A place surrounded by nature where you can enjoy the relaxation provided by the flowing river and good food but also discover adventure with breathtaking MTB routes. Marta and her family offer a wide range of services, from the production and sale of saffron products to nature experiences
Limited partnership
2010
Via degli Stazi, Castel San Felice PG (Italy)
Their small multifunctional farm is located in Sant’Anatolia di Narco, a small municipality of about 600 inhabitants in the center of the Valnerina, a mountain valley on the outskirts of Spoleto (a city of about 40,000 inhabitants), not far from Terni and other relatively large urban centers. Positioned at the bottom of the valley, close to the banks of the River Nera, which characterizes and gives its name to the valley, they are surrounded by small promontories with perched villages and more or less high mountains in the pre-Apennine range. The farm is family-run. It all started in 1989 with their parents, and both siblings grew up on it. Today, the four of them run it together, combining farming with agrotourism services. Their motivation stems from a desire to involve others in their work as farmers, to oversee a mountain valley of great interest, and to make it known and appreciated from naturalistic, landscape, and cultural perspectives. The farm and its location have provided them with the opportunity to create job opportunities such as educational farm work and mountain bike rentals that are consistent with their training and passions. They established these ventures because, after starting to produce apples, saffron, and vegetables, hospitality and related activities seemed to them the natural continuation of their work as farmers.
It was established in 1985, as Azienda Agricola Balli Rita, when Rita returned to live in the Valnerina and with her husband decided to cultivate her family’s land in her spare time.
Subsequently, once the children were fully integrated into the business, Zafferano e Dintorni Società Agricola Semplice was born, thus defining the multifunctionality of the activities that have sprung up over the years.
This close and personal relationship with the land and its fruits, which has never abandoned the family, has been fundamental in the current configuration of their business.
They are always careful to combine innovation and tradition. Marta and her family mainly produce apples, but also small fruits such as raspberries and blackberries and more, fruit that is sold directly on the farm and partly processed into jams, syrups or jellies. Other products, but no less important, such as saffron, vegetables and oil, are available to customers; as are herbs and aromatic plants harvested on the farm and in the surrounding area such as elder, thyme, chamomile, lime and mint.
At the farmhouse you can find:
Accommodation: stay in cosy rooms,
Restaurant: taste our farm and local products,
Educational Farm: do Environmental Educational Farm activities for young and old,
Cycling: hire ebikes or mountain bikes and take part in excursions
– and participate in outdoor activities of all kinds…
The advantages of multifunctionality for micro and small farms are linked to the very subsistence of the farm. In their case, if they did not have the activities and services linked to the farm, they could not be self-sufficient, i.e. live off the ‘only’ work of the farm. In addition, multifunctionality makes work very diversified, dynamic and in contact with different targets of people, children, families, adults… and not only concentrating it on the fields or on the fulfilment of bureaucratic tasks (as was the work of the small farmer before farm multifunctionality). By enhancing agricultural activity and knowledge of marginal territories, agrotourism or educational or rental activities act as attractors and in a chain stimulate the use of other services offered locally and make farming more profitable through direct sales.
On the other hand, the difficulties encountered and the disadvantages of having a multifunctional farm are mainly of bureaucratic, red tape origin.
In the last ten years they have, in their own small way, made many innovations, starting with the educational farm itself (the only one that carries out activities in schools on food education and environmental sustainability in our area), from the creation of the Valnerina Cyclostation with Ciclofficina, the area’s first rental and workshop, to the educational classroom built in recent years and which they are about to inaugurate; the innovations will be ‘small’ or will be improvements to the latter.
Zafferano and dintorni family is very attached to the territory and the other realities that inhabit it, which is why they offer many services, including: observation of nature trails, mountain biking, educational farm courses, recreational activities, social farms, tastings of our products, especially saffron, of which they are very proud, participation in trade fairs, relations with tourist networks and tour operators, and activities related to sustainability, particularly with schools, aimed at raising awareness.
As an educational farm they have been working for many years in schools and with schools by hosting them on the farm, one of their dreams would be to create an agri-kindergarten but they find themselves in a rather difficult area in terms of logistics and with strong depopulation problems. And they ‘get around’ this for now by collaborating with schools of all levels for annual courses or day trips.
On the educational farm they offer different types of experiences depending on the target group of the customer they receive. For example:
– Man and Nature. The Man and Nature routes are linked to the territory as a whole, from farming civilisation, to ecosystems, to the sustainability of the territory, to the comparison between past and present. There are various options depending on the time available and the educational objectives of the group or class concerned.
– The fruits of the earth. The Fruits of the Earth educational courses are linked to the farm’s production and will follow all the production phases up to processing and tasting. The activity will be developed in the classroom with illustrative panels and audiovisuals, with visits to the countryside and in the processing and preparation of the products.
What Marta can suggest is to keep as much in line as possible with the territory in which your farm is located and to do your best to establish collaborations with others.
An agricultural entrepreneur should have multiple skills. Multiple, very diverse skills, from reception, to marketing, to knowing how to create collaborations and networks in the area and to always be ready for innovation, empathy, a deep knowledge of the area (from the point of view of knowledge, landscape, etc.) and its opportunities, and always with an eye to seizing opportunities from outside (be it from one’s own region, country and then the European Community).
The Farms’ Charm project aims to develop learning materials to educate small and medium-sized farmers in possible ways of starting their agritourism activities which will help them not only diversify their incomes but also promote their farm products directly to consumers. All that while reviving the rural areas and local communities and promoting a sustainable way of tourism which is in line with the tendencies of slowing down and staying longer at one area.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. The content of this website reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
