and the composition, of these is fundamental for classifying the different minerals. Every mineral must have a name, a family name and the location where it is found, for its scientific and naturalistic value, which can be very different from its economic value.

Q: If you are shown a piece of rock, looking at its colours and form, can you tell its composition?

Alessandro: Generally speaking yes, eventually with the help of some of our members. We have these stereo-microscopes here for looking at the rocks under the microscope. We also have different volumes of books about geology and mineralogy. With the help of these, we can identify them by looking at their crystals, their colours, hardness, etc. and classify them.

Bigger laboratories can do spectre-photometric tests to analyse the spectrum of different minerals in a sample.

Q: We can now create molecules of different chemicals, such as those used as medicines, in the laboratory. Can we do similar creation of natural elements? For example, can we create iron in the laboratory?

Alessandro: It is a difficult question. I am not conversant with some of the new technologies like Nanotech, but I don’t think that we can create elements. For example, thinking of all the ‘rare earths’ elements used for technology such as microchips, whose mining is much in the news and is associated with difficult international situations, because we can’t just create them. For the time, we need to focus on recycling and reuse.

Conclusions

Thanks to Alessandro for sharing his knowledge and being patient in answering my questions.

The second part of this post will look at some of the interesting exhibits from Schio's GM Museum.

*****