Editorial

Home is where the heart is

Danilo Selvaggi, LIPU Director General

At the conclusion of a difficult yet rewarding project, our new national headquarters, Casa Lipu, has been born, thanks to a major donation from a generous member. It is an opportune moment to return to the history of the early ‘homes’ of our society and to underline the importance of a home both for ourselves and for nature.

The celebrations of the birth of Casa Lipu finished some hours ago. People have come in large numbers to see it and to catch up with colleagues, volunteers, and the whole of LIPU’s staff, and now only I am left, here in Casa Lipu, our new headquarters, on this Saturday afternoon in early autumn, now seeming silent, save for the music playing behind me that the near silence amplifies until you can almost touch it. It is not chance background music. To be precise, it is Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, a favourite of Adriana’s. She would listen to it repeatedly along with other favourite works by the great Russian composer, such as the excellent Second Symphony. ‘It moves me, and gives me strength and joy’, she would say. With Adriana, we shared a passion for Rachmaninov. We talked for hours, in conversations ranging from music to world events and to LIPU, its work, the daily challenges and successes, the defence of sites for wildlife, the caring for of animals and oases alike. Adriana, as is the case with many of our generous donors, was avid for news. She wanted to know every detail, to have information, to feel herself with us at the heart of the action, from watching over a nest to lobbying a parliamentarian. And ideally, to be part of things at Casa Lipu, the place she would ultimately allow us finally to make real. So on this peaceful and almost silent Saturday afternoon, to the sound, appropriately, of Rachmaninov, I think again of you, Adriana, no longer with us now, and think of the homes of LIPU that nearly sixty years of our history have seen, and all their tales of life shared, and of dreams, ideas and labours for nature that they continue in their way to tell us.

Read on by choosing a download below.

Contents

• Casa LIPU
• Lesser Kestrel research
• The diet of the Short-toed Eagle
• Marine by-catch

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