Jacopo and Chiara manage two different areas in Tuscany and Umbria in the name of Italian style.
What could be better than a yoga lesson in a Tuscan Natura 2000 forest or going truffle hunting in an Umbrian forest? Two new members of the Italian network showed it to us, in a visit held by Francesco Marcone and Stefano Picchi in early November.
Jacopo and his brother posing with project partners Stefano and Francesco from WWF Italy on their lands.
“I have worked in tourism in many parts of the world, but I wanted to come back here to Pescia a few years ago to develop the village and the natural woods acquired by our family as the focal point of the Natura 2000 area Alta Valle del Torrente Pescia” says Jacopo Bossi , young owner of the “Oasi Lignana” estate in northern Tuscany. With his brother and his mother, she has been running a small village as an agritourism for some years. It is surrounded by a stream and its own woods, where they were born. A few kilometers away, ten medieval villages, where modernity and tradition coexist.
“We own 30 hectares of woods around our village and we strongly believe that the value of our tourist offer is the presence of the unspoiled nature that surrounds us, as well as the local people who help us manage hospitality” Jacopo says proudly. There are many improvement projects of our company which consist in increasing the spaces available for families, real stone apartments, to experiences for tourists to live: from yoga, to Tuscan cooking classes, up to naturalistic excursions. “We are collaborating in the drafting of the site management plan, not without difficulty, sometimes it is difficult to find interlocutors who believe in the sustainable development of these areas, but we are certain that with perseverance and our managerial approach we will succeed”. A reality and also a wish dear Jacopo!
Chiara posing with project partners Stefano and Francesco from WWF Italy on their lands.
Chiara Ortolani instead manages her family’s land in Umbria, near the beautiful Todi. Olive groves and oak woods rich in black truffles are the setting for this holiday home, with the unusual title “La Malcontenta e il Lupo”. A rural farmhouse finely renovated in green building, solar panels, oak woods with a wetland and two observation huts, all designed by her. “After a degree in Film Direction, I started managing our natural area and that cultivated with olive trees. It wasn’t easy, but thanks to European rural funds, over time I managed to win several tenders and make significant improvements to the property”. The agritourism makes environmental conservation one of its main missions. Respect for the ecosystems in which the company is located favors the presence of wildlife and the quality of the organic products grown on the estate. Guests of “La Malcontenta e il Lupo” can stay in a stone farmhouse dating back to the early 1800s, immersed in a protected natural area.
This visit also confirms how in Italy, as well as in other parts of the world, the managers of private natural areas create networks and connections between people in the area aimed at maintaining the landscape, culture and local products. They also play the role of tourist attractions allowing the public to get to know not only the property but an entire area, guaranteeing values of public interest to the entire territory.
Thanks to their commitment, Chiara and Jacopo were able to ask to become part of the “Affiliated Oasis” program of WWF Italy which will follow them in the naturalistic valorization of their area.
