Down on the short road near the causeway

This is the story of Rosa and Peppo, two farmers from Southern Italy who live in broad symbiosis with nature. In their small farmhouse in the middle of the mountains of Basilicata, they have created an eco-sustainable, socially healthy, and authentic microcosm where they feel at ease, without, however, entering into fanatical fundamentalism and without the presumption of dictating the way for the rest of the world. With the use of all their food waste they create their fertilizer, with the reuse of glass used to preserve the food they produce, with the reduced purchase and reuse of plastic and paper packaging, with the reparation of every tool that can be repaired, and using a few essential second-hand technological products, their ecological footprint is almost non-existent. Almost all of their income is used for the renovation of the farmhouse, with the main purpose of leaving behind the fruit of the long sacrifices begun by past generations and carried out by them to their nephews and nieces, them not having been able to have children. Of the discrete abundance of food products they put aside every year, made with natural techniques with very low water consumption, and reusing the seeds of the previous year, part is given to relatives and friends and part is exchanged with neighbors for other food items that they cannot produce themselves. Finding their solution that balances every aspect of life, enjoying the essential, and with the concession of some small luxuries, they have entered tangibly and morally, and before most of the world, entered into the future.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Vincenzo Parisi is an Italian photographer based in Bologna. He went to the photography school Foto Image from 2015 to 2018, where he also attended for six months the Reportage Masterclass taught by the World Press-Winning photographers Fulvio Bugani and Giulio Di Sturco, and the photo-editor Annalisa D’Angelo. In 2017, some of his photos were exhibited in the Corte di Felsina gallery in Bologna. In 2018, he completed the project L., a still life work about the figure of his grandmother. Also in 2018, he followed France’s World Cup victory in Arles resulting in the work Sacre Bleu. In 2019, some of his photographs were included in the book Alla Ricerca Della Bellezza by the art historian Anna Rita De Lucca. In 2019, with a team of professionals, he traveled 6,500km along European coasts to create a photography book and a documentary talking about the environment and water pollution. The film documentary, AQ*A was released on Amazon Prime Video. In 2020, he participated with his work Postcards from Italy in The COVID-19 Visual Project by CORTONA ON THE MOVE, a multimedia platform that aspires to become a permanent archive of the coronavirus pandemic, collecting projects on relevant themes related to the crisis.