Fabrizio Cardinali, 72 and Cardinali's current housemates, Agnese, 35, and Andrea, 46, have lunch together at Cardinali's home in the woods of the small town of Cupramontana, Ancona, Marche, Italy, December 12, 2022. Cardinali, Agnese, who has been living at Cardinali's house for the past two years, and Andrea, who spends the week there but goes home each weekend to look after his mother, grow their own fruits and vegetables, olives for olive oil, and keep bees for honey. A local cooperative sells them sacks of legumes, cereals and wheat, which they grind to make their own bread. "I feel privileged to have the freedom to choose my freedom," said Agnese. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
Fabrizio Cardinali, 72, does not crave the bright city lights.
Indeed he has no use for electricity and for more than half a century has lived entirely off the grid.
Fabrizio Cardinali, 72, prepares the tent to sleep outside his home in the woods of the small town of Cupramontana, Ancona, Marche, Italy, December 11, 2022. Cardinali, founder of La Tribu delle Noci Sonanti (Tribe of Harmonious Walnuts), has been living alongside nature without gas and electricity for 36 years. "I was not interested in being part of the world as it was going. So I left everything - family, university, friends, the sports team, and set off in a completely different direction," he said. "Giving something up is not masochistic. You give something up to obtain something else that is more important." REUTERS/Yara Nardi
That makes him one of the few people in Europe unconcerned about rising energy costs this winter.
Cardinali, whose long white beard makes him look like Karl Marx, the poet Walt Whitman or a slimmed-down Santa Claus, lives in a stone farmhouse in the hills of the Verdicchio wine country near Ancona, on Italy's eastern Adriatic coast.
By choice, he has no electricity, no gas, and no indoor plumbing.
Bottle gourds are seen hanging from Fabrizio Cardinali's chicken pen outside his house, in the woods of the small town of Cupramontana, Ancona, Marche, Italy, November 15, 2022. Cardinali, 72, has been living alongside nature without gas and electricity for 36 years and is the founder of La Tribu delle Noci Sonanti (Tribe of Harmonious Walnuts). REUTERS/Yara Nardi
"I was not interested in being part of the world as it was going. So I left everything - family, university, friends, the sports team, and set off in a completely different direction," he said, sitting in the kitchen and wearing patched corduroy trousers.
"Giving something up is not masochistic. You give something up to obtain something else that is more important," he said.
(For photo essay, click on )
Fabrizio Cardinali, 72, checks the chicken pen at his home in the woods of the small town of Cupramontana, Ancona, Marche, Italy, November 15, 2022. Cardinali, founder of La Tribu delle Noci Sonanti (Tribe of Harmonious Walnuts), has been living alongside nature without gas and electricity for 36 years. "I was not interested in being part of the world as it was going. So I left everything - family, university, friends, the sports team, and set off in a completely different direction," he said. "Giving something up is not masochistic. You give something up to obtain something else that is more important." REUTERS/Yara Nardi
In the past he has lived entirely alone.
Right now, he has two house mates, a rooster, three chickens and a cat in a community he calls "The Tribe of the Harmonious Walnuts".
Visitors seeking Cardinali and his friends are told by locals in the nearest town to take the narrow dirt path that starts next to an oak tree flying a multi-coloured peace flag.
Fabrizio Cardinali, 72, sits on the stairs at his home in the woods of the small town of Cupramontana, Ancona, Marche, Italy, November 15, 2022. Cardinali, founder of La Tribu delle Noci Sonanti (Tribe of Harmonious Walnuts), has been living alongside nature without gas and electricity for 36 years. "I was not interested in being part of the world as it was going. So I left everything - family, university, friends, the sports team, and set off in a completely different direction," he said. "Giving something up is not masochistic. You give something up to obtain something else that is more important." REUTERS/Yara Nardi
Cardinali and his house mates, who gave their names only as Agnese and Andrea, rely on a wood-burning stove for cooking and warmth, and read by lamps fuelled with used cooking oil donated by neighbours.
"I feel privileged to have the freedom to choose my freedom," said Agnese, 35, who moved in two years ago. Andrea, 46, spends the week there but goes home to Macerata, about 50 km (31 miles) away, each weekend to look after his mother.
The "harmonious walnuts" grow fruit and vegetables, olives to produce olive oil, and keep bees for honey. A local cooperative sells them sacks of legumes, cereals and wheat, which they grind to make their own bread.
Andrea, 46, picks the olives fallen from the trees at Fabrizio Cardinali's house in the woods of the small town of Cupramontana, Ancona, Marche, Italy, November 15, 2022. Cardinali, 72, Agnese, 35, who has been living at Cardinali's house for the past two years, and Andrea, who spends the week there but goes home each weekend to look after his mother, grow their own fruits and vegetables, olives for olive oil, and keep bees for honey. A local cooperative sells them sacks of legumes, cereals and wheat, which they grind to make their own bread. "I feel privileged to have the freedom to choose my freedom," said Agnese. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
When possible, they trade any surplus production for anything they need.
Although some people have dubbed him "the Hermit of Cupramontana," Cardinali says he is not a hermit.
Instead, he believes life is best lived in small communities.
Fabrizio Cardinali, 72, lights his wooden cooker at his home in the woods of the small town of Cupramontana, Ancona, Marche, Italy, November 15, 2022. Cardinali, founder of La Tribu delle Noci Sonanti (Tribe of Harmonious Walnuts), has been living alongside nature without gas and electricity for 36 years. "I was not interested in being part of the world as it was going. So I left everything - family, university, friends, the sports team, and set off in a completely different direction," he said. "Giving something up is not masochistic. You give something up to obtain something else that is more important." REUTERS/Yara Nardi
His first piece of advice for anyone tempted to follow his example is: "Throw away your so-called smart phone."
Cardinali occasionally travels short distances to visit friends, take olives to a stone press to make oil, and walks or hitch-hikes to the nearest town to have a coffee with locals or visit the doctor.
"I've been living this way for about 51 years and I have never regretted it. For sure, there have been difficulties, but they never made me think that I made the wrong choice or thrown it all away," he said. "Absolutely not."
Agnese, 35, grinds the grain using an hand millstone, at Fabrizio Cardinali's house in the woods of the small town of Cupramontana, Ancona, Marche, Italy, November 15, 2022. Agnese has been living at Cardinali's house for the past two years. "I feel privileged to have the freedom to choose my freedom," she said. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
(Writing by Philip Pullella; editing by Barbara Lewis)
Fabrizio Cardinali, 72, lights an oil lamp at his home in the woods of the small town of Cupramontana, Ancona, Marche, Italy, December 11, 2022. Cardinali, founder of La Tribu delle Noci Sonanti (Tribe of Harmonious Walnuts), has been living alongside nature without gas and electricity for 36 years. "I was not interested in being part of the world as it was going. So I left everything - family, university, friends, the sports team, and set off in a completely different direction," he said. "Giving something up is not masochistic. You give something up to obtain something else that is more important." REUTERS/Yara NardiFabrizio Cardinali, 72, places wood in a box, at his home in the woods of the small town of Cupramontana, Ancona, Marche, Italy, December 11, 2022. Cardinali, founder of La Tribu delle Noci Sonanti (Tribe of Harmonious Walnuts), has been living alongside nature without gas and electricity for 36 years. "I was not interested in being part of the world as it was going. So I left everything - family, university, friends, the sports team, and set off in a completely different direction," he said. "Giving something up is not masochistic. You give something up to obtain something else that is more important." REUTERS/Yara Nardi
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