Moving towards Zero Impact Farming at Villa Stabbia.

- means farming with the smallest impact on your environment.
Making your footprint small!

Since taking over the running of Villa Stabbia, we decided to invest time and resources on innovative ideas regarding the environment.

Organic farming, and certification. Although the farm has been organically run for decades, we decided to get it certified as soon as we took it over in 2002

The fertilisers used in the fields are not only 100% organic, but also of own production.
When the oil has been extracted from the olives, the leftovers (pits, skins etc) are left to dry and mixed with the manure from the horses and then distributed in the fields.
Horse manure contribute to the fertility of the soil by adding organic matter and nutrients, such as nitrogen.

Spring and rainwater  is collected in a large tank (around 3000 cubic meters of water) for watering the garden and vegetable orchard. In addition, all the water used at the riding centre (their shower, for watering the arena during the dry summer etc), is collected rainwater via the drainage system built around the arena and then stored in a specially built well.

Sewage treatment in two phases. An Imhoff tank as a primary treatment technology of the raw wastewater, designed for solid-liquid separation and digestion of the settled sludge. Then a second phase for purification of the liquid before it leaves the farm as clear water.

Saltwater in the swimming pool has the advantage of the lowered use of chemicals. There is no longer a need to store or even handle too many toxic chemicals regularly anymore. Moreover, it is safer to swim in since it only consist enough and tolerable chemical levels.

Fruit and vegetable production at Villa Stabbia, is close to allowing us to be self-sufficient.

Permission for photovoltaic solar panels was finally granted in 2013, after having requested permission for several years. A new parking lot for the agriturismo was constructed using the solar panels as roof. We expect them to produce around 75% of our electricity needs. Hoping that in the future it will be possible to expand and thereby increase electrical energy production in order to become independent from the mains. Hereby produce the electrical needs of the entire farm and agriturismo only with the use of sunlight.

A high efficiency wood boiler is in the plan to be installed, that will allow heating the Villa and private buildings during the winter months using only wood from our fields.

Thanks to all these improvements and innovations, we aim to reach a zero impact structure that respects the surrounding environment.

Indeed, all of us here at Villa Stabbia know that the most important resource is our environment and hope to help preserving it for future generations