We believe in respecting the environment and subsequently our farm is organic. At the farmhouses we reuse waste water for irrigation thanks to a filtration system. Pilella has installed a heating system to optimise natural energy, thus reducing harmful emissions - and has built a solar power station to supply the cottages and the swimming pool with green energy. Poggio Casale uses only renewable energy (provided by E-On), all electrical appliances are Class A and there is a condensation heating system to optimise energy consumption. There is a WWF refuge on the farm and an educational centre is being established.
Both houses overlook Lake Chiusi which is part of the International Migration Route for Birds (MRFB) that fly between Africa and Scandinavia.
Our environmental strategy
Phyto-Depuration
Properly designed and executed phyto-purification facilities for domestic sewage allow a reduction of over 90% in the organic load of the purified effluent output and comply with the legal limits imposed by D.lgs.152/99 and 258 /00 (Table .3, Annex 5, ex Table A D.lgs. no. 319/76 ).
The sewage treatment employs a subsurface flow system (SFS) of the wastewater through a bed of suitably selected inert materials to ensure a uniform drainage path with controlled hydraulic flow (submerged percolator) and residence time of more than 3 days. The plants, growing in a dense tangle of roots and rhizomes which cross vertically and horizontally through the growing medium, contribute to the characterisation of the hydraulic draining bed necessary to obtain the subsurface flow system. At the same time, they allow the transfer of oxygen necessary for the removal of pollutants from the waste water.
The SFS system helps safeguard the purification from low winter temperatures, from unpleasant odours as well as pesky insects during the summer.
Phyto-purification occurs in a watertight basin, obtained by the installation of a waterproof membrane at the base of the basin. Where appropriate, the waterproof membrane is protected by a non-woven geo-textile fabric weighing 200 g/m2.
The following plants can be used, in whole or in part: Phragmites (common reed), Scirpus (bulrush) and Typha (reedmace).
Photo-voltaic
We believe that renewable energy can combine respect for the environment, development and profit, and is the reason why we built a 999 kW concentration photovoltaic solar power station. The plant uses sunlight to produce some 25,000 kWh per year; the equivalent of the electricity used by 333 families.
Our solar power station still allows the agricultural land where it is built to be used, in particular for sheep-farming, because the photovoltaic panels are placed at about 2.5 metres above the ground. The panels are placed on canvas sails, supported on 92 pylons, and follow the sun throughout the day leaving the task of keeping the earth healthy to the rain, the wind and the sun.
