A name that well represents its history, that of Fortunata, the sheep that with its newborn lamb traveled a hundred kilometers to find the flock from which it left 40 days ago.

The sheep, in the description made on social media by chef Mauro Morando, has traveled all over north-eastern Piedmont from Gozzano (Novara), from the parts of Lake Orta, to the mountains of Val Formazza, in Verbano, the last strip of Italy before Switzerland.

"The other day - says Morando - I was going down towards the valley and, along the road, I met the shepherd as he was going up with the sheep and the lamb." The shepherd is Ernestino, he has a flock of about a thousand , as the cook explains, a gentleman of other times, an old-fashioned type who never detaches himself from his animals: "He spends the winter in Mortara, in the Pavia area, then goes to Gozzano. Then it arrives in Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and, in the warmer months, goes up here in Val Formazza to take the sheep to pasture. It has been doing this for forty years ".

The sheep protagonist of the story "which looks like a fairy tale", was left in the Gozzano shelter in June because she was pregnant. But after giving birth, as soon as her little lamb was able to settle down pretty well on her legs, she started moving. "Having been four or five years old - says Morando - in the past summers she had already been in Val Formazza. Evidently she was able to orient herself or to remember the road traveled in the past".

A journey that lasted approximately 40 days, until the shepherd found it in front of him and then decided to give it a new name, Fortunata, and Fortunato is instead the lamb.

Mother and son were placed in a safe place to rest, while the other sheep were taken to the mountain pastures.

"We have a lot to learn from nature - concludes the chef - When you see a shepherd, make him a bow because the love he has for his flock is something indescribable".

(Unioneonline / ss)