Seven Rooms & bar: when the tradition meets the sustainability

by Irene Gozellino

Holidays are still far, but the Envi.info’s team would like to offer you a new chance of relaxing for those of you who wish to take a break: the SEVEN ROOMS & BAR of S. Benedetto del Tronto (centre Italy). We’re talking about a nice Hotel and B&B, very functional under a logistic point of view as it is near the city-centre and by the sea, with beautiful rooms equipped with every comfort, free Wi-Fi connection, affordable prices and a familiar atmosphere. Why should we write about it? Because the SEVEN ROOMS & BAR is a unique example of sustainability (as it was also certificated a few weeks ago) and by this we don’t mean only environmental sustainability.

The owners, Pietro and Angelica, are both deeply involved in the protection of the region and its environmental resources. The entire energetic requirement of the hotel is supplied by solar panels and most of the food and the wine served are not only organic but also “Km 0” and of local origin.

Since November 2011 the SEVEN ROOMS & BAR became the first Circolo AIAB (Italian association for organic agriculture) of Marche Region, an association of local producers and consumers for the diffusion and development of a sustainable agriculture. The activities promoted by the Circolo, such as the chance of tasting many organic specialties, are all listed in the beautiful and easy to use website of the Hotel.

The owner, Pietro Canducci, has kindly answered our questions.
What prompted you to give your hotel a "sustainable" and environmentally friendly identity?
“A deep passion for these issues that turns into a real and daily commitment to make our life more sustainable. I think it is important to involve other people into this passion, only then we can make a system of issues that cannot be underestimated. With my business I provide a service, by communicating and creating awareness. I'm the first to involve people who had never even tried to learn about these things!"

Do you think this identity could be an added value compared to other "normal" business hotels?
"Yes, absolutely, and it will keep on adding value to it over time”.

How do you communicate all this to your customers and what is their reaction? Do you find appreciation? If yes, what kind?
“We write them by mail, we communicate through the website and through its events, by notifying them personally when they arrive to our facility. Plus, some information material is available in every room. The reaction is positive at least from those who make use of the hotel and from outside (especially foreigners). For what concerns the natives, (the Sambenedettesi), there is still prejudice, the city is not fully mature […] However I know that more and more people are approaching positively to my work. There is curiosity, my company's Facebook page reached 186 fans in less than a year and this means a lot for a small company like mine [...] however the sensitivity increases. Although the percentage of people who wish to know about initiative is already sensitive, therefore they find pleasure in finding a place where they can share the same passions and the same interests with others!"

If you're not convinced yet, just think that your stay at the Seven Rooms & BAR could be entertained by one of the exhibitions of young local talents to which parts of the structure are made available in order to expose their creativity, always at at Km 0.

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Under the Christmas tree good practises handbooks

by Silvia Musso

Are you too struggling with Christmas? It would be for the crisis or for the worries for future austere times, but this year you can find useful suggestions everywhere “to celebrate” in a sustainable way. Many more or less big, more or less known associations and organizations as well as municipalities or firms are listing decalogues of good practises that with zero Km dinner, green gifts and environmental friendly decorations will help us to overcome also this Christmas. Greenpeace suggests for the Christmas tree to use prunes, instead of buying a real one, to buy low consume lights, to use less meat for the dinner and about the fish to avoid cod, prawns, tuna and swordfish choosing bluefish.

Always about the menù a reflection and a anti-waste vademecum comes from Andid, the association of Italian dietists. «Since always – president of Andid, Giovanna Cecchetto, explains – Christams times are the occasion to share refined dishes where food becomes the symbol of abundance, pleasure, thoughlessness, hope of a fuure well-being. But differently from now, those food were used to last also after Christmas and were sipped during the following weeks with the “recycle” practise. Today it is not like this any more. We throw away all».

