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Over time, cultivation of the variety was gradually abandoned. Given the diffi- culty of growing and harvesting the le- gume in the cornfields, just a few farm- ers continued to plant it for their own consumption. Families reproduced the seeds, preserving them in tiny quanti- ties and saving them from extinction. It is thanks to foresight of one of these farmers, Mario Boggio, that the Piattel- la beans are again being widely grown in the area, after he sent a few kilos of beans to the germplasm bank at the University of Turin in 1981 to ensure the seed’s survival.the bean and the landThe Presidium is the result of the ef- forts of Mario, Andrea, Ivano and other friends, supporters and Cortereggio in- habitants, who set up a committee for the protection of the Piattella Canave- sana to encourage its planting and to return the bean to the market.Initially there were few seeds and few growers, but the perspicacity that dis- tinguished Mario is a common char- acteristic among all of this project’s participants. In just a few years they have managed to increase production exponentially, and to infect the whole community with their enthusiasm and desire to promote the local area through the pilot project of the first lo- cal Presidium.Cortereggio is a little-known corner of Piedmont, still characterized by quality agricultural and artisanal production, medieval villages and castles, and a social fabric that is alive but strugglingto emerge. It is better known, how- ever, for the abandoned warehouses along the highway, the ruins of the lo- cal economy’s golden years, when the Italian computer company Olivetti built its technological hub here.Now the inhabitants of Cortereggio and San Giorgio have moved on from that past and want to start again from the land, from a simple bean. They want to network together all the entities that can study and analyze the local area’s productive, environmental, historic and social characteristics, so as to have a complete analysis of the territory and to launch a process of awareness-raising among the community and institutions, making the area increasingly better, cleaner and fairer.65© Paolo andrEa monTanaro