Bologna farmhouse B&B accommodation, Italy

We are a small farmhouse, and this makes the real difference, since it means everything is in a small scale and is therefore much better controlled, from wastes to energy, from organic food we produce ourselves to using only nearby suppliers, from having to cooperate with other small structures around us (horse riding, food producers, bike repairers, all types of services, …). Our farmhouse is a place to get to know the real Italian family cuisine, to meet new people, and to live not as a tourist, but as a friend. The area is fantastic, offering beautiful art cities and blossoming hills, wild mountains and precious archaeological sites.

Our building has been built following a rigorous energy saving plan. Wall cohibentation, double glass on windows, wooden roof with air exchange, using natural materials (cork, bricks, etc.) Energy is supplied by a combinated system of energy-saving fas heater, water heating solar panels and wood stove. Water-saving system are in all bathrooms, and irrigation water for our agriculture and garden is supplied by three tanks that collect rain coming form the fields. Wasted water treatment is a biological system that through bacteria (no energy involved) purifies the water again before sending it to a small canal ending in the valley river. We recycle glass, paper, plastic, batteries, and all the organic wastes are composted by us and used as fertilizer in our garden- We support Legambiente, the leading environment ONG in Italy.

We try to use almost all the products coming from our local community. We only employ local staff and use only local contractors. I've been part of the committee which draw the program of the actual town government, putting most of my attention and effort in defining environmental guidelines and in prohibiting OGM on our territory.

We have a lot of literature about local attractions (art, history, theatres, fairs, bike and trekking guides and maps) which are at our guests' disposal. Moreover, we lecture anybody who's interested in all these fields, according to their desiderata. We suggest them local restaurants where they can try local food at reasonable prices and with high quality. The same goes with people interested in buying local food, we suggest them serious artisans who produce it (from home made pasta to balsamic vinegar, from wine producers to salami and other meat products, from parmesan cheese to local bread, etc.)

Apart from our organic field vegetables, fruits, officinal herbs, small fruits, we also produce red wine and jams. We do encourage people to use public transport or our rented bikes, even when they caìome by car. We have a bus stop at 500 metres from us and a train station at 1500 metres.

We employ one person who's living in the same town as us (Caterina is her name, she majored in biology in the university, and her main hobbies are learning to train dogs for helping disabled people and animal defence in general, for instance sometimes she saves all the little birds fallen from their nest around our farmhouse, she also worked in the past in a wild animal refugee place) Our electrician, Franco, comes from Bologna, 5 km Away from us. Our plumber, Marco, comes from Funo, about 20 km away from us. Our builder, Giuliano, comes from our same town 3 km away from us.