A farewell!

Glad to be back at home but already missing the people we have left!

A mixture of feelings was strengthened yesterday when we all gathered together at the dinner.  All of you are those who were present and those who unfortunately couldn’t be with us but who had accompanied us during our 4-weeks stay in Lecce.

For us the experience was “unimaginable”,” unforgettable”, “magnificent”,” spectacular”. And without the people we met it would never be the same – our friends from Formicaio, Ciclofficina, the Italian folks who visited Portugal and the rest of the people we met along the way.

And a special word for Sara and Nunzia who got to know us better and “bored” us in the most complicated moments. They have kindly gifted us with a memoir of some phrases, dedicated to each one of us:

Manuel: "La storia insegna, ma non hà scolari" Gramsci

Lurdes: "Prendete in mano la vostra vita e fatene un capolavoro" Wojtyla

António: "Anche il viaggio più lungo inizia con il primo passo" Prov. chinês

Isabel: "Un giorno senza un sorriso è un giorno perso" Chaplin

We appreciate your sympathy, generosity and good nature... these are the things that can never be forgotten!

Stroll through the Porto Selvaggio National Park

An encounter with history, nature and (Mediterranean) Sea created the perfect blend for today’s stroll through the Porto Selvaggio  National Park, situated a few kilometers outside of Lecce.

Before the journey to this secular mosaic of rocks, mountains and vegetation – with the ocean always complementing the landscape – participants had visited the historic centre of Gelatina, and then continued in a direction of Porto Selvaggio in Nardò district with its abundant species of flora and fauna, various caves of the Paleolithic period (for example, Grotta del Cavallo), archeological vestiges of priceless patrimonial value and the Torre Santa Maria dell’ Alto with the view of Mediterranean Sea and it’s blue, crystal-clear waters.

That was a real “giornata particulare”, unique for the senses. 

European Day of Languages

 

On the European Day of Languages, in Lecce, we participated in diverse activities organized by Europ Direct Salento in collaboration with other organizations,  such as Vulcanicamente or II Formiciao. We even had the participation of some Croatian youngsters.

On Saturday, 27^th of September at Piazza Sant’Oronso everyone had a possibility to borrow books in various languages. The only condition was to give them back afterwards.

On Sunday we took part in a city game “Caça ao Tesouro” (Chase the Treasure) where the main goal was to complete about 20 (im)possible missions in Lecce. 25 participants were divided in 4 groups – each of them with at least one foreign person (Portuguese or Croatian). The game was incredibly funny as the missions were based on tasks such as: talking to people, singing and dancing. It also implied a lot of interaction with strangers from different origins and languages. 

António's team

Isabel's team

Lurdes and Manuel's team

and guess who won!!

"Apolix.. we go fast and mix"

At the end of the day, at the Oficina Cantelmo, we Portuguese elders and a group of Croatian youngsters  - joined in a meeting with different languages groups (Spanish, French and English) from the University of Salento. It was an interesting event brought to life by some dance presentations of Salsa and Flamenco, prepared by the Spanish group. After the games, in this lively and laid-back atmosphere we were served an international aperitif.

Stefania, Lurdes, Sara, Nunzia and Fernando also danced with us!

Acivities in Ciclofficina

The project of CICLOFFICINA revolves around volunteering and sharing

                                                                                                     

In one of the posters in the office you can read: “Questo é uno spaziocomune che accoglie idee e nuoveproposte. Divertti e divertiamoci insieme”.

According to Giuglio – the driving force of Ciclofficina, This program of mutual help was born from the good will of some friends and of the idea to form solidarity. “Here we don’t buy or swap bicycles. We help to repair and maintain this popular means of transport and we do the work that is needed. 

 

Another  task of Ciclofficina is to promote the bicycle as a means of transport, and as a way to achieve it, they organise various activities, especially bike rides.

Giulio – one of the driving forces of the project

António and Manuel chose to collaborate with Ciclofficina and the activities started with coffee prepared by Manuel. 

The first task was to clean, tidy up and organise the office…

and it looked pristine…ready for work to begin!!

After that we started to arrange the tires, to tune brakes and wheels, to install various components, etc. If some people dropped in who didn’t know how to fix their bicycles, they could count on help of the volunteers and leave with a working bike.

The other possibility is to renew the old bikes.

António even built a bike with the elements taken from the “bikes’ cemetery” but finally he discovered that the frame was bent! :(

The team was nice, there was amazing comradeship and they even lent the bicycles to António, Manuel and Isabel so they could use them in Lecce!!

Activities in “Il Formicaio”

Il Formicaio is an association with an environmental society which was created in 2010. This year they decided to launch a new initiative called “Il Bazar del Dono” which consists of a donation of various things like utensils, clothes, books etc, that can be redistributed and reused by others who will give them “new life”. Anyone can give something in a good condition that they don’t use anymore and everyone – no matter if they brought anything or not - can take something they like or need. The idea doesn’t involve money or the valuation of the objects.

Among all the proposals given by Vulcanicamente, Lurdes, Isabel and us, we opted for a voluntary work at the Bazar del Dono. The guys from Il Formicaio – Lorenzo (our “tutor”), Chiara, Antonello and Checco – always kind and available, gave us a very friendly welcome.

