Participating in this residential course made me feel less alone in my ‘crazy choice’ to leave a permanent job”

Benedetta Morucci

In the stable at Porta dei Parchi, the sheep wait in an enclosure for their turn to be sheared. That of shearing is a kind of ritual that lasts two days, because there are almost 1,400 head here. It is performed once a year, using an electric razor, by a team that comes from Anversa degli Abruzzi (L’Aquila), in the mountains around Rieti. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, this special ritual was ‘celebrated’ by Maoris from New Zealand. Once an animal approaches the shearer, its fleece is shorn onto the floor in a few tens of seconds. Then, Benedetta collects the grease wool (rich in noble fatty substances like lanolin and impurities), sorts it, and, after assessing its quality, puts it into big bags. “The longer and curlier, the finer”, she explains. The best wool from the sheep reared at Porta dei Parchi is that of the Sopravvissana and Merinizzata Italiana breeds: “The former is one of our indigenous, archaic breeds, while the modern Merinos are all the result of cross-breeding”, she explains.