Erli is located on the ancient salt route, which went up from the Genova’s harbor to Piemonte. Being the last village before the pass of San Bernardo, Erli became a post station where travelers and mules could rest.
After World War II, Borgobassi, a fraction of Erli was slowly abandoned, until the arrival of Nico, the first to buy a house, some thirty years ago. Friends started to join him and soon a little community brought revived the place. The other fractions of Erli are now inhabited mainly by old people, as most young families don’t want to live in a place so isolated and far from regular jobs which are provided by cities. The relation among the inhabitants from Borgobassi and the other ones were a bit tense at the beginning. The locals were probably scared by these new people dressed strangely (in the 80s, many of them were coming back from trips to India, wearing clothes never seen in Italy before) and living in strange ways, sometimes sleeping in vans (!!). After many years, the locals are friendlier, probably realizing that they are getting older and no-one wants to live there except this not-so-new-anymore, and maybe-not-so-strange-after-all people.
We get there late morning with Franco, a friend of ours. He is good friend with them and has been going to this special village for over 20 years. We are hosted by Carla, Nico’s widow, and her family: her brother, her daughter with her partner and their young child Elettra. Her other daughter -who is also pregnant-, is living next door with her partner. The village is full of life, with many young and old people living together.
When Carla tells us about the beginning of the project, she looks nostalgic and somewhat disappointed: she says it didn’t become what they had hoped for. But in my opinion, there is a village full of life where before there were only empty houses. The children born in Erli are now having children of their own and planning to raise them there and this is a very good sign that shows that life is sweet and rich in this beautiful land.
The old houses, now partly renovated, are full of artworks, among which we identify Franco’s creations and Nico’s ceramics. Every year in late May there is a great celebration, with art and music. There is a large common kitchen, self-built with recycled materials, with a wood fired oven where we baked bread and pizzas.
Vegetable gardens are cultivated in terraces.
It is just passed half February, but the vegetation is already flowering. It has been such a warm winter that it feels spring is here already. Orange and lemon trees are full of fruits, and mimosas are blooming. There are olive trees and lots of rosemary. Among the pine forest, the bay-tree grows wild.We stay three days. The last evening we give some of the seeds that we carry with us and we get loads of oranges, good self-made olive oil, and beeswax.
In Erli, we both learned how to make seed bags. Ilaria learned to bake pizzas in a wood fired oven and Alberto to play carrom and to recognize the nasturtium.
