No internet? Italian boy drives miles to study under a tree in the middle of nowhere

Record ID: 1471327

  • Title: No internet? Italian boy drives miles to study under a tree in the middle of nowhere
  • Date: 15th April 2020
  • Summary: SCANSANO, ITALY (APRIL 15, 2020) (REUTERS) 12-YEAR-OLD ITALIAN BOY, GIULIO GIOVANNINI, WEARING FACE MASK AS HE TRIES TO ACCESS THE INTERNET ON A COMPUTER AT HOME SO THAT HE CAN JOIN IN WITH SCHOOL STUDIES COMPUTER SCREEN SHOWING 'NO CONNECTION' ALERT AS INTERNET SIGNAL FAILS VIEW FROM INSIDE RUCKSACK AS GIOVANNINI PACKS IT WITH SCHOOL BOOKS (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) 12-YEAR-OLD ITALIAN BOY, GIULIO GIOVANNINI, WEARING MASK AS HE PACKS HIS BAG, SAYING: "Hi my name is Giulio Giovannini and I am preparing my bag to go and have my online lessons. I need to leave home because here we don't have any internet connection." GIOVANNINI LEAVING HOME WITH HIS MUM GLORIA NUCCI, ALSO WEARING A MASK, AND GETTING INTO CAR TO DRIVE TO A TREE WHERE HE CAN STUDY WITH INTERNET SIGNAL FROM HIS MOTHER'S PHONE GIOVANNINI PUTTING HIS RUCKSACK INTO CAR VARIOUS OF NUCCI DRIVING GIOVANNINI DRIVING TO THE TOP OF A HILL NUCCI PARKING BY THE TREE WHERE GIOVANNINI STUDIES VARIOUS OF NUCCI AND GIOVANNINI WALKING THROUGH FIELD CARRYING THE STOOL, TABLE AND HIS RUCKSACK TO THE SPOT UNDER THE TREE WHERE HE SETS UP TO JOIN HIS LESSONS SCHOOLBOOKS ON TABLE GIOVANNINI PLACES TABLET ON TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) 12-YEAR-OLD ITALIAN BOY, GIULIO GIOVANNINI, AT HIS TABLE ON TOP OF HILL AS HE STUDIES, SAYING: "On the days when I have lessons I bring from home a table, a stool and my bag with the tablet and all the books that I need and then mum and I come up here in the car. We set everything up and we are ready for our lessons." (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) 12-YEAR-OLD ITALIAN BOY, GIULIO GIOVANNINI, SAYING: "I prefer being at school because at least then I'm with friends. Here I can see them but only via the screen. At least there I would see them in person." DRONE FOOTAGE OF GIOVANNINI STUDYING UNDER TREE (MUTE) GIOVANNINI SELECTING 'CLASSROOM' APP ON TABLET (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) GLORIA NUCCI, MOTHER OF GIULIO SAYING: "We're in a bit of a particular situation, because our telephone line is out of order, we don't have internet or anything. So, to take part in his lessons, we have to come up here where we can at least get the internet. We bring up the table, the stool and the bag and the tablet and my cell phone is the router in order for him to follow the lessons online, because for a month he couldn't take part in anything, because it was bad weather and we couldn't come out here. I hope that they fix our telephone line which has been broken for five months, we have even got a legal case regarding it. I just hope in the future we will be able to follow the lessons from home because I can't leave him alone up here. When he has his lessons, I have to be here too. And I lose a lot of my time."
  • Embargoed: 29th April 2020 14:17
  • Keywords: COVID-19 Italy Tuscany children coronavirus internet lockdown online learning quarantine school schools
  • Location: SCANSANO, ITALY
  • City: SCANSANO, ITALY
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Human-Led Quirky,Human-Led Stories,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA001C9LSOK9
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: What do you do if you live in a cottage in the Tuscan countryside with a rubbish phone line that means no internet signal at home?
    Schools are closed, so no internet means no online lessons, which pretty much all lockdown kids around the world are doing.
    Well, education enthusiast 12-year-old Giulio Giovannini has found a solution.
    He packs a rucksack with his school books and a tablet, grabs a small camping table and a stool, and drags his mum out of the house to drive him to the middle of nowhere to one particular spot on a hill under a tree where he can finally get a signal.
    "On the days when I have lessons I bring from home a table, a stool and my bag with the tablet and all the books that I need and then mum and I come up here in the car," Giovannini told Reuters after wading through an overgrown field to set up his small study spot under the tree.
    Giovannini uses his mum's phone signal as a router, and can finally open the Classroom app so he can get on with his studies.
    He concentrates hard on his work as he sits alone wearing a mask surrounded by trees and the countryside around 1.5 kilometres from his home in the small town of Scansano. They found the spot by driving around and around until the magic bars of signal appeared on the top left hand corner of his mum's phone.
    But being at one with nature still doesn't make up for the feeling of actually being at school.
    "I prefer being at school because at least then I'm with friends. Here I can see them but only via the screen. At least there I would see them in person," Giovannini said.
    While he studies, mum Gloria Nucci waits patiently - even if a bit bored - in the front seat of the parked car while he works.
    "We're in a bit of a particular situation, because our telephone line is out of order, we don't have internet or anything. So, to take part in his lessons, we have to come up here where we can at least get the internet," she said, taking precautions of being outside by wearing a face mask.
    One problem they've encountered is you can only study outdoors if the weather is good. Unfortunately a whole month of rain and wind meant no school for Giovannini.
    "For a month he couldn't take part in anything, because it was bad weather and we couldn't come out here," Nucci explained.
    Their telephone line has been out of order for five months - bad timing for strict nationwide lockdown that means everyone has to stay at home. Nucci has even opened up a legal case to try and get it fixed quickly, as she is getting a bit tired of wasting hours of her day waiting for Giovannini on the top of the hill.
    "I just hope in the future we will be able to follow the lessons from home because I can't leave him alone up here. When he has his lessons, I have to be here too. And I lose a lot of my time," she said.
    One thing Giovannini won't need to worry about if his home internet gets fixed is being interrupted by noisy farm animals when he tries to answer questions in the lessons.
    "Most of the time I can concentrate well, but sometimes it happens that I am talking and you can hear the bleating of a goat behind me. That has happened," he said.
    A living room wall isn't as exciting as a forest for a videocall backdrop anyway.
    (Production: Matteo Berlenga, Gabriele Pileri, Emily Roe)
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