In Italy, farmers are so fed up with tourists who are installing lathes in the mountains. Literally

There are many places where one would expect to find a lathe. In museums, airports, subway stations, libraries, gyms, bathrooms, stadiums … the list is long and wide. But where nobody would probably expect to see an access tourniquet is in The dolomitesthe steep mountains of the Italian Eastern Alps. After all, what does a metallic closure paint in the field?

If that question is asked the farmers of Seda The answer is to remove tourists. That is why they have installed a lathe on a busy route in the area

An unexpected landscape. Alps have accustomed us to postal landscapes, but not to what can be seen for weeks on one of its most popular paths, the SECEDA ODLE PANORAMIC ROUTEa mountain of the dolomitas located in Val Gardena. In addition to green slopes, steep summits and film sunset, from early July In the area there is a new element that alters the landscape: a metallic lathe, with its bars, its coin slot and A poster in which you can read “Input for the famous Ruta de las Rocas € 5”.

And who put it there? A group of local farmers tired of seeing the continuous transfer of tourists in search of photos for Instagram or the best Selfie. The Telegraph Precise that the initiative started from four land owners that crosses the path. It is not just that the area receives thousands of visitors in high season (recently There was talk of 8,000 in a single day), which already exerts remarkable pressure in the environment, is that this influx, They denounce The owners of the plots, arrives accompanied by “damage” to their lands and garbage.

“The authorities must understand that while the cable car operators receive large amounts of money due complaint Georg Rabanser, owner of one of the land that crosses the path. Hence the decision to install a lathe with a toll of five euros (children and locals are exempt) and a person who is responsible for controlling access and demanding the payment of the rate.

A QUITA AND PUT TORN. The initiative of Italian farmers could stay there if it were not because the lathe unleashed a considerable controversy in the country. A few days after jumping the news, the device I was already canceledwith which the hikers rose again without problem (or tolls) to the Mirador de Odle. Was that the end of the story? No. Yesterday the newspaper Il post He informed that the lathe is again operation with its controversial rate.

OBJECTIVE: launch a SOS. Its promoters decided to recover it to achieve what, They assureThey have always sought: to agit consciences between public administrations to seek solutions to the intense flow of tourists, “the abandoned paths and the meadows full of garbage.” “Ours has been a call for help. We expected a call from the provinces authorities. But nothing. We only read communicated in the press, rumors, nothing concrete.”

“We have not even received warning letters, so we move on. The province must understand that, while the facilities (tourist) earn a lot concludes Rabanser.

The debate, served. The debate of course is served. The owners of the plots through which the path passes allege that their lands suffer the avalanche of tourists, but the situation is much more complex. Italian law allows free access to environments such as Dolomitas, although in the country there are certain placeslike the popular Via dell´amorein Cinque Terre, which charge access rate.

In the background there is an even broader debate and with implications that go beyond Seeda: if farmers are allowed to install lathes, the same will be allowed to the owners of other plots crossed by tourist paths?

A lathe field? “I do not want the southern tyrol to become a territory of tourniquetes,” insists Carlo Alberto Zanella, from the Italian Alpine Club. “It is unthinkable that every owner of land crossed by routes begin to collect tolls for access.” Torns are not the only way to prevent tourists from damaging the environment. Moreover, the authorities have already hired more forestry to prevent visitors from leaving the trails or using drones.

Images | Robert J. Heath (Flickr), Karen (Flickr) and The Zmora (Flickr)

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