For the people of San Lorenzo in Banale I’m a furèsta, an outsider. I wasn’t born here and I don’t live here, but every time I arrive it feels like coming home.
I was born in Val di Sole, and for love I put down new roots in Campo Lomaso. In San Lorenzo they call me one of the Pance lònghe del Lomàs, the playful nickname for those who come from Lomaso. And yet, here I don’t feel like a stranger. A piece of my heart belongs to this village.
I’m a retired maths teacher, but I never stopped teaching: today I do it as a volunteer with migrants at the Penny Wirton school in Fiavè. Teaching is my greatest passion, a spark that never goes out. And that spark was born right in San Lorenzo, where I learned to teach children, to discover the wonder in their eyes. From this village my life as a teacher began: teacher Giuliana, strict but fair.
What ties me even more to San Lorenzo is my friendship with Ida. Together we chose to become Greeters and often, together, we accompany visitors through the streets of the village. With her I learned that friendships can also give birth to love for a place, the kind that enters your heart and never leaves. Ida passed on her passion for San Lorenzo which, step by step, story by story, became mine too.
I like accompanying those who come to discover it, because every time, for me as well, it’s like seeing it for the first time. Maybe that’s my secret: looking with eyes that have never grown used to beauty.