This is the story of three grannies from the Italian Alpine village of Daone (Trentino) who, after several persistent attempts, managed to raise funds for their first seaside holiday on Croatian Adriatic.
THE TRUE AND HAPPY STORY OF THE THREE GRANNIES VISITING CROATIAN ADRIATIC
Some of you have probably read the amazing and touching story about the three grannies from the Italian Alpine village of Daone (Trentino) who, after several persistent attempts, managed to raise funds for their first seaside holiday.
The story itself is really great but I am glad that they chose Croatian Adriatic for their special holiday, one among many of the beautiful Dalmatian islands, and the reason why is that this island has the same patron-saint as their native village.
The story is long and inspiring and I wanted to share my admiration for such an undertaking: well combined between the grannies’ firm determination and their grandchildren’s support, practical skills and knowledge.
Before this story came true, there were several good but unsuccessful attempts that these three ladies undertook in order to collect money for their seaside holidays. Life in the mountain village has always been hard and didn’t make them wealthy enough to afford desires like seaside holidays.
Erminia, Iolanda and Armida (which are the names of the three main characters of our story) tried to raise funds by selling cakes in the local fairs which was profitable but not enough. Then, they issued a calendar with 12 photographs of the local grannies in some funny, unusual situations but this didn’t work either. Finally, one of the grandchildren suggested “crowd-funding” on the internet. The three ladies could not believe that anybody would be interested in putting some money for such a purpose – three grannies wanting to have their first seaside holiday. But they were wrong. It worked amazingly well and the money started flowing in from all over the world!
Isn’t it wonderful? It was left for Erminia, Iolanda and Armida (who are aged 80+) to celebrate their success and to plan which model of bathing costume to take with them to the pretty fishermen’s island of Ugljan, located close to Zadar, in central Dalmatia. The fact that none of them can swim (not a surprise) didn’t stop them making their journey full-heartedly.
I visited the island on a sailing trip some years ago and I am convinced it would have fulfilled all of their expectations. I am sure they had a great time there!
Based on the story published in BBC Magazine on 3rd of August 2015
