The possibility of a
free rental of one of the 10 available vehicles for a
whole day once a week, or a whole weekend once a month, offers a very tangible helping hand to the people of Amatrice and the surrounding area.
The rental requests received during the week are mostly from people who no longer have any means of transport. The six
Talento vans and the Ducato available through van sharing allow residents to take delivery of all kinds of basic needs, or to pick up personal effects recovered from the ruins of their homes and transport them to the prefab houses provided by the Italian Civil Protection Department.
In the Amatrice area, the local economy has largely remained faithful to its traditional vocation for agriculture and livestock farming: cereals, potatoes and legumes – the famous lentils from Castelluccio or Norcia – and cattle, horses and pigs. These essential products have inspired numerous young people to set up small businesses, especially in the food sector. Following the disruption caused by the earthquake, these young entrepreneurs are now restarting their activities, causing an increase in whole- weekend rental requests for the
3 Fullback pickups – the vehicle of choice for the area’s younger generation. The pickups are often used to transport goods to weekend food markets in nearby regions not damaged by the earthquake.
“It’s an important initiative, because many people no longer have a transport vehicle of their own, and until May they had to pay to rent one.”