The association moved to the “posh” part of the city with chic shops and expensive brands which is quite a big challenge, taking into consideration the philosophy of Il Formicaio.

When we entered the local area looked like this:

The first task we were proposed to do was to find a creative way of decorating a shop window before the day of the inauguration of Bazar del Dono which was planned for 2nd of October. The idea was to provoke curiosity among the passers-by.

Lurdes had a great idea based on using a question mark which was later discussed and approved by Lorenzo and Antonello – who was responsible for communication. 

We looked through the clothes that had been donated, we chose some in bad condition and we used the fabric in our work. One of the philosophies of Il Formicaio is a reutilization and because of that, due to environmental issues, they try to make use of everything.

From the conception, through the growth phase… up to the final result.

  

Everything with reused materials!

Meanwhile, we were also helping with small things…

Spreading info about the inauguration...

making braided chains...

preparing tags...

On a day of inauguration which coincided with the 4th anniversary of Formicaio there was a party with lots of friends, acquaintances and other people interested to get to know Bazar del Dono!

To learn Italian!

ITALIAN CLASSES (15 a 19 de Setembro)

During the first week in Lecce we had an intense Italian course with Beppe, a very sympathetic young man who did his best to teach us some essential vocabulary and grammar indispensable for the basic communication.  Italian is difficult and we had a tendency to mix it with Spanish and Portuguese. Nevertheless, the classes were really amusing and we learnt some useful expressions, as for example: "vorrei unpasticciotto", "mi scusi, sa dov'è..."

Beppe, besides being our professor, turned into a guide and took us for a walk around the city centre of Lecce, relating some interesting and funny stories (in Italian, of course!).

 

Rides on Bike

OTRANTO FILM FUND FESTIVAL (OFFF ) – Cinema e Territori (13-9-2014)

Later, on our first Saturday in Lecce we participated in one of the activities of the 6th edition of the “OFF”which included a bike ride through the region of Ortanto. Besides Sara and Nunzia, there were also Angela, Fernando and Pinuccio who joined us on the trip. Stefania met up with us later, on a stop we made in Porto Badisco.

  

It’s a very beautiful area! Apart from the landscapes, we could see traces of ancient civilizations, megaliths, tapirs and a cave with paintings from the Byzantine epoch. We also visited some places which were used as sets of some movies, for example, Masseria Cippano  - the movie set of ‘Mine vaganti’ by Ferzan Ozpetek or Porto Badisco – the movie set of ‘Anima gemella’ by Sergio Rubini. In the foundation “Le Constantine” we saw some traditional looms which are used even today by the women to produce beautiful textiles 

 

For lunch we tried delicious snacks typical of this region. After that we listened  and danced to “Pizzica Salentina” – a popular folk dance (one of the Tarantelle dances) characterized by an upbeat rhythm.

MANIFESTATION AGAINST TAP (20-9-2014) 

Ciclofiicina organised a bike trip from Lecce to San Foca, through Meride and Vernole (50 km round trip) with 15 Italian and 2 Portuguese (António and Manuel) participants. The main goal was to join the manifestation on the beach of Santa Foca, against the construction of a Trans-Adriatic pipeline known by the acronym of TAP. 

Apart from taking part in the manifestation, the group of Italians and Portuguese took advantage of the trip and took an energizing bath in the Adriatic Sea. At night, on the way home to Lecce participants organized another little break to try some local fish and seafood specialties. It was a great pretext to spend some more time altogether and broaden the knowledge of the local reality.

TOGETHER ON A BIKE... DIRECTION: ACAYA!! (27-9-2014) 

Marco and Andreia from Cicloffina together with António and Manuel organized another bike trip. This time the goal was to visit the Castle of Acaya which served as an outpost during the defense of Lecce against the Turks.

After a little coffee-break in Cicloffina we departed towards to Alcaya.

On the way home we stopped to admire a huge and very old oak tree. Once there were enormous oak forests in the area of Salento and its wood was used by the Venetians to build boats. Now it's almost only olive trees growing in Salento.

BICYCLES INVADE THE CENTRE OF GALATINA (2-10-2014)

There are some days when the Police of Civil Protection in Galatina (about 20 km from Lecce) close the traffic and allow almost one hundred cyclists to circulate. The main goals of the manifestation organised by Spazio Bicivetta/Ciclofficina Sociale – the organisation that fights for the preservation of this mean of transport - was to encourage others to use bicycles, draw attention to create more bike lines on the roads of Galatina and to foment the culture of mutual tolerance between the drivers, pedestrians and bikers.

Without banners but with some noise, the participants of this marathon – youngsters and kids accompanied by their parents drew attention to the importance of a bicycle as a silent and pollution free means of transport.

There was also a representation of Ciclofficina, from Lecce, present on the manifestation. Ciclofficina is an organisation that shares the ideals and goals proclaimed by Bicivetta/Ciclofficina Sociale.

At the end of the event there was a big gathering between all of the participants”. Manuel Vitorino