It will leave Venice on April 26, 2022 at the age of 72 and will arrive in China, in Beijing, which will be 75. No, it is not the plot of an “Interstellar” style philosophical fantasy film. Time seems to shape and dilute around a particular (and intrepid) woman like Cammarota of Vienna, because she will proceed in “walking” mode. Everyone’s guide now (since he announced his incredible feat from the classrooms of Sapienza in Rome on the occasion of the fiftieth National Congress ofArcheoclub of Italy) the “grandmother” walking (alone) on the Silk Road.

At the age of 72 walking in China, grandmother Vienna ready to leave: “Time doesn’t scare me: I hug the trees”

Three years of walking. Don’t fear all this time? “It’s not the time that scares me, but if I really make it. I have always been a determined person and my tenacity has put me in a position to reach the objectives. I think that in life we ​​must look beyond the horizon and time and focus on the result to be obtained with honesty, will to live, loyalty! I don’t pretend to go down in history but I want to leave something to the new generations. Starting from the Lazzaretto Nuovo in Venice, I thank Gerolamo and Giorgia Fazzini of the Archeoclub D’Italia in Venice and Rosario Santanastasio, National President of Archeoclub D’Italia and from there crossing 15 nations is oxygen of culture and enhancement of beauty “.

Grandmother walking on the Silk Road: at 73 in China in the footsteps of Marco Polo. The Vienna Cammarota enterprise

Origins from Campania, a life as an environmental hiking guide, what does “walking” give you? «Walking is a balm for our body. The feet pump blood to the cardiovascular system, the mind empties and all our problems calm down. For me it goes beyond, it is knowledge, encounters, emotions; it is an immersion in nature, the senses are sharpened and I get intoxicated with everything that surrounds me ».

Can I ask you, how do you prepare it? Training, meditation…? «I prepare myself above all mentally: I learn to be comfortable with myself alone, I walk and climb and while I do her I study the movements of my body. I try to understand if they are correct or if I am wrong to place my foot. I check that the posture is always in line, that the breath is in line with the movement and I remain cautious about the pains, also listening to any bells and therefore that my body. I hug the trees because they give me energy and I talk to the flowers, the Sun, the Moon ».

What about the diet? “Now that I’m preparing, I don’t do any diet, I eat very often. Right now my only thought is to gain weight, because I know I will lose weight. But be careful as balance and intake of vitamins and therefore a diet based on good quality foods are essential. I often spend whole days, periods and nights even in mountain huts at 1800 – 2000 meters and I read. I anticipate the paths by traveling with the mind too, because I train the mind above all and not just the body. Reading is meditation and training! ”

Come to face the path? How do you plan and study the stages? «Being an Environmental Hiking Guide (no longer in Aigae but now Assoguide and Ambassador of Archeoclub D’Italia in the World) my first thought is:“ I’ll be fine even if I don’t know the paths ”. So the mind is that place that makes me see the map before the path itself. Then I am a technician, I prepare myself by looking for as much information as possible from books, from the internet, from other travelers. This time they are supported by Archeoclub D’Italia, the first cultural association founded in 1971. We often think that the environmental heritage is not cultural heritage and instead Rosario Santanastasio, National President of Archeoclub D’Italia is right even when he says that the Environmental Heritage is Cultural heritage. This is also why I start from the Lazzaretto Nuovo in Venice ».

How would you like people to remember your business? “As the only 72-year-old woman who is successful in the enterprise. So I would like people to remember not as a walker, but as an observer and bearer of rhythm and brotherhood ».

His journey in the footsteps of Marco Polo. Do you think this extraordinary character is right in Italy? “I think more needs to be done. Would man have gone to the moon or perhaps he could have pointed to Mars without Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo and other great explorers in any case? I believe that Italy must and can do more because Marco Polo has really improved Italy and the world ».

What do you personally want to draw from this enterprise? «I would very much like to let Italians know the real Asia and understand that the color of the skin or religion is not to hinder brotherhood or friendship. I am giving life to my diary of the world. For example, in 2016 I did something different: on foot from the Cilento National Park to the Gargano National Park, ending the journey in San Giovanni Rotondo da Padre Pio. That for me was the path of Mercy as it was important for me and still is important, to enter bars, squares and meet, talk, dialogue, read looks and smiles. So my philosophy is the sharing of emotions through storytelling. In 2017 I then walked from Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic) to Messina in the footsteps of the German writer Wolfgang Goethe. I was lucky enough to be received by the archaeologist Sebastiano Tusa, father of underwater archeology in Italy ».

The places you have never seen and would like to see on this trip? “All the nations I will make: Slovenia, the Balkans, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China”.

Are you thinking of an after China? “If I get out alive after the Silk Road, I’d like to go around the world.”

What do they say in the family? Is there already someone who is following in “his” footsteps? What teaching do you want to dare to your grandchildren? «In the family they are a bit worried, but I will go and they will follow me helping me with remote online. The third daughter maybe when she is 60 years old. To the grandchildren I show the way of travel, experience, knowledge so that they can learn the construction and the effort of a balanced relationship between physical landscape and mind! ».