I was afraid I might bother him when I called him up. I timidly tried to introduce myself but I was suddenly overwhelmed by this incredibly enthusiastic voice bursting from the other end of the line and speaking in a strong Brianza accent.
I got in touch with Sergio Giardi because this summer he did something really beautiful. His wife Katia's birthday is on August 9th. "We've been married for 27 years! 27 years together, 27 years of love" says Sergio, who on Valentine's day had already given Katia a tree from Treedom. "This thing you do is great, and when I learned about it, I thought it would be the perfect gift." To be exact, Sergio gifted Katia an Orange tree and had it planted in Sicily.
Katia's father came from Sicily. "And so my children and I organized a tour of his hometown (Mascalucia, Catania) and the surrounding area, the same area where my wife sometimes spent the summer as a child. We went back there after 40 years! And when we got there, we realized that the area where our tree had been planted was actually pretty close. So I called up Treedom and spoke with Martina, who was kind enough to tell me how to reach it, what the coordinates were and who to contact. So I called the Beppe Montana Cooperativa, I made an appointment and we went there".
"They were incredibly friendly. The director himself, Alfio Curcio, came and greeted us. He gave us a tour: he was very nice to us and proved to be an expert in his field. We got to see the good they do in such a complicated social context: we were absolutely thrilled. We learned so much from this experience, and we were also moved by it." I asked him how the trees were doing. "The trees were in perfect condition, and they are very well looked after! I swear, it was a moving experience".
At this point, I went for it and asked if I could publish our conversation on the Treedom blog. This was Sergio's answer. "Of course! It would be nothing but a pleasure for me, because when you share something beautiful, it can only get better".
