News

Building a goat business in the Italian Apennines

02.10.2020

Not many people start their business by meeting a hermit in a bar. Ilaria lives in the small mountain hamlet of Garulla, Italy, located at 870 m in Monti Sibillini National Park, in the Central Apennines. Since the national disaster of the 2017 earthquakes, Garulla is inhabited by only four families. Similar to many, Ilaria thought she would have to leave the mountains to find work. She trained to be a bartender and considered working abroad because she had doubts about finding permanent employment and was tired of her part-time bar job in the foothills.

One day the local hermit came into the bar where Ilaria was working. He proposed she should take his three goats since she has ample space in the mountains and he offered her a good price. Ilaria said, "I never had any interest in goats. I knew nothing about them and I never, never thought I would do anything with goats."

However, he convinced her to take the goats and she put them in her grandparents’ abandoned barn in Garulla. That day changed her life irrevocably.

Four years later, now aged 30, Ilaria is a successful entrepreneur with a dynamic, growing business based around 60 milk producing Camosciata Delle Alpi goats. "You learn by doing. You have to. And you want to learn because you see what it means in your life and business." Each week she has a waiting list of local clients and cannot produce enough to fulfil the local demand. She does not spend money nor time on advertising and marketing. The exceptional product sells itself.

In her twenties, Ilaria had tried a few ideas for employment but nothing worked out. This time things fell into place. She explained, "A friend of mine helped me apply for funding from the European Union (EU) Plan for Rural Development and now as well as making cheese and ricotta with the goat milk, my brother joined me and we are opening an agritourism." The business is called "Nonno Lui."

Her attractive wooden barn has open sides and joins a building where Ilaria makes the cheese following EU standards. This summer was difficult with COVID-19, but it was a good trial run interacting with customers. Since the agritourism is not open yet, Ilaria put bails of hay in the field under trees around the goat barn. Customers felt secure in the open air with ample space. Again demand exceeded capacity. Ilaria said, "We probably had a 70 percent increase in visitation this summer and this is the last village before the mountains." Mountain bikers, in groups of 30, made reservations for lunch or a snack. People going hiking stopped to buy cheese.

"We want to give value to what nature offers and to help visitors understand that value. We also need to work within limits to respect nature and have the capacity to offer the level of service we aim for. I want to stimulate people to stay longer, not just pass through, and offer experiences with guides so that this place becomes a reference point for people entering the Park."

How are the mountains important in daily life?

"When I see the mountains all around me, the nature, all the green, it gives me a relaxed feeling inside. I am aware that I made a lifestyle choice. I wanted to stay here, and when you make that decision, there’s a rhythm to life here. It is different from the city when you are working for someone else. Of course I still worry about things, but I know I decide how I use my time. I decide what to do. I think positively and obviously that helps. The choices you make also depend on the type of thoughts you want to have in life."

Later we look at one of the three goats the hermit gave her.

"I think we all have a destiny. But we often don’t realise what it is."

Seeing her with her goats, it is clear Ilaria has realised the first chapter of her destiny, and maybe a new future for Garulla, too.

News and photo by Tamara Griffiths