by: VA' SENTIERO | data 07/02/2020
***UPDATING NEWS***
In two weeks, we achieved the minimum goal of our campaign, WOW! We are grateful to every person who has supported us, we are proud and happy of this result. Our next goal is to reach 20,000€, which would allow us to carry out the necessary maintenance work on Santos, our unreplaceable Van. Daje !!!
***
On 30 November, we concluded the first part of our expedition along the Sentiero Italia (the longest trekking worldwide!), a 7,000 km long red wire embracing the whole country and riding all along its mountainous backbone.
We discovered it in 2016 and immediately fell in love: we set to work to design a unique experience, with the aim of promoting this incredible path and especially the internal areas crossed, facing depopulation.
So, we quit our jobs to totally devote ourselves to the project, as volunteers.
We started an expedition with a team of young and passionate volunteers: Yuri, expedition coordinator and guide; Sara, photographer and communication manager; Giacomo, head of events and logistics; Francesco, cultural researcher and storekeeper; Andrea, adventure’s video reporter; and Giovanni, handyman and driver. Scattered across Europe, other friends are helping us remotely. In addition, there will be a new team member ... Read more to find out who he/she is ;-).
After two years of hard work, on 1st May 2019 we left from Muggia (Gulf of Trieste). We walked for over 3,500 km, crossing all the Alps and the Central Northern Apennines.
We faced many challenges: snowfall out of season, ticks, forests destroyed by Vaia Hurricane, physical ailments (tendinitis, inflammations, and blisters) ... but thanks to the group’s strength and the support of the people we overcame every obstacle.
After 7 months of walking and 172 stages, on 30th November 2019 we arrived in Visso (Marche region), the final destination of 2019 and the halfway point of the Sentiero Italia.
Oh, yes: now we are missing the second half!
At the end of March we will leave from Visso to continue our adventure discovering the Central-Southern mountains. We lack 10 regions, 3,500 km and 180 stages, which we will face in another 7 months, among efforts and wonder. In November we are going to arrive in Santa Teresa di Gallura (Sardinia) ... the end of the Sentiero Italia.
The lands that we will cross are the ones more in need to be told and promoted: beautiful and unique places, but too often unknown and undervalued. For these territories, the Sentiero Italia is a truly unique opportunity!
Some of us belong to Central-Southern Italy, thus we feel the topic extremely close: for this reason, we have chosen to walk the path from North to South, with the intention to channeling the collected public attention on those regions.
BIG NEWS!
To better narrate these lands and make a mark, we have included a new team member: Martina, who will be our communication manager.
Finally the pink quotas are expanding!
More than ever, your help is essential. To complete the expedition, many costs have to be met.
How will we use the raised funds?
THE EXPEDITION
With the first €15,000, we will cover the expedition costs. We have 7 months of adventure ahead, meaning more than 200 overnights and nearly 600 meals (lunch, breakfast, dinner) for a team of 7 people!
THE SUPPORT VAN
Santos, the expedition van, is an old mercedes sprinter from 1995. It is our irreplaceable logistics support, on which we keep the equipment, the food, the clothes to change... if necessary, it becomes even our on-the-road workstation. It never failed us, but (given his years) it needs several repairs to roar again! Its “backing in shape” will cost around €5,000.
THE NEW EVENTS
During the following months we want to organise many new events: important opportunities for meeting and confronting the territory on the topic of the mountain ... while entertaining! With other €10,000 we will be able to create higher-level events, bearing their significant costs: location, artists, security, IP rights...
VIDEO-PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT
To better record the experience of the Center-South highlands, we need professional equipment. Practically, we need two new cameras and as many objectives, for a total of approximately €5,000.
The watchword of Va' Sentiero is SHARING.
So what did we do in the first 7 months... apart from walking?
In these months of winter "break", we are working hard to organize the material collected. In particular, we are completing the new website, where we will gradually insert all the information gathered (GPS tracks, descriptions of the single stages, multimedia content, insights on local uniqueness ...). It will be free and at disposal of everyone: an important tool to give visibility to the Italian highlands.
At the same time, Sara is working on a photographic book and Andrea is developing a docu-story about the first 7 months on the way. We never stop to work, with enthusiasm!
Va’ Sentiero is much more than a journey, a single adventure. It is a new approach towards the mountains. It is a wind of change: an unrepeatable possibility to regain possession of the Minor Italy.
A year ago, we presented to you with a dream yet to be proven: you have given us trust and support. Beyond any expectation, we have turned it into a reality.
We look forward to starting again and continuing our work: therefore we need your help to complete this wild and revolutionary project!
With you we left and got here ... LET'S START AGAIN AND END IT!
>>> CHOOSE AMONG OUR BEAUTIFUL REWARDS AND CONTRIBUTE TO OUR CROWDFUNDING <<<
Va' Sentiero è un'Associazione di promozione sociale e culturale, tesa a promuovere la dimensione montana e diffonderne la cultura. Lo fa sia attraverso lo storytelling digitale che il coinvolgimento fisico delle persone, ovvero con la condivisione libera del cammino, ma anche organizzando eventi divulgativi e culturali su tutto il territorio nazionale. L'Associazione nasce nel 2016 dalla scoperta del Sentiero Italia, con l'intento di far conoscere ai giovani questo percorso unico al mondo e quindi le terre alte che esso attraversa. Per questo i fondatori di VS hanno progettato una vera e propria spedizione sul Sentiero Italia, portata avanti da un team di giovani e supportata da una grandissima rete di persone, associazioni, sponsor tecnici, fondazioni ed istituzioni.
