Mushrooms from the forest

Sweden has a special law, roughly translated called something like 'all peoples right' and regulates the free access and passage of everybody to the land. You are allowed to forage in the forest and even to spend a night with your tent almost anywhere, as long as it is not too close to obviously private enclosed areas. You can pick all the berries and mushrooms you can carry. This comes to no extra cost to you, citizen or visitor.

Quite a difference to Italy, where you need to go and get a special permit for mushroom picking. If you are a non-resident, you are only allowed to use it on odd days. The fee for the annual access card is 30€ and of course the permit costs 16€ extra, plus a Euro and a half for money transfer costs. So with this taking almost 50€ out of your pocket, you think twice whether you really are so eager to go to the forest for mushroom hunting. Or I guess quite a lot of people take the risk of not getting a permit, and chance being fined when caught, what are the odds to be stopped in the forest?

Well we went down to the municipality, got us a permit and then spent a good three hours like goats in the steep mountains and got a bit lucky! With all that recent rain, and the warmth now returning, we actually hope for some more in the near future.