July 10
Pasturismo – Film Screening
Introduced by Boschilla collective

Fondo Comini, via Fioravanti 68

For over thirty years, Bylbyl’s family has been driving their livestock each summer to the high-altitude pastures of the Dobërdoll valley, beneath the mountain ridges that divide Albania from Montenegro and Kosovo. These lands, marked by a troubled recent past, are today the striking setting of the Peaks of the Balkans hiking trail. The arrival of tourists from all over Europe is encouraging locals to invest in new hospitality structures, adopting new economic models and experimenting with different ways of engaging with the land. A few years ago, Bylbyl decided to tap into this still-modest but steadily growing flow of tourism. For him, it could represent an alternative to emigration. Many other valley residents are trying to do the same: alongside sheep pens and barns, small shelters for tourists begin to appear, driven by the mantra of “authenticity.” Within the bustling landscape of Albanian tourism, Erwin Lanj, an environmental guide, offers hikes along the Peaks of the Balkans trail, including some of its most scenic stages. He brings travelers from across Europe into direct contact with shepherd families like Bylbyl’s. Erwin knows well that tourism offers an increasingly important source of income in this particularly poor region, but he is also aware of the risks associated with tourist consumption, the commodification of Albanian culture, and exploitative profit-making in a land that is as rich as it is fragile. As an Albanian who chose to stay, Erwin wonders how this form of hospitality will evolve in the coming years. Their story pushes us to look far beyond Albania and reflect on the future of all marginal areas that have recently become tourist destinations. The open challenge in Northern Albania—as in all Mediterranean mountain regions—is this: is truly sustainable tourism possible?

Free event.

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Boschilla is a multimedia research and production project focused on mountains and inner areas, born after numerous journeys on foot. In 2014, it launched the radio show “Boschilla – the sound of your step”, initiating various collaborations with filmmakers, writers, and specialized publishers to tell stories of the land through an interdisciplinary lens.
In 2016, the project “Ragnatele” was born—an exploratory journey through abandoned and depopulated villages of the Apennines—which led Boschilla to win the Fuorirotta grant from director Andrea Segre. This journey gave rise to the 2018 documentary film “Entroterra. Memories and Desires of the Lesser Mountains”, which premiered at the 66th Trento Film Festival and won Best Documentary and Best Screenplay at the 19th Lucania Film Festival. In October 2018, based on the same project that inspired the film, Boschilla published the book “Ragnatele.” Since 2019, it has collaborated with the Lagolandia festival, which promotes the Bolognese Apennine area. In 2020, the School of Political Ecology in the Mountains was founded as part of this collaboration, conceived by Boschilla and Articolture.