Late in the afternoon of January 3, as light was beginning to fall on the mountains surrounding Pettorano sul Gizio, the doors of the Little Bear and Coexistence Museum opened for the first time. It was not just an opening, but the beginning of a shared history of meeting, listening, and shared visions.
The museum was born inside the Cantelmo Castle, in the heart of the Monte Genzana Alto Gizio Regional Nature Reserve, a place where the presence of the Marsican brown bear is not an abstract idea, but a daily reality. Here, among woods and valleys, a space designed to tell the story of the bear not as a problem, but as an integral part of the identity of the Apennines takes shape. A symbol of wilderness, but also of collective responsibility.
The project is the result of a choral effort: Salviamo L’Orso, Rewilding Apennines and the Valleluna Cooperative Society, together with the Reserve and the Municipality of Pettorano sul Gizio, have combined scientific expertise, field experience and territorial commitment to build a place that can speak to everyone. The goal is clear: to demonstrate that coexistence is possible and that the presence of bears can become a cultural, ecological and social resource.
Inside the museum, the path winds through informative panels, photographs, tools used by technicians during monitoring and prevention activities, and spaces designed for younger children, where play becomes a way to learn. Each element invites us to look closely at bears, to understand their behavior, needs and the delicate balance that binds them to the territories inhabited by humans.
During the inauguration, after institutional greetings by Mayor Antonio Carrara, representatives of the entities involved took the floor: Antonio Monaco for the Reserve, Mario Finocchi for the Valleluna Cooperative, Mario Cipollone for Rewilding Apennines, Serena Frau and Valeria Barbi for Salviamo L’Orso. Different voices, united by a common message: the conservation of the Marsican brown bear passes through knowledge, conflict prevention and constant dialogue with local communities.
The guided tour of the museum and the Bear Den, curated by Valleluna and Salviamo L’Orso, turned words into experience, taking participants along a narrative made up of scientific data, stories of territory and daily choices of coexistence.
With the opening of the Small Museum of Bear and Coexistence, Pettorano sul Gizio reinforces its role as a symbolic place for a new relationship between humans and nature: one based on respect, knowledge and shared responsibility. A small museum, yes, but with a great ambition: to help build a future in which bears and people can continue to live together.
A visit to the museum is included in the Cantelmo Castle entrance fee.
