Mountain, Italian schools 'learn' the Italia Cai path

21 classroom and outdoor training projects in 11 regions

BOLOGNA – Six days that will see hundreds of girls and boys, together with their teachers, travel the stages of the Sentiero Italia Cai in 11 regions, with the variety of natural environments, ecosystems, panoramas and historical traces of human presence that characterize them.These are the characteristics of the first edition of the "National Week of the Sentiero Italia Cai for the Italian School", scheduled from 2 to 7 October, which the Italian Alpine Club organizes to convey knowledge of the hiking itinerary that unites all the Italian regions among students of institutes of all levels.

The scheduled excursions are part of 21 training projects which involve as many schools from 11 regions, together with the 20 territorial sections of the CAI closest to them, in support of which the Headquarters of the Italian Alpine Club has allocated 50,000 euros this year thanks to the extraordinary funds of the Ministry of Tourism. These are projects that include classroom meetings and field trips focused on natural, cultural and social value which characterizes the places crossed by the Sentiero Italia Cai and on the importance of visiting them attentive to the nature, history and traditions that these environments preserve.

The Sections that are carrying out the training projects are those of Barge, Biella, Torre Pellice, Val Germanasca, Valle Vigezzo and Venaria Reale in Piedmont, Monfalcone, XXX Ottobre of Trieste and Val Natisone in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Genoa Sampierdarena and La Spezia in Liguria, Brescia and Vittuone in Lombardy, Belluno in Veneto, Viareggio in Tuscany, Fermo in Marche, Rome in Lazio, Salerno in Campania, Castrovillari in Calabria and Sassari in Sardinia.

“The Sentiero Italia Cai is the custodian of a cultural and environmental landscape heritage to be transmitted to the new generations, which must become an element of recognition and experience for the world of schools”, say Francesco Carrer (coordinator of the Cai-Scuola working group) and Eugenio Iannelli (CAI central councilor and member of the CAI-School working group).«All the participating classes will be united in the experience of walking, an authentic form of civic education that allows them to develop sociability, solidarity towards their classmates, acceptance of shared rules, responsibility towards themselves and others».The classes involved received an information kit with audiovisual material on the Sentiero Italia Cai and were assisted in preparing the excursion by experts from the Cai Sections.