On September 10, six-year-old Aisha, daughter of Monica Abbate and Raffa Basine, went to school for the first time. Photos of the girl with a pink backpack and a traditional gift bag filled with sweets spread widely across Italian media. The story has attracted particular attention against the backdrop of a long-term demographic decline in Italy, Le Monde reports. Aisha is one of the youngest residents of Ginostra, a small settlement on the slope of the active volcano Stromboli. The only way to reach here is by sea—there are no roads even to the main settlement of the island, located on the opposite side. For the sole student, a teacher, Laura Mongi, was sent from the suburbs of Milan. Thus, there are currently only two people in the class—the teacher and her student. Italian media already refer to the Ginostra school as "the smallest school in Europe." The settlement itself is also known for its miniature scale: the local port, according to a common claim, is considered one of the smallest in the world. Life here remains unusual even by the standards of small Italian islands. There are no cars in Ginostra, and donkeys are used for transporting goods. There is also no centralized water supply—drinking water is delivered by tankers. Electricity only arrived here in the early 2000s. And all of this is literally next to one of the most active volcanoes in Europe. Stromboli is almost constantly active, spewing lava and periodically reminding locals of its presence with a roar they are well accustomed to. The story of six-year-old Aisha has become a kind of symbol of the struggle of small Italian settlements for survival: where schools usually close due to population decline, in Ginostra, a school was opened for the sake of one child.
