How strange is the time. They say it's measurable, but I think its length depends on emotions and not on the clock. When I was a teenager, we went skiing every week in Campo Staffi (in Filettino) and we often spent the weekends in a residence near the slopes with the CAI group of Colleferro. It seemed so far away then, a real journey.
Last Monday I had to go to Filettino to make a council with the DMO Alta Ciociaria, of which I am honored to be on the board of directors, and the phone tells me 58 minutes only. Practically closer than Rome at rush hour!
I walk along a beautiful road through the woods until I see the familiar castle of Trevi nel Lazio and then I head up again, towards Abruzzo with which we share the most beautiful mountains that can be seen from my house.
Filettino reminds me of strange thoughts. When in 2012 the Mayan prophecy spoke of catastrophic upheavals, some preachers maintained that Filettino would be the only safe municipality in Lazio region. And a search for information on houses in Filettino had begun among some of my friends.
And also in that year there was a gentleman (whose name I don't remember) who wanted to create the Principality of Filettino. But how pranksters these mountaineers are!
I arrive at the Proloco headquarters and find three people from the serious area like real mountain people. Everyone has already taken their seats around the table and are starting to talk about their own village and what a tourist can do.
In addition to Simona Girolami and the highly efficient Paolo Novi, I am introduced to Gianni Taurisano, the outgoing mayor, and Corrado Girmenia and Angelo Petrignani of the Pro Loco of Filettino. A little later an elegant lady sits down next to me, the mayor's wife. Elegant but affable, so much so that after a few minutes we seem like great friends.
They show us a video with slow editing but images of stunning beauty. Images that convey happiness!
At the beginning the presentation of Filettino starts like many other villages until they introduce the 'Path of Happiness': we widen our eyes and they start to smile. We ask for more information: we too would like to follow that path. We all need a little happiness (or to recognize what is in us).
The path was designed and edited by Antonella Lombardi who for some time has decided to commit herself to helping people to 'refocus' on joy.
At this point the smiles widen and a story of Filettino begins which is no longer made up of words but of emotions. Positive energy circulates in the room, will it be the mountain or will it be the people?
Once the meeting is over, they give us some books on the village and the funniest thing I've ever seen: a bingo (tombola) in the Ciociaria dialect with the Italian translation attached!
An expression of total happiness: a love for the village that becomes love for life. A refinement that hides a depth of emotion like a cave that leads to the center of the earth.
This should become an identifying element of a larger territory. A beautiful idea and made very gracefully.
The day ends at the table, and we enter a bar where a small staircase takes us to an upper room with a windowed wall facing the mountain.
We are in heaven!
Even our host, Mrs. Maria is happy, and she would like to bring us everything she has cooked. We opt for a small appetizer and a second course, and we get one of the best dishes we've tasted this winter: a polenta sautéed with broccoli and sausage and covered with roast bacon and porchetta. The photos cannot do the dish justice!
I am sitting next to the mayor Gianni and his wife Maria Paola and I discover a couple of extraordinary people. If I was looking for stereotypes in Filettino there is no room for them. They love life and can't wait to get back on the streets with their bikes. They show me a series of photographs of thrilling motorcycles and vintage cars.
They tell me about the beauty of the motorbike in autumn in the mountains with the leaves that change colour, they tell me about the dance school they opened in Filettino and which they attend. They tell me about music and that they are training to pay homage to a French town with which they are twinned.
There is life here. There is happiness here. Here you have to come and realign yourself with the harmonies of life.
Hurry up and assign the municipal hostel because I'm curious to see what you will come up with to promote your beautiful village. And we come to walk the path of happiness.
Maybe I even come back for that American from Hawaii who always comes back to Filettino and who could be a perfect Town Ambassador!
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