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Title : Escaping capitalist structures in France and Italy
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Escaping capitalist structures in France and Italy

[Guest post by Thomas Carroll-Brentnall in France and Italy]  In Europe, people have come together to live cooperatively from the land, aiming to live away from the structures of capitalist society, embracing a closer relationship to nature and each other. These settlements are called intentional, autonomous communities. I visited two of these communities last summer and report about them here.

La Zone à Défendre (The Zone to be Defended)
La Zone à Défendre, informally known as ZAD, is in Notre-Dame-des-Landes in the west of France. The community formed six years ago to prevent the construction of an airport. Its inhabitants govern collectively and aspire to live autonomously, farming and living off the land. They live in abandoned farm buildings and handmade structures built in the fields and forests, the forms resembling patchwork sculptures.

In January the government announced that the airport would no longer be built. The ‘Zadists’, however, remained. The State has threatened to evict them. There have been both peaceful protest and violent clashes between the police and activists at the site and in Nantes. The community’s future is being debated by the French government.

We arrived at the ZAD through the Rue d’Barracade, a long country road reinforced with piles of stone and barricades, decorated in spray-painted slogans. Ramshackle buildings, burnt out and operational cars, and scrap ammunition line the road. Down the road we reach the first gatehouse, a tall wooden tower rises from the hedgerow (see the drawing at the top).

Construction of La Ambassada

ZAD’s La Ambassada (above) was built as a social space for creative projects, talks and accommodation for short-term inhabitants. The construction process was organic: bricks had been made from clay sourced from the area; wooden beams had been bought at a low price from a timber mason connected with the ZAD; wood was cut from trees within the zone; and the rest of the materials were scavenged scrap. The method of building was open to interpretation, and the original idea was constantly changing with the arrival of more people.

Rainy morning La Wardine

The weekly ZAD meeting takes place in La Wardine. Here many gathered to discuss the present and future state of the community. Because of the threatened eviction, the atmosphere was tense, but there was no aggression. Every person was given time to talk freely. People who were more involved with the organisation of the community sat in the middle to answer questions.

There was a jam session (above) at La Boîte Noire on the east side of the ZAD. Many people gathered to play, drink, laugh and eat. At one point a complete leg of mutton was produced, charred but tender on the inside. I ended the night sleeping in the grass outside of a friend’s van until the chill of the early morning woke me. In this part of the ZAD there is no running water or electricity.

Jamming at Bellvue

Bellvue is a farm on the west of the ZAD. Here there were geese, chickens and cows. There was also a smith workshop, a computer room with connection to the internet, a creamery and a bakery. I worked a day baking bread. Four of us mixed and kneaded the dough into loaves, then baked them in the stone oven, each loaf only taking a few minutes to be cooked. The bread was then up for sale for the rest of the day for a donation.

On the night of the full moon as I was walking along Rue d’Barracade (above), I was told to stop for pizza. A few of the Italian inhabitants had organised a pizza evening. With plenty of dough and vegetables, pizzas began flying out from the handmade clay pizza oven. Madness brewed as a crowd gathered, there was the sound of a guitar, of people rapping and conversing. The pizza chef shouted, "Pizza per la luna!" Donations were given for flour. At one point a car drove past with a man on top of the bonnet clinging to the windscreen, shouting and laughing as they went.

Il Comunitario di Elfi (The Community of Elves)
The second community I visited is named Elfi or Il Comunitario di Elfi. It is in the Pistoia Mountains of Tuscany, Italy. This community was established around 40 years ago from a series of small villages that had been abandoned in the 1900s. Surrounded by forest, the villages are linked by snaking paths to create a community.

The lifestyle varies from village to village and mixes aspects of traditional living with modern. Most practice self-sufficient farming—animals and crops. The people share anything that is needed between villages. The surrounding forest and their gardens are very biodiverse. The community felt almost medieval.

I stayed for a month, travelling between families and villages, taking part in the life and festivities and documenting some of the villages and happenings in sketches.

Piccolo Burrone

Piccolo Burrone

Piccolo Burrone was the first Elfi village where I stayed. They keep about 20 goats, so fresh goat milk and cheese is available every day. Piccolo Burrone had a family feeling, the kids were well taken care of and loved, and food was in good supply.

One night a pizza party was held to welcome the return of two children. The pizza cooking was like a military operation where constant pizza flew out of the oven at an extreme velocity. In fact all the work in Piccolo Burone was conducted at a very fast pace, with jobs constantly changing. This is what was needed to keep the place running; it was fuelled by the characters of the people who lived there.

Campo Mascherine, pizza kitchen

Campo Mascherine, festa

A small, free festival was held over a few days on a plateau further up the mountains. Constant food was on the table and the pizza oven alive every second. A few of the members of the community would stay up all night to continue the party with baking. Music shifted from place to place—in the field, between marquee, fire hearth and kitchen. Pots and pans were introduced to the ensemble, creating a wild eccentricity in the kitchen. One person would start playing, another would join in, making for spontaneous musical entertainment. Everything between Indian mantras, Italian and American folk songs and Australian didgeridoo music were played.

La Scuola

One evening, the final night before the festa began, the house of Scuola was burning with life, packed full of people. I arrived to the sound of a man playing guitar. I added a harmonica and a flautist joined in. A woman performing an amazing accordion and voice solo continued the evening music. She also danced with her eyes closed until she collapsed on the sofa, continuing to play and smiling ear to ear.

Gran’ Burrone

With the sun rising on the other side of the valley to Gran’ Burrone, the mornings were hot, making days slow and evenings quicker, a contrast to life on the other side. This also meant the plant life thrived and the farm was abundant with plants and unusually coloured insects.

Insect life throughout Elfi thrived and their presence felt very harmonic with the life there. I would sit surrounded by wasps sipping spilt rose juice off a table, they buzzed around lazily without a care and I neither, unless they fell into the liquid and needed saving. The hills were filled with fireflies at night; I saw bees which were black with blue wings and also a snail as large as a fist with pink and beige tones to its shell. These unusually fantastic animals added an air of magic to the community, magic that springs from the earth, that of elves.

Gran’ Burrone

Thomas Carroll-Brentnall is a third year Illustration student at Cardiff School of Art and Design. You can see more of Tom's work on his website or Instagram.

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