We came through Savelli, Calábria the same day that we failed to find Father Spataro in Campana, but did not stop to look around. The next day we returned and did stop after Dr. Guerra made contact with some people there.
Savelli is in the heart of the mountainous region of La Sila Grande, which along with the regions of La Sila Greca and La Sila Piccola, makes up most of the central mountainous portion of Calábria.
The town was along the top ridge of a 1000 meter high mountain.
Off in the distance the mountains and forests of the Sila Grande gave way to the coast of the Ionian Sea about 30 kilometers away. It may have only been 30 kilometers as the crow flies, but it still involved a whole lot of driving to get there.
After seeing the Corpo Forestale Dello Stato office in the town of Germano we contacted the regional office and got a lead on the station in Savelli.
The building in Savelli was part headquarters and living quarters for one of the rangers and his family.
To keep things simple, except for the installation that is, and because we still did not have any battery chargers, we installed a solar panel to power the station. The front of the building faced south, so we just placed the panel above one of the windows
There were small air vents along the bottom of the building at ground level to allow some ventilation into the rooms below the building. Every room down there had one, except the room that we were going to place the station in. The hole had been covered over when the cement for the driveway had been poured. Delegation is the better part of vandalism. Nano figured he would let the officer that lived and worked there knock the hole in the building for the GPS and power cables.
All we had left to cover the sensor with was some thin, rigid foam insulation. I installed the station downstairs while Nano handled things outside.
There are more parts to putting together a station than you would think. For example this one required the usual battery, recorder, power regulator and cabling, but also included a soccer ball, the front bumper of an automobile, an empty wine bottle, and a backpack. What will those engineers think of next?
The final installation only took up a small corner of the room. Small flakes of plaster from the wall kept falling off as I installed the station. If the big one ever hits it will be hard to tell what was earthquake and what was falling plaster.
Nano, Ispettore (Inspector) Levato Salvatore and his wife. Levato and his wife, and at least one small child that we did not get to see, lived upstairs in the building. They were very nice people.
2018-02-08