The story of Fiammetta who followed her shepherd father up the mountains to take online lessons when Italy closed schools.

Schools in Italy's 'red zones' are closed under the nation's covid-19 restrictions, meaning millions of children of all ages are taking lessons online from home.

Not so in the case of 10-year-old Fiammetta, in the northern Trentino province, who is connecting with her fourth-grade teachers and classmates from high up in the mountains, surrounded by goats.

Fiammetta is taking remote learning to new levels, attending her online lessons at a height of 1,000 metres, where she joins her shepherd father as he tends to his herd of goats on the mountainside.

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The schoolgirl's classroom has become the wild pastures of the mountains above her primary school in Mezzolombardo, amid a herd of 350 goats, cared for by her Sardinian father Massimiliano who produces cheese and ricotta.

Fiammetta follows her papà up the mountains as her mother is a social health worker and cannot take the girl to her workplace, reports Italian news agency ANSA.

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"Fiammetta is very good at school and the mountain environment teaches her the importance of adapting" - he told ANSA - "We solved logistical problems thanks to the mobile phone hotspot. Luckily the connection is good in Val di Sole."

In between lessons Fiammetta helps her dad look after the animals. "After all" - he tells ANSA - "they are two very different learning tools but both are very useful for the development of a child."

Cover photo Martina Valentini - Reuters