According some data collected by United Nations, in fact, every year one third of food producted on Earth, about 1,3 billions tons, is wasted. To contain and avoid these wastes Andid dietits have listed 10 suggestions. Among them: “Do not get hungry at the dinner time”; “to respect satiety signs”; “to avoid bread”; to buy a correct quantity of food, proportioned with the numbers of people”; do not being groped by sales and to limit too big food supplies”.

Coldiretti's suggestion, over the invitation to choose zero Km food, is about the Christma tree. It is better to opt for the real fir because often the plastic ones come from China and have done thousands of km with many greenhouse gases emissions. Moreover the firm can be replanted after the festivity, or disposed in les time than the plastic one tht needs 200 years befor the complete degrade. In Italy the firs' cultivation to be allocated to Christmas market is part of hydrogeological risk prevention projects.

About the holydays, finally, WWF, in its yearly decalogue, suggests to prefere Italy rather to far destinations and the train rather than areoplane.

Other decalogues, very similar ones to the others, come also from websites of municipalities, businnesses and reviews.

The ideas to spend a sustainable Christmas are many, we have to decide if let them a real practise. Anyway if you are still looking for a gift, under the Christamas tree, try to put one of these handbooks. It will be a good present for the future of or Planet and an occasin to rflect together with frineds and relatives among candies and wine.

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Kuminda: a menu of events that satisfies taste and minds

by Francesca Maio

An happening organized to communicate sustainable lifestyles with a festival that talk about food. From 14 to 18 October Cascina Cuccagna - one of the oldest agricultural farms of Milan, near Corso Lodi, behind Porta Romana – will be the location of Kuminda: a Festival about the right of food in Milan by ACRA and Terre di Mezzo.It will be three days of events to tell the food through art, music and drama in perfect harmony with a sustainable place symbol of Milan.

There will be moments with international experts, ethnic and bio happy hours and do not miss a meeting by many voices to talk about punjabi’s culture, migration and integration in Italy and Lombardia , followed by a delicious tasting of Grana Padano and pakore.

A farmers market will be an opportunity to experience a different kind of shopping by purchasing bio-products of the campaigns from Milan.

There's something for everyone, even for children which will be proposed special laboratories that will combine play and education to approach them to food and seasonal food.

Among the many initiatives do not miss the show LABEL, questions of label, which will reveal the background of the theatrical language prying the supermarkets and the way we consume. Lisa Casali blogger of Ecocucina, and her unusual dishwasher cooking workshop will guide us to learn to cook delicious dishes using the dishwasher as the "oven" zero impact. Seeing is believing.

On 17 and 18 October at Anteo Space Cinema, Kuminda will propose a selection of short and feature films from Festival delle Terre in Rome creating the opportunity to learn along with critics and directors, stories of culture and colture told through the camera’s eye.

From 14 to 18 October you are called to be protagonist with food to tell sustainable lifestyles. Don’t miss it! Be there!

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An indigestible apple

by Irene Gozellino



What did you have for breakfast? Did you enjoy the orange juice? Did the cheap and tasty yogurt from the discount satisfy you?
Where all this food came from? If the oranges weren´t from Sicily and the yogurt wasn´t made in the nearest dairy farm, be aware that what happens at the end of the video “Der Apfel” (the Apple) could be your destiny.

Der Apfel is one of the videos made for the “Internationale Sommeruniversität” (the International Summer University), which is hold annually in Karnitz, in the German region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The Summer University takes place simultaneously in Chile and in Germany, as part of a project that aims at the development of audiovisual and verbal competences as well as at the decrease of the “digital gap” among nations. The subjects of the audiovisual products are renewable energies and energy efficiency.

Joachim Borner is the scientific director of KMGNE, Kolleg für Management und Gestaltung nachhaltiger Entwicklung gGmbH (The College for the Management and Design of the Sustainable Development), the Berlin body from which the Sommer University was born.

