The historic Villa Montepaldi farm located in San Casciano in Val di Pesa is preparing to experience a new season of innovation and research. Once owned by Lorenzo de’ Medici and since 1989 by the University of Florence, this extraordinary property will become a Centre of Innovation and Experimentation dedicated to regenerative agriculture and integral ecological development.
This is the objective of an ambitious project of the Florentine University entrusted to the Società Agricola Benefit Montepaldi – Terre di Rinascimento Srl, under the guidance of the Future Food Institute Foundation (FFI) and realised thanks to the strategic support of BF Spa, a fundamental partner in the rebirth of Villa Montepaldi.
‘For BF Spa this is a consolidation of our presence in Tuscany, where we already cultivate over 4,800 hectares,’ said Federico Vecchioni, CEO of BF Spa. “Montepaldi’s event represents an opportunity to realise the BF Group’s National Regenerative Agriculture Pole in a region whose agricultural vocation represents the ideal location for an investment aimed at the entire Tuscan community.”
The project will be developed on several dimensions: cultural, economic and social. The Società Agricola Benefit Montepaldi – Terre di Rinascimento Srl will manage part of the estate’s land, as well as the Medici manor house, to bring them to full productivity, promoting, along with management and maintenance, initiatives for the protection and enhancement of biodiversity and the development of sustainable and inclusive agriculture. The project aims to promote productions such as oil and wine, icons of Made in Italy, creating in Montepaldi a pattern model for supply dies of excellence.
“The driving principle underlying the mission and innovative approach at Villa Montepaldi is inspired by the pattern we developed at Paideia Campus, the Living Lab that was set up in Pollica, Cilento, Campania, in 2020 –Sara Roversi, founder and president of Future Food Institute –. explained –. What we would like to create in Montepaldi is an ecosystem combining regenerative agriculture, natural resource safeguards as well as Italy’s cultural heritage health and enhancement. With a special focus on biodiversity, soil health and water quality, Villa Montepaldi aims to try out practices that merge science, tradition and innovation, placing Italy in a core position in the European sustainability debate”.
The promotion plan also includes additional services, such as catering and events, inspired by the Living Lab pattern, an open and collaborative innovation environment where citizens, institutions, companies and research organisations come together to co-create innovative solutions.
“The valorisation of Montepaldi,” said eventually Rector Alessandra Petrucci, “takes into account the commercial potential that this collaboration realises in the form of a Living Lab, in an agricultural area of particular value such as the Chianti region, while confirming its vocation as a teaching and advanced research pole, over which the University continues to exercise direct control.”
Thanks to this event, Villa Montepaldi – to date one of the largest educational farms in Europe – will become a pattern of innovation and collaboration, establishing itself as a national reference for regenerative agricultural practices and the training of new generations of professionals in the sector.
More information at the link: BF Spa and Villa Montepaldi: a new national hub for regenerative agriculture
