13 Policy Matters.qxp

property or clear forest without having

informally consulted with relatives and

neighbors involved in this social network.

To work, social capital needs to be inter-

nalised within a system of values, attitudes

and patterns of behavior. The way in which

children are reared in La Sommaillustrates

this process. As mentioned above Agostino’s

and Giancarlo’s sons and daughters have

precise responsibilities in the family enter-

prise according to their age, working capaci-

ty and interest and are entitled to a share

of the income generated by that particular

activity. Task allocation follows both seniori-

ty and gender lines. Elder brothers and sis-

ters are responsible for more time-intensive

and remunerative jobs and supervise the

work of their younger siblings. All are

expected to work accurately and efficiently,

and to assist others when their tasks prove

more time consuming or difficult than

expected. Everybody should be ready to

mobilise in case of emergency. Moreover,

working should not interfere too much with

children and teenagers school duties. As a

result, kids do no hot have much time to

play at La Sommaand chances for

teenagers to fool around are rather limited.

However, this is not a coercive system. Boys

and girls are proud to contribute to the

family enterprise, and shouting and punish-

ment are rarely needed.

This practice highlights and promotes values

such as responsibility, accountability, and

cooperation among family members and a

positive attitude towards life. Children grow

up knowing that family will always assist

them and feeling a strong ownership of the

family enterprise. For them La Sommais

not just “daddy’s business”: it is their

future. Still, each one is left relatively free

to follow his or her vocation: Agostino’s

elder son Andrea, who was not very good

at school, has become a well known horse

jumping specialist and instructor, with a

record of several national trophies. On the

other hand, Cristina, Giancarlo’s elder

daughter, received a diploma as a pony

instructor and went to the U.K. to learn

English in order to deal with the increasing

number of foreign tourists that spend a few

days in La Somma. Also for these young

adults the family enterprise is thus some-

thing more than a job. It is the ground

where their personal expectations and

dreams can grow in harmony with a solid

network of primary social relationships. As

the family farmland for ancient Umbrian

peasants, La Sommahas, for them, turned

into a repository of symbolic capital.

But how does La Sommaimpact on the

local natural environment? And how do its

neo-peasant owners look at conservation

issues? To answer these ques-

tions, it must be stressed that

the management of the 35

hectares of forest owned by the

family follows Zi’ Bruno’s

forestry practice described

above. There is no over-cutting

of trees, no over-grazing, no

over-hunting and no over col-

lection of mushrooms. As wit-

nessed by frequent encounters

with wild mammals (such as

porcupine, fox, badger, hare

History, cculture aand cconservation

Figure 4.Horse-trekking to Spoleto (Courtesy
Patrizio Warren)

La SSomma’s

negative eenvi-

ronmental

impact iis tthus

quite llimited.

On tthe oother

hand, tthe eenter-

prise ggenerates

several ppositive

environmental

externalities.