The project developed by the National Academy of Agriculture, with the collaboration of the Forest Regional Carabinieri Command, and supported by the Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna, continues over the years to increase the number of participating schools. Aimed at young people who have already chosen to study agricultural subjects, but who need to understand its multiple possible applications—such as technology, environmental knowledge, and the intellect to think about agriculture—it has become a practical tool of aid to the mountain community through its youth. In past decades, the territory that suffered most from the burden of neglect was the Apennines: sloping lands, abandoned woods, migration to cities from small villages that seemed to have little to offer. Today, the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines is instead a territory rich in growth potential and economic development, and there are many realities in recent years that are working for its rebirth, mostly managed by young agricultural entrepreneurs who have decided to return to their roots. To this end, the training courses dedicated to students of the 4th and 5th classes of the agricultural institutes of Bologna and its branches located in the Bolognese hills and mountains, of the professional institutes of Sasso Marconi, and of some Bolognese scientific high schools aimed to offer an opportunity for theoretical and practical knowledge and a possibility for future work with a positive impact on local realities.
With each edition, the students and lecture hours have constantly increased, coming to exceed 200 participants. The training activities were agreed upon with the school managers, teachers, and reference tutors thanks to the valuable availability of academics from the National Academy of Agriculture, teachers and researchers from the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Technologies of the University of Bologna, officers of the Emilia-Romagna Forest Carabinieri, as well as experts from local cultural associations. These figures, along with that of the orientation teacher, have been officially recognized in the orientation guidelines by the Ministry of Education and Merit. Students of each course are handed educational documentation consisting of journals, handouts, worksheets, and images related to the course to be attended, and at the end, they write a report certifying the concepts acquired during the classroom lectures and activities carried out in the field or laboratory. Finally, a check on the achievement of the educational objective and the level of satisfaction, by re-submitting the same questionnaire filled out at the beginning of the course, is given to all participants at the end of the courses.
The proposed courses touched on multidisciplinary teachings that can help students fully understand the different environmental, territorial control, productive, and management activities that are indispensable to operate today in mountain areas, in the face of numerous problems related to hydrogeological instability and the social and economic abandonment of numerous areas of the Apennine territory. The activity carried out in recent years by the National Academy of Agriculture, with the support of the Fondazione del Monte e Ravenna, highlighted how activities agreed upon with school managers and teachers integrate well into school curricula, especially for those topics that require field or laboratory demonstration activities. The analysis of the responses given by the students in the questionnaire provided at the end of the courses surely showed an increase in the degree of knowledge of the topics addressed, and the pupils' judgment on the value of the path was positive, both under the orientational aspect and that of the use of a laboratory teaching methodology, which proved to be very engaging. Complete satisfaction was also expressed for the guided visits carried out during the educational path. The goal is to continue in the coming years, further increasing the number of students and available courses, to implement the offer and multidisciplinarity of professional knowledge on topics useful for the protection and development of the environment and mountain economies.
