Alicudi turns out to be the 'paradise' for goats and sheep

Eighty inhabitants in winter, three thousand in summer.

But in Alicudi, a small island of the Aeolian Islands, Peppino Taranto, owner of a hotel-restaurant, has started to register the goats, as many as 700, some even large, and sheep, 300 according to his calculations.

Their natural habitat is certainly not the sea, and so they find refreshment at an altitude of 600 meters, in the west of the island, in the localities of Sciara Tufazio, Galera, Cugnaruttieddu.

"Impervious, dangerous and very difficult to reach areas", says Taranto.

Two municipal police officers know something about this, who landed in Alicudi last year for a census.

And precisely in that inaccessible area live about thirty foreigners, in the company of wild goats and, it is estimated, 10 thousand rabbits.

Not to mention the 12 pack mules, which slowly transport everything, to the island that lives, yes, of tourism, but does not disdain fishing and agriculture (present some caper crops).

Alicudi cares for its goats, while nearby Filicudi protects dolphins, sperm whales and turtles.

The biggest risk, in Alicudi, is run by the dry stone walls, born from the hands and wisdom of the local laborers to terrace the land.

There the passage of the goats is devastating.

"In the summer - explains Taranto - the goats binge on prickly pears and clean up the grass: it is no coincidence that fires do not occur. In groups of 20 or 30 they descend to Pianicello, west of Alicudi, at an altitude 300 meters, where a small community of Germans live, leaving their mark on their land and rolling boulders downstream. In the past it was tried to build fences and with the help of dogs to put them in cages, but without success ".

If in Lipari there is the problem of stray dogs, Alicudi comes to terms with the "capreietà", as some inhabitants call the phenomenon who do not tolerate the presence of goats on the island.

The Vicenza-based publisher Aldo Di Nora, creator of tourist guides and trekking maps, with his Spanish companion has chosen to live on the island.

"Tourists - he says - also come to practice yoga and meditation, group dances. The island is made for people who love silence, tranquility and nature. Of course the problem of goats exists and the solution is not easy" .

The German tycoon Cristof Bosch has also arrived in Alicudi a few years ago and bought a villa by the sea and two ruins, on the edge of the property, from the heirs of Enrico Cuccia.

The attraction for the place comes from its being wild.

From these animals also a reclamation work due to the fact that they graze brambles and weeds.

"The paths are abandoned - says an islander - they need work. The port lives on the alms of the islanders who try to plug the holes in the pier as best they can: the grids are blown, sooner or later the Captaincy will close everything".

A retiree says that "tourism lasts a scant 30 days, with two hotels that have thirty rooms and some landlords. The school has a beautiful location, but with few pupils, and in the summer it becomes a library. Parents take their children to Lipari or Milazzo to study ".

The church of San Bartolo opens only on Saturdays, when the priest from Filicudi arrives.

Alicudi, a land of emigration, benefits from the services of Father Fredy who comes from Congo and has been helping Father Dorwin who comes from Nigeria for a year.

In the middle of winter, the faithful who attend Mass vary from 7 to 10, doubling in the middle of summer.

During Easter we also arrive 30 participants in the religious service.

And while Alicudi, among young people who go away to study or inhabitants in search of fortune, is depopulated, the goats continue to multiply.

(HANDLE).