Cultivating carnations

Sometimes it is surprising to think about the things that now surround us and when they still weren’t there, just like the story of Donato Martino and the first flowers planted in Leverano. A story that began in the aftermath of the war, when there was nothing except the need to rebuild, to be reborn, to sow the seeds of a different future. It was not an easy start, after the first failed attempts in other parts of the Arneo region, with the courage to keep going and try again, and then smiling patiently to the skeptics and the curious, to explain that he was planting the future for the children and grandchildren of all of the future Leverano, even for the children of those who suggested “to plant onions instead”. And after the successes and awards, the desire to look forward once again and to overcome the challenges, with the idea of cultivating vegetables in rotation in greenhouses, to let the soil rest. A trait passed on to the new generations, like to his son Tommaso, who became a renowned floral artist and writer, all thanks to the pioneer Donato Martino, who made poetry blossom from the land.