PROJECT PRESENTATION

This “school-work experience” project involved four students of IIS “Vincenzo Capirola” (Leno) supervised by their Science teacher Mr Ferri. The purpose of the project was mapping and assessing the network of footpaths at Montisola.

 The students involved are:
  • Camilla Barbi and Silvia Stassaldi (4 A Liceo linguistico, “Capirola”, Leno) 
  • Francesco Almici and Luca Bagni (4 B Liceo linguistico, “Capirola”, Leno) 
 The first stage of the project involved a study of Montisola’s socio-cultural context, a meeting with the local authorities, to whom the project was submitted, and a first survey of the island. The Montisola councillors were interested and willing to cooperate; therefore our team was encouraged to proceed with the first part of the operational phase which involved:
  • A topographical study of Montisola;
  • A first assessment of the footpaths; 
  • A choice of the footpaths to be surveyed; 
  • Learning how to use a GPS tracker (Garmin technology);
  • Consulting an IT expert about how to manage data and set up a website;
  • Finding lodgings in Montisola for the week needed to collect the data.
 On the morning of Monday, 4th June 2018, our team landed at Peschiera Maraglio in torrential rain and was welcomed by the councillor for tourism Mr Guglielmo Novali at the Tourist Information Office. Expectations and tasks were clearly defined and then we set off towards the village of Cure. The collaboration of the Bertola family (Mario and Miralda) was precious: they let us use their basement, which was to become the base of operations of our team. Their property is located at Cure, not far from the Santuario della Madonna della Ceriola, virtually at the top of the island. From there you can enjoy a breath-taking view of the lower part of the lake.

 Our daily routine was as follows:
 -Morning: a survey of one of the footpaths; 
 -Afternoon: data processing, shopping; 
 -organising the meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner).

Cohabitation, sharing the problems of the work to be done and spending our free time together made it possible for us to grow significantly. Living in close proximity brought out the differences in our personalities and this helped us mature. We also had the opportunity to learn about the social and cultural context of the island. For example, we interviewed the eighty-year-old caretaker of the Santuario, Montisola’s historical record personified. During our survey we also marked the points which are particularly significant, because beautiful or interesting from a naturalistic point of view. A short description of these points is both a tip for the visitor and a suggestion for their upkeep. The footpaths are well marked and the signposts have been recently updated and renovated. As regards the description of footpaths No 1, 2 and 3 and the relevant technical data, please see below. All the stages of this project have contributed to the developments of cross skills and operational ones such as: 

 -Knowing how to plan and organise the work both in time and space;
 -Knowing how to process the information and the data collected;
 -Knowing how to assess risk; Developing interest in, 
 -and curiosity about specific equipment such as GPS trackers, Apps, file editors and learning how to    use said equipment correctly.