Why a partnership with Chile?
«This partnership with Chile comes from a history of friendship (date back at the time of Pinochet). It is a friendship with also a political connotation: with Gregory Cohen (director), Carlos Flores (director), Juan Pablo Orrego (alternative Nobel prize), Antonio Elisalde (sociologist), Raul Sohr (journalist), Gabriel Sanhueza (journalist) etc. We sustain each other through mutual encouragement and advice. This is the first reason of our friendship. The second one is the function of Chile as a transfer within Latin America. Starting from Chile, many ideas of participation and sustainable development spread among neighbouring countries. The coherence between ideas and actions is much stronger than in Europe, especially in Germany».

Participants come from different countries and also have various backgrounds. However they were able to shoot, within a very short time, effective and high-quality audio-visual products. In your opinion, how can they find a common way of thinking?
«It doesn’t always happen that, in such a short period of time, diversity becomes reciprocal understanding, through the exchange of ideas, but this is the final goal and it must be pursued. The transformations caused by climate change are quick, so we do not have much time. We therefore have to develop competences that enable us to communicate in an intercultural environment. We would like to understand each other (1. criterion) and to do so by using specific questions, supervisions etc. Developing a common language means working together on the message that is to be communicated (2. criterion). All cultural differences are taken into account – if that does not work, there will be, at that stage, no message».

To find what kind of messages and which new language have been developed by the students of the last Sommer University, take a look at the dedicated canal.
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A royal yes environmental friendly?

by Eleonora Anello

The media of all the world, especially those dealing with environment, presented them as environmental friendly. But the wedding celebrated on Friday, April 29, 2011 between the Prince William and Kate Middleton have been so attentive to the environment?

Apart from the rivers of ink that have been paid to obtain the maximum media coverage, we start from the crowds of London. The long wait has produced a flood of waste into sugar-coated almonds, flags and food consumed, so it took a team of 130 people to collect 140 tons of rubbish left. Perhaps less impact, the 2 billion of people not physically present, who have followed the ceremony in front of the TV or computer.

It’s likely that the press has given too much credit to the proverb: "Like father, like son". And Prince Charles, in fact, seems to have been the only member of the Royal Family who didn’t disappoint the environmental expectations. So, he was able to impose sustainability on the wedding party in which they were served "zero-miles" food and biological canapés, with ingredients coming from his farms. The bride and groom on their side were concerned to print menu and press kits on FSC certified recycled paper.

The ecofriendly choices are then involved the floral arrangements thanks to Shane Connolly, floral designer from the sustainable approach, made of plants and seasonal flowers from organic farming, which prefers potted plants rather than cut flowers.

Even for the rings they gave priority to re-use. For the engagement, Prince William has recycled the ring with sapphire and diamond ring that his father gave to Diana, a gift symbolically very powerful. The gold of the wedding ring, gift from Queen Elizabeth, came from UK mines. Still on the subject of reuse, Kate’s dress was decorated with jewels in part on loan again from the Queen.

To reduce the environmental footprint also the guests were bothered. They could choose to make donations to thirty organizations, including some dedicated to protecting the environment, avoiding unnecessary gifts. In addition, the newlyweds have asked them to plant trees to offset CO2 emissions, more than a little irrelevant as they are from all over the world will fly in most cases private.

So the media are focused on these particulars that if compared to everything else appear to be marginal. Only The Telegraph has expressed criticism of the management of the environmental impact by publishing a rough calculation of the carbon footprint of the international event, carried out by Landcare Research. The results are devastating for the environment. The CO2 generated from the ceremony is the total produced by Buckingham Palace in a whole year. There is around 6765 tons of CO2, 12 times the annual emissions from the palace in London, 1230 times the annual emissions of an average English family.

We can console with the fact that the green choices are not confined to the day when the royal couple gave their yes. The house of 789 square meters in the countryside of Cornwall where William and Kate will live, will be highly energy efficient in part using renewable sources.

