San Patrignano gives each young person that arrives the possibility to chose their own field of ...

136 Pages·2012·4.83 MB·English

SanPatrignano. Annual Mission Report.
actions
change
that
lives.
San Patrignano gives each young person
that arrives the possibility to chose their
own field of professional training, allowing
them to follow their interests so that they
may nurture their talents with passion,
determination and responsibility.
It is this spirit which brought the first
workshops to life, those tied to farming,
animal husbandry, food and wine
production.
These traditional crafts create a perfect
training ground for young people coming
into the Community, who have a need to
be inspired and to believe in what they do.
Through the help of master artisans who
share their experience, knowledge, culture,
and professionalism, our young people
learn to be the very best: something crucial
to gaining self esteem and independence.
These artisans are our friends and allies,
helping us help people rebuild their lives
free from drugs.

SanPatrignano. Bilancio di Missione.
I felt at home as soon as I arrived here. I didn’t think that I’d find such a vibrant community,
which was a like a family at the same time. At San Patrignano I’ve understood that
the more time I spend with the young residents,
the more I get back from it.
It’s like going to a fountain: you drink and you go away. It is a fool who fails to realise the
importance of the water you drink. I drink fresh water every day and it quenches my thirst.
I do everything possible so that this fresh water of youth is always there inside me and
continues to gush. I once met a old man by a mountain spring. He said to me, “Everybody
drinks here, yet nobody asks themselves where it comes from”. That’s something you’ll only
ask when it’s not there any more. That’s what I think about San Patrignano.
We will only realise its importance
should it no longer exist.
Too few people realise not only how much love and charity exists here, as well as how many
stories there are about young residents who have found their way in life again, in addition to
how much awareness is involved in helping people become adults.
The cheeses that we make are our babies
We love them because they’re not born every day. Ours isn’t any old squacquerone cheese
it’s “THE squacquerone”. The quality stems from a lengthy process. There’s a need to check
the provenance of the livestock and their stabling, the quality of life of the animals, what they
eat and how they are milked, and the transportation and processing of the milk in the briefest
possible times. The maturation and ageing comes right at the end. There are 43 young
cheesemakers in training.
Our aim is to make them into men.

Through cheese.
Vittorio Beltrami
master cheesemaker and affineur

Making bread is a bit like nurturing a living being.
It’s a process that could go on forever; as you nurture it, it grows and rises, and you give it
the form you want. The dough, made from flour and yeast, is like a person who begins to
live and evolve. In the end, it dies, but only to create some breathing space and to give new
life to another dough, then the process begins again.
This is the very magic

of our art.
Working with a living substance like yeast helps you to find your strength of character. The
young Community residents know that, in bread making, everything relies on them.
I started working as a baker at the age of 20. I needed to work to be the breadwinner, as the
saying goes. It was a chance decision, with which I ended up falling in love. Now I’m 46, and
five years ago I came here to develop the bakery workshop. Lots of people talk about bread,
but only a few people really know about it. We work with ingredients and raw materials that
change all the time.
The variables are endless:
the flour selection, how much water is added to the dough, when salt is added, the final
temperature, and the shape given to the bread, which I regard as fundamental. In particular, it
is important that it’s handled in the right way prior to leavening. It’s not easy. The individual
and a person’s sensibility become fundamental in this.
This is an art that cannot be underestimated. For me, the baker is a great artisan; he makes
products that possess a soul. This is why I’d like to combine the kitchen and the cake and
bread bakeries and set up a school at San Patrignano.
Giuliano Pediconi
master of bread crafting

I loved creating things
.
One of my dreams was to be an artist,
My love for baking was handed down to me by my Mum. At home we had a wood-burning
stove and, twice a week, she would bake cakes. She would give a piece of dough to my brother
and I, and I would play, making a sun out of the leavened dough. I later went to catering college
in Nocera Inferiore and Salsomaggiore on my own when I was 16. I lived in a bedsit. It’s not
easy to wake up in the morning without having your Mum there to make your breakfast. I know
from experience what it means to be far from home and having to deal with problems every day.
Cakes allowed me to express my creativity. You can do that with all cuisine, but through cakes
you can surprise and wow people. Gualtiero Marchesi once said to me that
in life you have to learn how
to take one step at a time.
If you miss one, you can get by regardless, but you’ll be missing out on something. So you
need to know how to do everything before exploring it further. From Massimiliano Alajmo’s
mother, my first three stars, I learnt strictness, tidiness and cleanliness. From Marchesi, in some
ways, dogged determination: for me, he’s a young person inside an old person’s body. He has a
fast mindset, everything he says ends up coming true. What did I really miss out on in all this
experience? I hold my hands up: human relations. I devote so much to my work that it ends
up becoming my home. This partly explains why I’m here. It might seem trite, but when I saw
the sea and hills I said to myself, “Perhaps this is the place for me”. Everyone knew about San
Patrignano except for me. They talked about Vincenzo and I said, “Who’s Vincenzo?”.
My nickname is “Franchino Sensation”. My baking is very natural, clear, clean and light. It
consists of many elements you manage to distinguish when they reach your palate because
they complement each other. I like to stimulate all the senses, playing with colours.
Being here is like going into a toy shop and being a child again.
Franco Aliberti
pastry chef

I met Vincenzo in 1979. I was working as a farrier on a farm where he’d got some horses. I
started coming here to help him. Back then the Community was just a big cottage with some
surrounding land. I always got on well with him. I remember one time, when he’d sent me to
Palermo because Avenir had a problem with a leg. He said to me, “I’ll send you a car and a
driver. I want you alone to do it. You must only work for us””.
Our job is hard work.
Our job is hard work. It takes time, attention
and patience; it’s not like saying putting two and two together makes four. Passion is the most
important ingredient of all. I have a tremendous passion for horses, which comes from my family.
My grandfather was a farrier, as well as my father, cousin and uncle. Horses are all very different
to one another, as, too, are their hooves. It’s a bit like people and their sizes. Then there are the
ailments. Some have flat feet, some are crenellated, some have bones that are too close to one
another and need lifting. There are many types of shoe: aluminium alloy is the lightest, whereas
iron weighs a ton. Today precise x-rays exist, which give you certain indications. The vet is the one
who makes the decision, but I’m a vet too in some ways. I feel the foot using pincers and when I
realise that pressing a certain point hurts, then I model the shoe on the anvil. For the horse it’s a
necessary evil.
Once upon a time, the vulnerable

animals were eaten by wolves.
It’s not like that any
more; factories make shoes in all sizes. For a trotting or galloping horses, two millimetres
alone make a difference. For jumpers, lameness is the problem, which is why I add a silicon
insole. It’s like a buffer. Horses don’t speak; they can’t tell you where it hurts. I tell the young
there’s no such thing as too much
residents of the Community that
experience and that you never stop learning.

Although they’ve made mistakes in life, I get to know them straight away: I have children myself.
These people are better than others. They always help me. How come I get all the good ones?
Augusto Battistini
farrier
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