Italian Surfer Roby D’Amico is working to make a difference. Photos: Daniele Cuoghi
Roby D’Amico was surfing Banzai a few years ago when he was hit by a fridge. Not a large Hawaiian, but a real-life, 200-pound, semi-submerged white refrigerator. Now this wasn’t Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii, but Banzai in the Mediterranean. It is one of Italy’s best waves, a right-hand point located just 10 miles from D’Amico’s hometown of Ladispoli.
Now the talented Italian surfer is used to dealing with rubbish in the water. Around five years ago D’Amico, along with a few mates, had started doing beach cleanups in Ladispoli. The town is one of the closest beaches to nearby Rome, and particularly in summer, tourists would leave mountains of refuse on the sandy beaches.
“We were all young and picking up trash in front of everyone on the beach, which some people found strange,” he said. “But it made me happy. I was, ‘Okay, doing good makes me happy.’ That’s been my guiding principle ever since.” D’Amico gave up on his competitive surfing career and applied his talents and time to environmental programs. Though getting barreled in the Med and elsewhere in Europe remained a primary focus.
Dedicated to the cause.
He formed Roby’s Cleanup and, guided by his positive attitude and infectious enthusiasm, the community based environmental group expanded rapidly. Last year the cleanup held on International Surfing Day in June managed to gather 300 volunteers who collected more than a ton of rubbish from the coastline of his local beach.
The sheer amount of plastic and pollutants led Roby to investigate the source of the rubbish. It wasn’t hard to find. Ladispoli is just 20 miles north of where the Tiber meets the Mediterranean. The Tiber is best known as the main watercourse that runs through Rome but starts 250 miles inland in the Appenine Mountains.
D’Amico, on the water, and in the midst of mountains of trash.
D’Amico, along with friend and filmmaker Marco Spinelli, decided to SUP the length of the Tiber and investigate the sources and causes of the pollution that he’s forced to surf amongst. The pair made a documentary Io, Tevere – Le radici del mare, translated as “I, Tiber – The roots of the sea” of their 14-day journey, which will be released this month.
“You think of the beauty of Rome, the eternal city, and yet the river that runs through the city is a conveyor belt of sewage, rubbish and pollution. And it empties in the Sea. And then we surf in it,” D’Amico said.
At the start of their expedition, the pair were able to drink the clear water that was fed by the mountain streams. By the end, they were paddling through a toxic, and harmful environment. The pair talked to local environmental campaigners and scientists and collected samples to help map the health of the river and determine where the pollution comes from.
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“It’s a fast-moving river and government, business and individuals are all polluting it on an industrial scale,” he said. “Our initial goal with the film was to highlight the issue and make people aware. The ultimate goal is to make sure there are serious fines for polluters.”
D’Amico is at pains to point out that this isn’t a film without hope. The documentary aims to rediscover the forgotten beauty of the river and to awaken a relationship of friendship and cooperation between humans and nature.
The pair have started sowing that seed by first showing the first edits of the film to kids in schools that sit near the river. “We need to start the education process early, and show them the beauty, and the harm being done to that beauty, right on the doorstep,” said Roby. “And in terms of honest feedback, well, you can’t beat a class full of teenagers.”
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