📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
The association “Amici della Val Codera – Friends of Val Codera ONLUS” is settled in Codera village and it's been working for 35 years to promote in an ecofriendly way the valley environmental heritage. Val Codera lies among the Retiche Alps, it's shaped by granite stones and it's still a wild, natural and unspoilt area. The most important aim of the association is to protect and enhance the valley environmental and cultural heritage (Codera village is a rare example of Alpine civilisation) in order to respect local inhabitants and to promote an ecofriendly tourism respectful of the mountains beauty and cultural values. The main activities will be run in the neighbourhoods of Codera village that can be reached only on foot with a 2 hours walk from Novate Mezzola.
💼 What the programme involves
During the workcamp volunteers will work for 6-7 hours per day and they'll be involved in the following activities: restoration and cleaning of abandoned fields; growing potatoes, beans and crops fields; renovation of wild and abandoned fields through digging; renovation of scaffolding little drywalls; forest cleaning from wild plants; wood collecting; ancient local footpaths cleaning and restoration. Volunteers will also support visitors and hosts accommodation in the only receptive structure of the valley: Rifugio Osteria Alpina.
🏠 Accommodation on site
Volunteers will stay in big rooms with bunk beds at the Rifugio Osteria Alpina, with bathrooms, hot and cold showers. Mattresses, pillows and blankets will be provided but volunteers have to bring their sheet bags. Meals will be prepared by Amici della Val Codera supported by camp volunteers who might also go to Novate Mezzola to buy food and other important items.
📍 About the location
Codera Village is 825m height, 2 hours walking from Novate Mezzola municipality that is part of Sondrio provincia, in Lombardy (North of Italy). The most important cities nearby are Milano (2 hours by train from Novate Mezzola), Lecco (1 hour by train), Sondrio (1 hour and half by train) and Como reachable by bus from Colico in about 2 hours. There are no shops and facilities in the village.
⚠️ Requirements
Due to the workcamp background, set in a remote area far from noises and contradictions of contemporary cities and consumerist society, but also from modern life facilities, a strong motivation to work in a wild area is required. Simple manual skills in using agricultural tools and a good physical strength are also required skills. Volunteers should be motivated to interact with local community.