Having learned to live with its bear neighbors, the mountain village of Pettorano sul Gizio is attracting tourists and new residents, bucking the trend of declining agriculture.
Pettorano sul Gizio is a medieval mountain settlement full of alleyways, vigilant cats and wooden doors that have been locked since the last century.
In the lower parts of the city, the rustic charm is turning to abandonment - branches are growing out of the walls, roofs are failing. The only bar closed
on Christmas Day, after the owner died. Some "For Sale" signs have been hanging for so long that you can't make out the phone number.
The town, with its faded ochre and orange hues, is on the list of the "Most Beautiful Villages" (association of historic towns) of Italy. In 1920 there were about 5,000 people living here, now the population is 390.
This town is like many others in Italy's south-central Abruzzo region, where the population is dwindling and aging. One nearby town is almost completely abandoned, with only 12 people living there.
But what sets Pettorano sul Gizio apart is its passion for bears. In the town square, there is a life-size model of a brown bear with a cub, and paintings of bears peeking out from the walls.
At dawn and dusk, a bear named Barbara has been known to wander the narrow streets - sometimes followed by her cubs - to see if she can snatch some food.
Now known as "the city that went wild", it has attracted a new crowd of young people involved in nature restoration. But coming to terms with the endangered Marsican, or Apennine brown bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus), which is endemic to the Abruzzo region, has not been easy.
Photo: theguardian.com
The biggest threat to
bears is humans, so conservationists realized that people living in these remote towns should want to protect them.
The story of the village's encounter with bears
One reason the bear population is doing so well is that many people have left the region. A blurry photograph of the village in 1905 shows the hills denuded by cattle grazing and deforestation caused by a community of carbonarians, or charcoal producers.
After World War II, as Italy's economy boomed, rural people left to work in the cities. As human pressure on the landscape diminished, nature made a comeback - the population of Apennine brown bears now numbers about 60 and appears to be growing. But the people who remained have forgotten how to live alongside large predators.
The worst relationship came 10 years ago during the reign of Peppina, a 135-pound "problem bear" who had been raising cubs in the area for several years. She was known for raiding domestic chickens, apiaries and orchards, raking out all the produce she could find. Mario Cipollone, a spokesman for Rewilding Apennines, says she was "the most violent in the raids in question."
Photo: theguardian.com
In 2014, tensions between locals and animals came to a head when a young male bear was shot and killed by an amateur farmer after raiding a chicken coop. Many people supported the man who claimed he was attacked by the bear. There are no documented cases of Martian bears killing humans, and the bears themselves are usually fearful and avoid contact with humans.
According to Cipollone, "there was an atmosphere that was against the bear." The bear's death led to a paradigm shift. "We had to do something more practical," he says.
Living with wild animals
So in 2015, Pettorano sul Gizio became the first "bear" community in Italy. Electric fences were installed around more than 100 plots to protect
bees, chickens and other farm animals; gates and bear-proof containers were installed; and guides on how best to live near bears were distributed in Pettorano sul Gizio and the neighboring town of Rocca Pia.
Photo: theguardian.com
Residents are encouraged not to leave food outside; ripe fruit in orchards is picked from the ground and food waste is stored indoors until garbage pickup. Since 2014, "damage has decreased dramatically," Cipollone says. Peppina's successor, Barbara, roams the alleys of Pettorano sul Gizio but no longer causes damage.
According to Save the Bear, a wildlife conservation organization, by 2017, bear raids were down 99 percent from three years earlier, and there have been no incidents of harm since 2020.
"The damage is almost completely eradicated," Cipollone said. "We have done everything to protect against bears." Other European countries are taking note. There are now 18 bear-caring communities across Europe, funded by the EU's Life environmental program.
Life is coming back
While depopulation may have attracted bears to the region, in Pettorano sul Gizio bears are now bringing people back. Last October, Valeria Barbi, a journalist and naturalist specializing in ecology, visited the smart community and liked the town so much she decided to stay.
Photo: theguardian.com
"This place made me shine again in a certain way," she says. "I was a little depressed about the global environmental situation. But these places make me think that we can do something, that valid practices exist."
Milena Ciccolella, owner of Torchio restaurant, calls the greening measures "a real rescue from an economic point of view," so much so that they now offer vegetarian dishes on their daily menu, which used to be dominated by meat. This attracts nature-loving travelers.
Mario Finocchi, president of the Valleluna Cooperative Society, says, "There is a trend of more tourists in the area. Some people who came as tourists then decided to buy a house here."
The number of tourists staying in Pettorano sul Gisio increased from about 250 in 2020 to more than 2,400 last year, according to accommodation data collected by Valeluna.
Tourism is good, but "it's important that people actually live here," Finocchi says. "There is a new young community that came here because of the bears and that is working to socially and culturally enrich the town."
Photo: theguardian.com
In the evenings, dozens of people can be found outside La Pizzicheria Di Costantino, which sells large chunks of local cheeses and hams, as well as bear-themed beers. The owner, Massimiliano del Signore, who runs it with his wife, says they moved here because of the nature, tranquility and people.
"We fell in love and decided to invest in the area," he says. "It's not just about tourism. It's about making people believe they can stay here and live very well."