Although some choices reward the Royal Family, also the communication of the event didn’t fully respect the most basic sustainable principles. Low impacting the announcement of the engagement on Twitter and Facebook and the sending of the first invitation to the crowned heads by fax, evidently considered more effective by the Windsor for passing information on major events and certainly much more environmental friendly then the invitations printed on paper and adorned with gold delivered in 1900 invited the following month.

Judge for yourself if you can talk about a green wedding or a glitzy show in which the respect for the environment has had a contained part. We recognize the merit of the Royal Family that have mobilized a lot of money for this global event that triggered mass-appeal, seeking to promote exemplary environmental and giving visibility to some best practices that will leave intangibles and materials legacy for the environment. One thing is certain, though less glamorous, the common marriages are much more environmental friendly.
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Up and down in trough Monferrato’s hills between sport and the environment

by Eleonora Anello

On 14 and 15 May 2011 will take place in Casale Monferrato (North Italy) the Ecolimpiadi, sporting event that unites the various disciplines and promotes the respect and the discovery of the environment.

The heart of the rich event, conceived and organized by the cultural association Argo in collaboration with the Municipality, with the economic contribution of the Ministry of Youth, will be the competitions of the four selected disciplines, that are appropriate to the territory: canoe, running, equitation and mountain biking. The canoe races and horse riding will be reserved for more experienced athletes, and everyone can participate to the running and the biking on the banks of the river Po.

«The Ecolimpiadi create value for the territory, the citizens and the companies - Alessandro Lanteri, President of ARGO, says - allowing, in the latter, unique opportunities for communication and promotion, increasing the visibility and associating the values of sport and the ecology corporate brand. This great event hopes to create new marketing vehicles, with a strong participatory and emotional potential, to achieve strategic targets».

In the same idea to the Municipality administration. «The Ecolimpiadi - Federico Riboldi, Councillor of Youth, says - pursue the promotion of the area through the open air sporting activities, combined with moments of games and aggregation. It can offer both the resident and the tourist a direct experience of the territory with high added value. In this way, we intend to improve the image of the area, encouraging the development of sustainable tourism and stimulating the new business sector of the 'green economy'».


Numerous side events strictly ecological and sustainable that will accompany the races will conclude with the planting of trees to offset the unavoidable CO2 emissions.

A lot of news. Like for example, the presence of canoes along the river Po and the choice of path of the ecological running through a vote that will take place on the Internet, between a flat path along the Po and another more adventurous in the hills.

A restaurant area will be active and will offer local delicacies made with fresh seasonal and at zero miles products, accompanied by the famous wines of the Monferrato and the craft beer. Water dispenser will also be available in order to produce less waste; all will be served up in ecological dishes to throw in the right containers for the separate waste collection.

Also all the stands of eco-village on Piazza Castello will be sustainable. Here there will be held environmental awareness actions. There will be handled outside a gym where there will be courses in aero boxing, step soft, slim spin and power yoga and where will be presented the current more environmentally friendly sport: the ultimate frisbee. And more: a football tournament at 5 in the inflatable field, carriage rides and sports massages. Live music, shows and entertainment with DJ. Events for kids with exhibitions, performances, creative courses, outdoor games for a full exploitation of embodiment.

The entries in competitions are still open. To participate, you can fill out the form on this website www.ecolimpiadi.it, while you can keep up on Facebook event page. So the Monferrato area tries to go beyond the Eternit story.
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Coop and the conscious choice

by Eleonora Anello

On air alone it immediately had a wide coverage on the media. The more experienced communicators have called aggressive; we find it unusual and in many aspects a "trailblazer”. We're talking about the environmental communication campaign launched by Coop Italy, the Italian distribution giant, to discourage the purchase and consumption of a goods that sells: mineral water.

