Massimiliano Melis speaks about goat farmer resident in Trentino who, during the lockdown, took his little girl to the hut and the photo of the little girl sitting at the banquet, with the computer, surrounded by goats, reached the Pope who received her in the Vatican
MEZZOLOMBARDO. “I always have Sardinia in my heart even though I have lived for over thirty years in Trentino, in the Val di Sole, the region of adoption, where I emigrated for work reasons and integrated myself, says Massimiliano Melis, the father of Fiammetta, the little girl of ten years that rose to the headlines for having been received on October 30 by Pope Francis “.
Who is Massimiliano Melis? ”I am the eldest of the five children brought into the world by Anna Mattana and Vincenzo. I was born in Ballao, my mother’s country of origin, on May 12, 1963. Silvana Boldrini, the midwife of the village of Gerrei, who died a few months ago after having reached the enviable milestone of the century helped me to be born. life. I spent my childhood and adolescence in Armungia, the town where my father was born, who became famous for being the birthplace of Emilio Lussu, the founder of the Sardinian Action Party. I attended elementary school and the three classes of middle school and then for 6 years I worked as a shepherd servant employed by the Libero Quartu goat farmer. From 1982 to 1988 I was a laborer. Since there was a shortage of work, I decided to emigrate to the peninsula as did many of my fellow countrymen in those years. After spending 2 months in Valle D’Aosta I moved to Mezzocorona in Trentino. For almost a quarter of a century I worked as a laborer first for a company in South Tyrol and then for a German one. In the last years of the first decade of the second millennium I developed the idea of being a goat farmer and thus return to my origins. I exposed the project to my partner Annamaria Tai, now 50, (she is a social health worker (os) in a retirement home in Mezzocorona), who shared it and encouraged me. In 2015 I bought the first local goats “passirie and mochene”, about forty, and I began to implement my project. I asked some friends in Sardinia to keep me informed about the possible sale of some herds of goats. “
When was Fiammetta born ?. “Fiammetta was born on March 19, 2011, the day of Father’s Day. It was a great joy. The long-awaited child has radically changed my life and “cemented” the union between me and Annamaria. Fiammetta has loved animals since she was a child and asked to come to the two farms I have near the medieval fortress of Samoclevo and to the two huts between Dimaro and Terzolas, in the Val di Sole. Fiammetta currently attends the fifth grade of the institute’s primary school. including via Filzi di Mezzolombardo. During the period of distance learning (dad) willing to stem the contagions of the covid pandemic, unlike many other children, she was divinely because she had the opportunity to live in the open air in contact with animals and nature”.
How was the meeting with Pope Bergoglio? “We were lucky enough to have a wonderful, exciting experience. The pope has promised Fiammetta that if he will guide him among his mountains and his goats, he will come to visit her in Val di Sole. Our daughter gave the pope the book “Fiammetta and the white ibex” which he wrote during which tells how he spent his days “.
Fiammetta, like her father, is a very fan of Cagliari. More than once they went to Peio, the small town in Trentino where Cagliari has been preparing for the pre-season for some seasons, which is about sixty kilometers from Mezzolombardo to attend training sessions. The coordination center of the Cagliari clubs gave her a personalized t-shirt and a balaclava hat that she wears with pride.
It is true that Fiammetta helps her ”. “The little girl is very willing. She likes to help me both when I milk the goats and when I prepare cheese (I have a well-equipped artisan dairy) and I take the animals to pasture. I currently have 400 goats. 250 are of Sardinian breed. I bought two flocks: one in Seulo, the other in Armungia ”.
How long have you not been to Sardinia? “For four years, since I started the new business. Now I absolutely cannot, I am very busy, I have to look after the cattle. As soon as I can, we’ll drop by. I want to see my mother Anna and my sisters Loredana, Bianca, Valentina and Nicoletta again ”.