Francesco was born in 1985 in Piasco, in the lower Varaita Valley, in the province of Cuneo. At the age of 17 he started break dancing and hip pop. After graduating from the Agricultural Institute, he travelled around the world. At the age of 25 he returned to Turin, where he graduated in Environmental Engineering from Turin Polytechnic and started working in this sector. “During my the last years at the “Poly” we organised a party in Pontechianale, in the upper Varaita Valley – an area that hosts summer camps and school camps of our community. About two hundred people attended the event, we made even 40- or 50-year-olds play classic games like “Capture the flag”, we took them to the meadows, among the trees. They felt good. That weekend sowed a seed in me: “Could this become a working opportunity?” In 2018, I had the chance to participate in the ReStartAlp “on campus” course organised by Fondazione Edoardo Garrone and Fondazione Cariplo. I won it. After that, all I could do was get down to playing“, smiles Francesco.

Let’s rewind the tape of his life. Let’s go back to the early 2000s. “When I was a teenager , I used to take part in the school camps, which for pupils from Piasco were organised in Pontechianale: two weeks set in a World War II military village” says Francesco.
It was during those camps that he got to know and experience group games. And it was there that, having become an educator, he met Fulvio and Lorenzo, the two friends who are now sharing the Sala Biellese adventure with him: “They are about ten years younger than me. Flavio is very good at planning, while Lorenzo is very practical, pragmatic” says Francesco.