“Acqua di casa mia” (Water of my house) is characterized by the large budget made available (1 million euro), which allows it to combine the media and instore communication, through information packs and digital material. Media invitation to the Italians to use more tap water or, alternatively, to choose mineral water sources closer to ‘0 km’, an assigned to a spot that features the current testimonial of Coop, the comic Luciana Littizzetto. In stores, instead, it produces more space for information and technical data, to enable the consumer to make an informed choice through a scientific dossier on the nature of water, drawn up by experts and approved by the major international environmental organizations, in which the cooperative chose not to overreach, nor of that of tap water or bottled. There is a planned change of the image of the lanes, the reorganization of the department-water provides the "bookshelf speaker", or the presence of campaign posters, with precise indications of the sources with the provenance of the bottles through specific legends about different types of mineral waters and suggestions on how to correct for preventing domestic waste. Deleted also promotions on all waters.

The range of materials developed are not only addressed to members and consumers, who can keep in touch and discuss with each other also on the web within a specific community, but also involve employees through targeted training.

We expected a "green" impact, but inevitably those were commercial expectations, especially on products under its own brand: from the enlargement of the sources of Coop water (from 2 goes to 4, with a decrease in the average distance that the bottles have to go that is around 12%); to the sale of a filter jug.

The reply of the producers of mineral water wasn’t long in coming. Ettore Fortuna, president of Mineracqua, in defending the interests of the companies he represents, reveals that he has in the drawer, already for two months, a corporate campaign on the different types of water far from certain communications operations that aim to build on guilt, or that instill in the consumer the feeling of doing nasty things to the environment.

We can not predict to what extent Coop's campaign will persuade the people. However, we can probably say that it has opened a lively debate that we hope will develop into a constructive dialogue between the actors of the sector. Finally, Coop, as stated by the Chairman of the Board, Vincenzo Tassinari, through this campaign, seems to have made «an understandable, transparent and cheap offer that allows the consumer to choose consciously».
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Running for the environment!

by Eleonora Anello

Even the motorcycle can be environmentally friendly! What at first glance may seem a contradiction, LCR Honda has achieved through Ecostyle, the new ethics code particularly favorable to environment, which has allowed the known motorcycle brand, already last GP of Mugello in June, to compete without a trace.

Result of careful measurement of emissions produced in the previous championship, the new plan will be adopted by all staff. In addition to the emissions on the track, the estimate of the ecological footprint has included emissions from the production of tires for motorcycles; the electricity used in the box, in the structure hospitality and racing; the air travel of staff and those of cargo and trucks to transport the equipment needed to perform the work. It is calculated that in an only one season 1,500 tonnes of CO2 have been released.

To decrease a few percent of the environmental impact, the Honda has renewed its way of working: from new fleet of tractors for transportation equipment fitted with a feeding system hybrid that can fuel mix LPG to new LED lighting systems; from the use of environmentally friendly paper to the merchandising gadgets mainly made with recyclable material or otherwise low environmental impact. In addition, sorting waste will be performed in all host countries; cutlery and supplies made of compostable material as well as biodegradable detergents will be used; and, finally short commodity chain, especially for the food, will be preferred.

In short, although a highly energy-consuming and impacting society, Honda is working great pains to limit damage to the environment. So, that what can not be entered, will be compensated. To this end, an agreement was signed with First Flora, an organization that takes care of part of the Atlantic rainforest in the state of Bahia, Brazil, currently lost due to deforestation 92% of its original extent and from which the president Corrado Meotti speaks: «The initiative was created thanks to the contact with Alessandro Oliveto, CEO of Doctor Glass, a Honda LCR’s sponsorship company and already involved with First Flora since many years. The fact that a major house like Honda has decided to offset their emissions, tackling a project and a serious and rigid protocol as ours, it is essential to launch a new trend that we hope will be soon caught by the other brands participating in the Moto GP World Champion. The work of Flora First conducted in one of the world's richest in terms of biodiversity is obvious to all. Proof of this are the activities of reforestation, protection of cocoa cultivars and work-camp that annually organized by Legambiente in our estate. Whoever wants, can contact us for a wonderful experience working in the Brazilian jungle».

