A SCHOOL MADE OF TIME AND EARTH

There are places that are born twice: the first, when they are built; the second, when someone comes back to live there with a new idea.
In Montaldo, among the hills of Monferrato, there is a building that for a period welcomed young people with difficult stories – children of parents in prison, lives marked by distances. Then it was closed: the project was too complicated to support, the location too isolated to guarantee the necessary support. It remained empty. Today that same space has come back to life. There are children, voices, different languages. There are vegetable gardens, yurts, teachers who have arrived from other countries. And there is a school that wasn’t planned.

Thus was born Vil­la­ge Fore­st School.

I talk about it with Fabrizio Iuli, entrepreneur, winemaker for generations, point of reference for natural wine in Monferrato, co-founder of the Village Forest School and for some time, by virtue of my move to the Monferrato lands, my qua­si “neighbor”. In one of our conversations the school he founded had emerged and I, having in my mind and heart the small members of Piccioletta Barca and their adventure in the Milanese suburbs, could not help but collect the story. Thus, we find ourselves chatting about kids and culture in the beautiful and welcoming room of his house, which tells of a man kind, in love with his territory, passionate about art, curious, concrete with a sensitivity refined among the vine shoots and long travel experiences. When he talks about the educational project he started, he smiles and his gaze goes far away, because within the idea of ​​the school there is the rebirth of the entire small village of Montaldo.

Fabrizio, let’s start from the beginning: when did you understand that you wanted to start a school?

“It wasn’t a theoretical decision, it came from the children. We had enrolled our children in the local nursery, a normal choice. Then, Covid arrived, and there, something broke. Beyond all the considerations, the idea of ​​sending children to school with masks made no sense, especially in small communities like this. Children must have the freedom to touch each other, play and be together. So, speaking with another family – living in Boston at the time — we began to imagine an alternative. They had four children, we had ours. We said to ourselves: let’s try.”

And the school took shape.

“Yes, but in a very concrete and simple way. At the beginning here, inside the farm. We set up a yurt just above the fields, then another. Other families joined and the yurts became four. The lessons were held there. It was all to be invented, but also very true. We were simply trying to create what school was for us: a place where children could grow up freely, following their own times.”

The school has chosen a Steinerian pedagogical approach. The idea is that rather than forcing a child to sit and pay attention for five-six hours, we can propose a growth path that is modulated on his time, on his cycles of attention and concentration, on the possibility of integrating theoretical knowledge with a practical learning experience which here, among the hills modulated by vineyards, is also knowledge of the land, its rhythms, its fruits.

The yurts, however, could not remain.

“No, because there is no legislation that recognizes them as classrooms. In the meantime, the project was growing. At a certain point, we found a building in Montaldo. It had been abandoned, but it had everything: kitchens, spaces. We rented it and the school moved there. The yurts, however, remained as part of the project.”

And how is the school organized today?

“Today it is a parental school, from nursery to middle school, with around sixty children. There is a group of parents who manage the association, a director – Marinella Pro – and a group of teachers. At the beginning there were four teachers, today there are eight, plus those of the nursery.”

Who are these teachers?

“They come from different experiences, but often linked to Steiner education. The first person in charge, Jody, was an English teacher with long experience in that type of school. Then other figures were added: an Indian teacher, a South African teacher, people from different countries. This makes the school very rich, because each teacher brings a different way of seeing the world. And I believe that, in certain cases, those that we once called “peripheries of the world” have preserved much stronger social values ​​than ours.”

Does bilingualism also arise from here?

“Yes, it was born almost spontaneously. Many families came from abroad, so it was necessary for Italian teachers to speak English and vice versa. It’s not simple, but it has become a characteristic of the school.”

What kind of families have you collected?

“It is a very varied set, but with some common traits.
There are families from the United States, England, Ireland, Germany – especially from Berlin – but also French, Greek, Polish, from all over the world. Many have jobs that allow mobility or a certain economic freedom. Some stay for a few years, others settle down and buy a house. Italians find it more difficult to get involved, also for economic reasons: a parent school has costs that are not those of a public school.
But there are also Italian families, and for me this was fundamental.”

In what sense?

“I didn’t want a school for the rich. Not because there is anything wrong with the rich, but because it is not a real reflection of the society in which we live. The school is small and is supported by the contribution of families, but the world is not one-colored. I would like my children to grow up with children of all social and cultural backgrounds. And this, in part, happens. The school, to be accessible, has a basic enrollment fee, but it is possible to define in an interview an economic modulation that can meet the needs of the family. My dream is that yes can ensure that families with greater availability give more, encouraging the entry of families with small wallets.”

School is not just a place intended for learning, but a social protagonist. Has the presence of this school changed the area?

“A lot. Montaldo was a town that was emptying: there were seventy-two of us left, with a high average age. Today there are twenty-five children resident and there have been several births; the empty houses have been rented or sold; the town has been repopulated.
But above all it changes the perspective: living in a place with children is different from choosing to stay there to retreat from the chaos of the world.”

Has a network also been created between families?

“Yes, a real community. We see each other, we meet, also thanks to other local entities that have become meeting points. For example The Factory in the Woodsa space created by an Italian family: courses and activities are held there, jazz is played on Friday evenings. It is a place where adults and children meet. These projects bring people together. Furthermore, the school organizes the summer campus, which helps to further strengthen the bonds between children, young people and the adult world around them.”

Let’s go back to class: what does a typical day look like?

“The children arrive between eight and nine. We start with physical activity – running, jumping, moving – then lessons begin, in blocks of about an hour and a half, interrupted by a break in the open air, given that the school overlooks the hills and is located next to a large forest, all to be experienced. The subjects are the classic ones, but accompanied by practical activities: vegetable garden, cooking, manual skills. Children and teenagers have lunch at the school, which has an internal kitchen, and the lessons end at three. Usually they don’t there is homework, if not something minimal. The aim of teaching is to make people passionate about the subject, not to impose it.”

It seems like a method that doesn’t focus on competition.

“Yes, in fact, we don’t believe in competition.
It is something very rooted in the educational and social model to which we are accustomed, but for us mutual support is more important, growing together, not against.”

And the relationship with the “official” school?

“Being a parent school, every year the children have to take exams to equalize the path. In recent years, we have met and built a good collaboration with local schools and when the children move on to traditional school, they generally adapt well.”

Are there also critical issues?

“Yes, certainly. For example, the fact that some families stay for a few years: children create bonds and then separate, is not always easy. Or the risk of creating a “bubble”: a very beautiful, but closed reality. This is why it is important that children also have experiences outside, in sport, in traditional schools.”

And looking back?

“Sometimes, I’m struck by the speed with which everything happened. At the beginning there were twelve/fifteen children, in a few years they became sixty.
And then there’s one simple thing: children are sad when school ends.”

Perhaps this is the clearest sign…

“Yes. In the end, this is the attempt to make school the founding nucleus of a community. We have no solutions, but we try to put some things back at the center: children’s time, nature, relationships. And the idea that growing up doesn’t mean arriving before others, but finding your own pace.”

The Village Forest School is located in via Pezzere 6 in Montaldo di Cerrina (AL). More information on the site.