EVERY HIKE IS A STORY IN ITSELF

G08/25/2019: when you say that every hike is a story in itself .. Today it was a walk to the dam of Molare. A place that gets you in its own way. I can't define it as "beautiful", it carries its own load, a story made up of shared stories, hopes, expectations ... betrayals, daily hardships, laughter lightening a Sunday walk, a sudden slap, the unpredictable .. long feared, of mourning, of heavy silences. And all this load the dam still carries, silently. To want to humanize in some way a concrete construction, one might say that it was trying to hold back water that had been flowing since time immemorial; that they tricked it with a show of force by making the mountain collapse and block the flow; the water's will was mastered, the worst had happened.

When studying the history of the dam one realizes how much is lost just looking at data, numbers, dates. But the story of the dam was written by the people who built it, maintained it, managed it, cursed it and blessed it. Today the thing was made real for us by two big surprises. First, the meeting with a special guest, Vittorio Bonaria, author of the account that best tells the story "History of the dam of Molare - the forgotten Vajont" (thanks again for the wonderful introduction). Then the most moving part of the hike (and I'm sure Bonaria will understand this perfectly): to accompany the great grand-daughter of Abele De Guz, the dam keeper at the time, to see the places where her great-grandfather earned a medal for civil valour for the courage shown that morning of the great flood, August 13, 1935. As a guide I dedicate this post to the whole of today's group: thank you, it was an honor to share this day with you; and to thank you for every reflection you have dedicated to this place, to these stories.

#explorepiemonte #exploreliguria