There is no road to Codera, only 2600 steps of a staircase. A helicopter can also take you to the village with nine inhabitants.
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00:00 High above Lake Como lies Cadera, an isolated village up in the Alps.
00:07 Only nine people still live here.
00:10 Elena Gusmeroli and her osteria are the backbone of the small community.
00:15 There are only two ways to get to the village.
00:18 Elena Gusmeroli's preferred route is a two-hour hike from the valley on the shores of Lake
00:23 Como up 2,600 steps.
00:28 The stress that builds up when I'm down in the valley melts away as I climb higher.
00:34 It's wonderful.
00:35 When I get to Cadera, I just feel so light.
00:40 Then there's option two.
00:43 Helicopter.
00:45 It costs around 300 euros per flight, though.
00:48 That's why it is only used when food or other goods need to be transported to the village,
00:53 for herself and the others.
00:57 I bring stuff for Alfonso, for Giuliano, something for everyone.
01:01 Produce, bread, bressola, venison salami, a bit of everything.
01:09 In just two minutes, it all lands in scenic Cadera, 824 meters above sea level.
01:20 There are no roads here.
01:22 The inhabitants of this small village community are the last of their kind to live in the
01:26 Alps year-round in such isolation.
01:34 Davis Pisnoli's goats are grazing somewhere up in the mountains.
01:38 At 45, he's the youngest person here in Cadera and is eager for change.
01:45 I went the road so that we can keep the village alive.
01:48 Treating it like a magical landscape or a postcard second time is not helpful.
01:54 Because living in such seclusion is anything but romantic, says Pisnoli.
01:58 Only people who don't have to live here all the time see it that way.
02:05 For tourists it's paradise.
02:07 But I see the village dying.
02:11 What is one supposed to do here?
02:13 Work is what?
02:16 If there was a road, you could extract rocks, cut wood.
02:21 But how would things get into the valley?
02:24 On our shoulders, like now?
02:31 And yet Davis plans to stay here with his goats because he loves the mountains.
02:36 After the helicopter drops its load, Elena must carry the food to her osteria.
02:40 No road, no other means of transportation.
02:43 Just her back.
02:51 It is strenuous, but it's worth it.
02:53 Because it also gives you so many fulfilling moments.
02:56 It's a matter of give and take.
03:00 On I go.
03:03 On to her osteria Alpina, in the center of the village.
03:08 And to Alfonza Penone.
03:11 The village elder has spent almost her entire life in Cadera.
03:15 Around 600 people once lived here.
03:17 Alfonza has watched the village slowly die out.
03:20 She's grown old with it.
03:25 I'm almost 95.
03:28 I've never smoked.
03:33 I never eat food that's too greasy.
03:40 She hopes to see people return.
03:47 It would be nice if they built a road.
03:51 There's plenty of space up here.
03:54 They could build more houses, and then more people could live here.
03:58 Let's hope the road is built soon.
04:02 Whatever happens, Alfonza wants to stay in her home village, here, far above Lake Como.
04:08 Gusmeroli gets to work in the kitchen at Osteria Alpina.
04:12 Thanks to the friends of Cadera Association, her restaurant is open all year round and
04:16 is very popular.
04:17 She believes that Cadera's remoteness is what makes it attractive.
04:23 Not everyone takes the steep path up here.
04:26 Those who come have a connection to the mountains.
04:29 They like the fact that it's hard work to get up here.
04:32 You have to earn it.
04:34 That's what I like about it.
04:37 If the villagers decide they want a road built, I will respect that.
04:42 But it would no longer be the place for me.
04:46 So far, there are no plans for a road, so Cadera will likely remain the village at the
04:50 end of the world for a long time to come.
04:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]