Sustaining the Spirit

WE WERE TOLD that we would be going to a remarkable community that practiced biodiversity and was noted for its cheese, wine and processed meats. This was on the fourth and final day of the ‘Deliziando’, a food and wine tour in Italy’s Emilia Romagna region organised by Enoteca Servizi S.p.A.¹, and I needed some convincing. My fellow journalists and I had been awed and inspired by the remarkable preservation of processing practices (in spite of the introduction of modern machinery) and centuries-old traditional recipes, and the pride and devotion to a heritage shaped by the region’s terrain and history. We had had our fill of the food specialities of the region: the prime processed pork meats from Piacenza, Parma and Bologna; and cheeses both famous (Parmigiano-Reggiano) and obscure (Formaggio di Fossa di Sogliano). We had been feted in Michelinstarred restaurants and in a medieval fortified castle, and gone through a cellar where some of the artisanal dry cured ham had been reserved and tagged for well known customers, including a prince of fashion as well as a real prince. So you could say that as a typically ‘jaded journalist’, it would take very much more for me to be impressed.

Drug addicts dominate the population of San Patrignano, a village just outside Rimini, since it is in fact Italy’s largest drug rehabilitation centre. No substitute drugs have ever been given to any resident since the community’s founding in 1978, yet it has one of the highest documented success rates worldwide. Over 70% of the residents are fully reintegrated into society and remain drug-free after completing the educational programmes.

Here, the intervention is totally drugfree, cigarette-free and television-free – and free of charge. Residents must choose to come and be willing to learn a trade, and regain their dignity and selfesteem through acquiring professional skills and seeing the fruits of their hard work. The community receives no government funding. It earns about half of the multi-million euro operational income from what the 1,800 residents raise, grow and process as well design, craft and build; the rest come from donations.

Fine, even impressive, statistics, but these were just numbers. Commendable alternative programme, but I still reserved our judgment.

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