A clear message, addressed to all lovers of motorcycling, of complex implementing but surely ethical value. Ecostyle by Honda respecting the environment embodies a common operation that provides greater visibility and gain brand image. Lap after lap, while competing in a sustainable way, the plan is likely to appear in the eyes of most careful fledged greenwashing. More...

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Logo in green sauce ... It happens only at McDonald’s

by Eleonora Anello

Wars of brand name and restyling of the image. The new year promises to the multinational of the hamburger McDonald's quite intense.
The U.S. giant, in some European countries, is gradually changing the background of his logo. From red, a colour that distinguishes it from always, to green, to highlight its commitment to the nature and the environment. The famous golden arches have already been lying on the renewed background in the McCafè of the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Switzerland.

New products, innovative technologies and designs are constantly upgraded and they are the three key elements which focus on the marketing strategy of McDonald's. The renovation, now, embraces also the communication, through a new combination of colours of the logo that will reflect the quality choices of McDonald's, sending out at a consumer that, not even to say, winking to the environment. For someone could be a risky choice, since the fast food chain has always been targeted by environmentalists.

To watch over on McDonald's logo a careful group of lawyers who, in a letter sent to the centre of Rivoli, Turin hinterland town, has warned Mr. Graziano Scaglia, 39, farmer, found guilty of open “Mac Bün Slow Fast Food” (in Piedmontese "Only Good"), a “agro-burger” where sandwiches are served with meat of his animals, vegetables and cheeses from the farms of the area, artisan bread and wine of Monferrato. According to the lawyers of the famous chain, Mac Bün remembered too much the name of their client. Whether this new business, excellent example of short chain, receives a good success serving daily 300 hamburgers, the dispute could be even fiercer. So, this is only a clash brand or the giant of the meatball fears another? In this connection comes to mind the story of bakery of Altamura (Bari), become a legend, mainly thanks to the media, as well as screenplay. For those who still don’t known, it all started on 2001, when Mr. Luca Digesù opened a bakery next to the new McDonald's with the hope of intercepting customers. The fight lasted a year and a half and then the multinational had to close in favour of the "local pride gourmet": pizza and flat breads.

Waiting for the end of the dispute between the brand, the agri-burger opened with a censored version of its logo: "M ** Bün ". And while the turnovers continue to grow, we can not deny that anyone in against McDonald's, at least in Italy, can not help but be radiated from his epic aura. Maybe Mr. Scaglia had already noticed it: mocking the great giant has not done anything but gain in notoriety. But he denies: «I never imagined to trigger this international controversy, I never wanted compete with a multinational. I only used a refrain very common in our dialect. The choice was due to the fact that we are very attached to our territory. In fact, even the names of the sandwiches are in the Piedmontese. We are workers and we have no interest in legal affairs. So, at the moment, we remain censored. In the future we will see». More...

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Adopt a garden at distance

by Eleonora Anello

On spring has begun the sowing of the land. The first deliveries are expected in June. And some people have thought for those who live in urban areas and have neither time nor space, or simply did not want to engage in the production of farmers. “Le verdure del mio orto”("My garden's vegetables ") arises from these conditions: deliveries a week at home, exclusive agricultural areas to be selected for size and cultivation and to cultivate as delegated.


But how can we adopt a virtual garden? We ask it to Giovanni Ferraris, 36 years, PR manager.
"It is all in 4 easy steps: define the size depending on the composition of the household or group, for example we have offices and businesses, the last one that has adopted a garden is a catering company. Then you must select the vegetables by choosing from a range of 39 vegetables and selection of flower beds with herbs, berries or flowers, and, finally, select the accessories among those proposed as the photo-album with the collection of images, or the scarecrow to give an identity to their land. In the future we would like to offer other local produce such as cheese and meat to complete the offer”.

