A Year in Viterbo: I presidi in Italia

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

I presidi in Italia

Little did I know, when I took the picture, that this snail was but the tip of an international movement. It's the symbol of the Slow Foundation for Biodiversity, which aims to protect the environment, defend food biodiversity, promote sustainable agriculture, and support small-scale food producers. I don't know what the girl's role was.

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About this blog

In August 2013, Whitney, Max and Rick moved to Viterbo, Italy for the school year. Whitney, who works for School Year Abroad (SYA), is working at SYA's school in Viterbo. Rick brought his work with him, plugging in via WIFI just off the terrace above Piazza Verdi. Max, taking the biggest cultural leap of the family, started first grade at the local, Italian-speaking public school. La Scuola Elementare di Silvio Canevari.

Viterbo is a small, wonderful city, well preserved from medieval times. An intact wall, built in the 13th century, surrounds the city. Excavation beneath the passages of the Papal Palace reveals artifacts of the Etruscan period dating back to about 500 BC. Narrow roads of successively larger, older cobblestones twist up and down from the well trodden main roads such as the Corso and Via Marconi, where we live.

Home of around 60,000 people, Viterbo draws widely as the provincial capital and feels more populous. It sustains, for example, more than 100 restaurants, a university, and at least a half dozen book stores.