Bepi il Bolognese, the only inhabitant of a Dolomite village

BELLUNO – There are remote places, even in Italy, where Coronavirus seems a distant echo. They don’t have shops, they don’t have crowds. Micro-cosmos with only one inhabitant, as in some villages in the Dolomites. “What has changed since Coronavirus has come? Almost nothing. It’s all the same.” From his ‘hermitage’ in Ronch di Laste, Mr. Giuseppe, ‘Bepi il Bolognese’, as they call him, willingly accepts to have a chat on the phone.He is the only inhabitant of the tiny village at 1,500 meters above sea level, in the municipality of Rocca Pietore. Covid-19 is informed. But he is not afraid. The days are the same as always: the wood to be cut, the small daily activities – “think, I also do crocheted socks” he laughs -, deer and foxes who come to eat in front of the house, the sun rising from the Sasso Bianco.
The lockdown has no effect on those who already experience isolation. No social distance to keep, no lines, zero temptations to escape from the ‘quarantine’: the wood, Giuseppe, 81 years old, has it behind his house. But there has been a change: “they bring my shopping home and what I need – he says -, they are very organized, and I thank the Municipality and the volunteers very much, just like the doctor in the valley, Dr. Claudio Allegro, of all, calling us every day “.”The mask? Of course I have it – he replies – Even if I don’t need it here. I only use it to get off in Laste, when the fruit and vegetable truck arrives”. Originally from Molinella of Bologna, Giuseppe Zaffagnini has always been a farmer. In Ronch he retired 20 years ago: “the most beautiful place in the Dolomites, here my wife and I met and got engaged”.
His wife passed away last year. Ronch’s only resident has no plans for Easter: “with this emergency – he says – the biggest sentence is theirs, not mine”.

The ‘Bolognese’ is not the only hermit in these parts. Under the Marmolada, in another hamlet of Rocca Pietore, the same condition lives Constant Costante, 64 years old, the last inhabitant of Bramezza, 1,450 meters above sea level. Former executive in a large company, he worked 40 years in Venice. Then he returned to his native village. Where in the meantime they had all gone. Constant has never “detached” from the world; thanks to the web and mobile phone it is updated on the Coronavirus.

Some cases of contagion have gone as far as Rocca Pietore. But not in the hamlets. “Those who are used to being in such isolated places – he explains – are ‘facilitated’ in surviving, in remaining without contacts, without shopping”. There is no road to get to Bramezza. In winter, go up by snowmobile, or on foot, with crampons. “In February – he says – I was 20 days without being able to go down, there was a slab of snow and ice. When I reached the town I made a big shopping and I stayed another 20 days without going back down. It is not a problem: at one time there was smoke and salt to store food; today there is a freezer “. How is ‘confinement’ seen from a remote mountain hamlet? “The problem I see – he replies – is that people do not obey, they cannot respect the rules. I have seen more than one arrive up here, to walk in the woods. I have sent some of them back. In the past few weeks there was even some tourists with the dog … “.