In the past 12 months, our founders have spent every minute of their time doing the following:
Nicola - wrangling the Regione Liguria and the TWO different companies, both owned by Regione Liguria, who have (in the past) had some say about what goes on in the LRF. This has meant frequent 6 hour trips (3 hours each way) from his home in Florence, as well as visits to officials in Genoa and even a couple of trips down to Rome. The endless paperwork he and his lawyer have generated is mind-boggling, and the general disregard for anything resembling a schedule or timeline has certainly taken a toll on his psyche. In addition, he's maintained regular communications with me here in the US, he's taken meetings with a wide variety of potential future partners, and this past summer, he even managed to drum up some freelance work for a couple of guys on our team.
Marco - living in a cold office in the LRF for months at a time to serve as General Contractor to the 20+ different teams who have done one thing or another to the building - none of whom had any idea of the overall plan. He has had to fight to maintain quality control, scheduling conflicts, and days, sometimes weeks at a time where someone was supposed to show up but didn't. In between all of this, he and Corrado (who has also been very active) have gone over every inch of the LRF, making to-do lists AND they have managed to salvage another 10-15 tons of equipment and materials that we will eventually put to use. I can't say what exactly, but some really exciting stuff.
Being privy to this second-hand glimpse into the inner workings of (part of) the Italian government, I have developed a profound respect for Nico and Marco.
We're posting a new video soon - keep your eyes peeled.