High in a forest in Abruzzo, Italy, a stone house now stands silent. Until just a few weeks ago, that place was the self-sufficient refuge of Nathan Trevallion, Catherine Birmingham and their three children. But a few days ago, a judge decided to remove them of family custody for living disconnected from the grid, without schooling and in an environment that he considered unhealthy. The resolution started a fire political and social in Italy. What for the family was a self-sufficient life project—solar panels, well water, compostable toilet, garden—has become a court case with enormous international repercussions.
The story, however, goes beyond an Italian court order. It is the symptom of something bigger: a growing movement in Europe—and also in Spain—of families and communities seeking to get out of the urban grind, disconnect from the electrical grid and live self-sufficiently. How far does the freedom to choose that lifestyle go? And where does the State’s intervention begin, especially when minors are involved?
The case that divided Italy. The family, of Australian and British origin, had been living in a forest in Palmoli since 2021. The house was precarious but, according to themenough: electricity with solar panels, well water and an outdoor composting area as a toilet. In autumn 2024, all were hospitalized due to accidental mushroom poisoning. That episode set off alarm bells for social services. According to Corriere della Seraa technical report described the home as “ruin” and “without adequate conditions for minors.”
That’s when social services intervened. The lack of schooling of the minors, the absence of pediatric follow-up and the almost total isolation in which the family lived set off all the alarms. Following these reports, a court in L’Aquila ordered in November the withdrawal of parental authority and the transfer of the children to a center, where the mother could stay next to them. The decision has caused a real political earthquakewhere political leaders and several judicial associations denounced pressure from the Government. At the same time, more than 150,000 people signed online petitions demanding that minors return to their parents.
Off-grid: from bucolic dream to global phenomenon. To understand the background, just open Instagram. As Ethic magazine explainsit is enough for the algorithm to detect a certain interest in self-sufficiency to fill the feed of videos of families drying their own food, women showing their renovated campers or couples who live half a year off what they grow and collect. life off-grid or “self-sufficient” has become an aesthetic, philosophy and even aspiration for emotional disconnection.
But it is also political. The same medium reminds that a small part of the movement arises from groups “sovereign citizen“who reject the authority of the State. They are a minority, but they exist. The majority, on the other hand, opts for the off-grid for reasons of sustainability, teleworking, search for autonomy or reaction to the climate crisis. Also out of fear: there are communities —like the ecovillage of Tamera, in Portugal— that are preparing for a possible collapse of the current model. In Sweden and Finland, the governments have released official guides to prepare for extreme scenarios.
Spain is not far behind. The movement off-grid It has also taken root. It is no longer a thing of hippie ecovillages of the 90s: today it is embraced by engineers, teleworkers, urban families suffocated by the cost of living and foreigners from northern Europe who seek autonomy and nature. In the Karrantza valley (Bizkaia), for example, a family left town to produce their own energy and grow their food, a model that is repeated in the Basque Country, Cantabria or the interior of Spain, where many opt for hybrid solutions—solar panels, wood stoves and water recovery—combined with public school and community life.
At the same time, ecovillages such as Matavenero, Lakabe or Arterra Bizimodu, according to elDiario.esconsolidate rural repopulation based on sustainability and self-management. And adding to this trend is the arrival of new off-griders foreigners. As Euroweekly points outmore and more British, German or Dutch families buy farmhouses in Catalonia, the Alpujarra or Castellón to disconnect from the grid. Some stories border on the epic: an English couple built their life from scratch with yurts, dry toilets and rain catchers. What they are looking for – a lower cost of living, teleworking, autonomy or simply another way of living – comes with a price: living with wild boars, storms and no less bureaucracy.
But legally how is the matter? The contrast with Italy becomes evident when Spanish regulations are analyzed. In energy matters, the framework is clear: Royal Decree 244/2019 It allows self-consumption and does not require contracting electricity supply. Living with isolated solar panels, batteries or small generators is perfectly legal as long as the installation meets safety standards and is carried out by a licensed professional. Legalization is not strictly mandatory, but it is advisable to access public aid, obtain certificates or take out specific insurance.
Something similar happens with water. The Water Law establishes that groundwater is public domainso any well—with few exceptions—must have authorization from the corresponding Hydrographic Confederation. Drilling without a permit or extracting water from a protected aquifer can lead to significant penalties. In other words, you can live with your own well, but the collection must be regularized.
The point that makes the difference. When it comes to housing, living in a remote area is not illegal as long as the construction has the necessary documentation: license, occupancy certificate and minimum health and safety conditions. But if minors live in that environment and the house presents risks to their well-being, authorities can intervene.
However, the determining point is in education as in Italy. Unlike other European countries, Spain required by law that all minors between 6 and 16 years old are educated in recognized centers. He homeschooling is not regulated and, in practice, it is considered illegal. A family that decided to educate their children exclusively at home would face truancy proceedings, visits from social services and even judicial measures in serious cases.
A movement that does not stop growing. More and more people are seeing in the countryside a bid to escape from rent, more autonomy and those who simply want to reconnect over time. Self-sufficiency is no longer utopia, but an alternative. But the Italian case makes it clear that disconnecting from the grid is not the same as disconnecting from the law. The balance between individual freedom and protection of minors will probably be one of the social debates of this new rural cycle.
In a world saturated with screens, noise and bills, perhaps the question is not why so many people flee to the mountains, but what is driving them out of the cities. Meanwhile, between families drying food in the sun, Navarrese ecovillages holding assemblies and British couples building yurts, Spain is becoming, almost silently, one of the new European laboratories of life. off-grid.
Image | Unsplash
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