Gillian Price has a heartwarming tale from Umbria, Italy
Gillian Price, author of the Cicerone Press guidebook to Umbria, had to let us know about a wonderful initiative in Cascia - a town in Umbria that was badly damaged in the 2016 earthquakes.
Umbria was badly affected by earthquakes in 2016
It has been estimated that 10,000 livestock were killed as a result of the quakes. However, "solidarity speaks Sardinian" and the shepherds on the Italian island of Sardinia have an ancient tradition of helping each other. Sa Paradura is an old Sardinian tradition and the phrase literally means 'balancing'. In practice it means that when a shepherd loses animals, other shepherds donate one each to make up his flock again.
One thousand sheep have been donated - and two were a free surprise!
The animals are chosen by a blindfolded child to ensure a random choice. One thousand Sardinian shepherds have donated one thousand sheep to the earthquake zones of central Italy and the first 780 reached Cascia at the weekend. Two were born during the ferry crossing and have been baptised Rita (the patron saint of Cascia) and Umbra. The sheep will be distributed to farmers in need throughout the earthquake areas.
"It 'was a huge gesture of solidarity' said the mayor of Cascia, Gino Emili, reportedly through tears, whilst going on to say that finally, after a tough few months, the sheep presented an 'opportunity to celebrate'.
We agree with Gillian - It's such a touching gesture and lovely to see people come together in times of need.
Go walking in Umbria, or other beautiful areas of Italy
Gillian Price has written a guidebook to walking in Umbria which is published by Cicerone.
Other Cicerone Press guidebooks to similar areas of Italy include:
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