On The Green Life, Sustainability and Man’s Best Friend

Think of Italy and all sorts of images come in to your head. Perhaps your mind’s eye heads straight for the iconic buildings and monuments of Rome, or the beautiful Bay of Naples. For others, though, they will conjure up images of rolling hills, pretty sand-colored hilltop villages, and acres and acres of vineyards. And it’s this serene countryside that Tuscany is famed for. It’s a lush green paradise where the simple life is becoming more and more aligned with the green life. In Italy, just like everywhere else in Europe, people here try their hardest to keep their fuel and energy bills to a minimum. They make sure they shop locally – buying fresh fruit and vegetables that have travelled hardly any distance at all, and they’re just as likely to have a reusable shopping bag with them as they are a designer pair of sunglasses.

It’s fair to say then, the Italians aren’t averse to helping the environment. But for some Italians, however, it goes much further than merely carrying a cloth shopping bag to the store, walking when the weather’s good and driving to local skiing resorts rather than flying to ski deals in France. For some it is a way of life.

The sustainable movement

In Tuscany, more and more farms are working to the principles of sustainable farming. By that we mean farming that uses the principles of ecology to connect the things being farmed (animals and crops) to the environment they’re in. It’s basically all about making sure that over the long term the land doesn’t become exhausted, natural biological cycles aren’t interrupted, and that any non-renewable resources are used sparingly and when they are used they’re used as efficiently as possible. The workings of the farm are also designed to ensure that the local society can benefit and the farmer’s own life is of a good quality too.

All in all it’s surprising really that sustainable farming hasn’t been the norm for ever, because more often than not it’s more about common sense than going without. And Tuscany has embraced this notion more than any other region in Italy – and this more environmentally friendly way of life isn’t just down to the farms in the area. The hotels, too, are making a conscious effort to be greener by reusing their towels instead of simply throwing them in the wash every day. And then there’s the restaurants – in Tuscany you are much more likely to sit down to a meal and tuck into a feast of food that has come from a nearby farm. When you think of it like that it seems ludicrous that for so many years we have been transporting food in from all over the world – when delicious produce is ripe and ready to eat from a farm next door.

Thankfully the sustainable farming movement in Tuscany isn’t being kept a secret. In fact, if you’re looking for a holiday to the region there’s a handful of sustainable farms that will happily host you and show you what they do. For example, there’s Tenuta di Spanocchia – an organic working farm and a community of people from all over the world. Here, visitors can learn about the way the farm works, enjoy cookery classes, as well as relax in the swimming pool. The importance of a sustainable way of living is taught so that future generations who live on the land will be able to enjoy the same benefits as the inhabitants today.

A dog’s life

There are also places like Poggio Antico which can be found through the WWOOF website – World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. With this website you can decide to devote your whole vacation learning about an important way of life while living it at the same time. Alternatively you could spend one week WWOOFing and another taking advantage of some great cooking retreats for instance. However, remember, to WWOOF in Italy you’ll need to be 18 or over.

It’s great that Tuscan farms are opening their doors to visitors willing to pitch in and learn about their way of life. Sharing knowledge and expertise in this way and letting people experience it for themselves can only lead to one thing: more sustainable ways of living being practised world wide and not just in the lush green lands of Tuscany.