Vegetables are all organic, even if to save on the final costs, the company has not yet certified, deliveries are done with a truck to reduce methane emissions and pollutants, among other attention directed to the exclusive use of natural fertilizers, drip irrigation to save water, control weeds by mulching with biodegradable fabrics.

This project of cultivating agricultural consumption exploits the potential of digital communication, which thus becomes the tool to manage self and return to old traditions closed to those who live in urban areas. A virtuoso blend of innovation and tradition, marriage that is being consolidated in many other situations.

Compliance with the seasonal vegetables and the knowledge that the consumption of foods in season helps to boost the immune system represent some of the key principles underlying the Fife Diet.
Fife is a region of Scotland situated to the north of Edinburgh, where for several years the local consumption has been promoted to reduce air pollution among the causes of climate change. A pioneering project that encourages people to use only products that come from surrounding areas. The supply chain becomes shorter and thus are unable to eat better and save money.
To contact the producer and consumer it will be a mobile software that will find the nearest suppliers and create a network of outlets for local produce in urban centres.
The project works so that in one year by the 14 members who founded the network has gone to 600. Interesting how this project has also impacted on the social morphology of the area, in fact many families were finally established in Fife to follow this new way of life.

But this kind of experience is multiplied. In the U.S., the term "locavore" refers to people who eat only locally sourced food, while in Canada and Australia are active in the "100-mile diet", people who try to eat the food that comes from a radius of not more than 100 miles from their home.

All new dieters ensure that the new diet is not only good for the environment and the wallet, but also to the line. Certainly it is a way to lose weight for summer thanks to the massive cutting of sugar in processed foods. More...

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“COLTIVARE LA CITTÀ”: urban agricolture

By Alessio Sciurpa

The development of urban agriculture, the spread of roof gardens and vertical gardens among others, are some of the symptoms that underlie the need inherent in the inhabitants of large urban areas to retrieve a contact with nature, agriculture and the food genuineness that is linked to them. As already noted Lester Brown in his Plan B 3.0, so Andrea Calori in his “Coltivare la città, giro del mondo in dieci progetti di filiera corta” (Growing the city, around the world in ten projects of short chain) by heading to this trend, gathering for the first time in a single volume experiences of urban agriculture from various parts of the world, some recent, other outstanding for years. What do a Bronx immigrant, a woman from a suburb of Osaka, a farmer from Senegal, a baker of Monaco and a Venezuelan driver?
Each of these people is the protagonist of stories related to food. Each belongs to groups and communities, more or less formalized, we are organized to sell or buy food which is consumed near the place of production.

The book recounts experiences that arise in different contexts with different modes of development linked by a single thread. How long has required the its preparation and from where did the idea?
The drafting of the book itself was very fast, but this was possible because we have on our shoulder some fifteen years of work on the relationship between city and country, through activities rooted in university research at the “Politecnico of Milan” (Italy) and related to the participation the world of movements and social networks. In particular since 2000, we initiated research on a city or institutional initiatives with strong spin part in the environmental, social and economic development and capable of producing practical policies for local development self-sustainable. From these, we have improved the experiences of agro-food chains short-involving local and give new impetus to urban agriculture. Altreconomia, who knows our work, we proposed to write a text, since the topic does not exist publications. The drafting of the book itself took three months working full time, during which we first selected the projects most important to us, and then rebuild them as much as possible in detail, even interviewing players directly. Finally we tried to tell the selected projects through real stories, with the intention of making them accessible to everyone, even those who do not deal with the issue of short chain in terms of academic qualifications.

Why talk about it today?
First, to restore the right proportion: the global market has made us believe that the whole world is nourished through a model of intensive monoculture production which is very distant-in time, space and trade-from the moment of consumption, but the data FAO tell a different story. The work of small family farms and methods associated with those of short chain feeds are third world population, with peaks that reach 90% in the African population case. Secondly, because we are particularly interested in the reality of Milan, who thanks to the presence of a suburban agricultural park, it offers in terms of short-chain, unexpected opportunities.
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