In Italy the number of young people who choose country life is growing

The number of young people in Italy who choose a life in the country is increasing. Despite hard work and early beginnings, they say agriculture is no longer an unwanted way to earn a living.

While her friends are asleep from a hangover, 23-year-old Vanessa Peduzzi is checking her cattle at dawn, one of a growing number of young Italians who leave the fast lane for the life of a farmer.

"It's a tiring and demanding job, but I like it," he told AFP as he walked through the pastures flanked by the woods on Lake Como, in northern Italy, to show the building that is slowly being restored and transformed into a farm.

"I chose this life. This is where I want to be, surrounded by nature and animals, "he said.

Peduzzi is a qualified chef, but has chosen to become a donkey and cow breeder instead in the Alpe Bedolo, about 813 meters (2.600 feet) above sea level, near the border with Switzerland.

“I started with two donkeys last year. I had no land or stable, so I had a friend who lent me a lawn, "he said.

"The situation got out of hand," he laughed. It now has around 20 donkeys, including 15 pregnant, as well as around 10 cows, five calves and five heifers.

'It's not an easy choice'

Peduzzi is among a growing number of young Italians who now choose to manage farms.

Jacopo Fontaneto, the main Italian agricultural union Coldiretti, said that after years of unfortunate mountain life among Italians, "we have seen a good return of young people in the last 10-20 years".

Over the past five years, there has been a 12% increase in the number of people under the age of 35 at the helm of farms, Coldiretti said in a study of last year's data.

He said that women account for almost a third of the total new entrances to agriculture.

The sector has been seen as "ripe for innovation" and working the land "is no longer considered a last resort for the ignorant", but something parents would be proud of.

However, Fontaneto admits: "It is not an easy choice".

Instead of computer screens or cash boxes, those on remote pastures spend their days watching "the most beautiful countryside you can dream of", but it is also "a life of sacrifice", with few opportunities for wild nights in the city, he said.

Young people can also help modernize the profession by introducing new technologies or investing in online sales.

Although it may be a lonely existence, Peduzzi has made friends at work: all of his donkeys and cows have names, he said fondly, while introducing Beatrice, Silvana, Giulia, Tom and Jerry.

Peduzzi, who wears a colorful bandana and walks along the tall grass, says that his father was not happy with his new career choice at the beginning because he knows the challenges involved, but has come since then.

Gets up early. From 6:30 in the morning he is with his animals, checking that they are well and giving them water.

“It's not a walk in the park. Sometimes you have to call the vet, help the animals give birth, "he said.

"When people my age get ready for a drink on a Saturday, I'm getting ready to go to the barn," he added.

ut Peduzzi said he would much prefer to spend any day of the year in the fields than to go shopping in the city full of noise, traffic and smog.

"Here, I feel like a goddess," she said smiling.

For now, he sells animals and meat, but hopes to expand soon to milk his cows and donkeys and make cheese.