the damigiana. At that point,
nobody was in any condition
to make a meaningful deci-
sion. Yet Agostino could not
sleep that night. He was
bored of spending his days
doing silly jobs in Spoleto and
the horse riding center struck him as an
inspiring opportunity to have fun while
making a living.In the following days, Agostino discussed
the subject with his brother Giancarlo and
Nonno Pietro. After a lot of talk he was
able to convince his brother and his father
to conduct a small-scale test. The women
of the family were initially very resistant.
They look at the horse-riding center as a
childish project born of a drunken conver-
sation. However, they eventually accepted
the idea of a trial run, under the conditions
that their husbands not resign from their
regular and “serious” jobs and that thefamily continue to live in town.Within a few months a stable and a pad-
dock had been established on the top ofthe big hill that dominates Nonno Pietro’s
land and the Acqualacastagna watershed.
This place, known as La Somma(which
means “the top”), was very close to the
asphalt road and flat enough to allow
clearing a one-hectare open space with
minimum bulldozer work. It also enjoyed a
beautiful view over the Central Apennine
range and the Terni valley. Demand for
boarding horses, horse-riding lessons and
horse trekking grew slowly at the begin-
ning. Yet, thanks also to their friendly
touch, Agostino and Giancarlo secured an
ever-increasing number of customers.
Soon La Sommabecame a regular destina-
tion for horse-trekking fans from the
neighboring towns, as well as from Perugia
and Rome. Some of these guests also took
advantage of bed and breakfast accommo-
dation in Nonno Pietro’s and Zi’Bruno’s
houses in Acqualacastagna.By 1995, the business had become so
profitable that Agostino began to
seriously consider giving up his busi-
ness in Spoleto and working at La
Sommaon a full time basis. In the
meantime, the steel factory where
Giancarlo was working underwent a
“restructuring” process. Incentives
were made available to workers will-
ing to resign “spontaneously”, and
Giancarlo, who also felt sick and
tired of the factory work, eventually
accepted the special severance
offered by the company.One year later, an earthquake hit
Umbria, affecting also Agostino’s
and Giancarlo’s houses in Spoleto.
The two brothers and their families
had to move to the small wooden
cabin they had constructed near the
horse-riding center. During the long
and cold winter, adults and kids realised
that living together in the countryside was
not bad at all. When the snow melted and
spring came, men, women and childrenConservation aas ccultural aand ppolitical ppractice
Figure 2.Horse-trekking to Montebibico (Courtesy Patrizio
Warren)
La SSomma: aa
horse-rriding aand
agro-ttourism
enterprise iin tthe
uplands oof
Spoleto