CASA CAPONETTI is a 125 acre farm in Tuscania, in the heart of the Etruscan land in
central Italy, on whose grounds many different things take place, things that can be grouped under
four main topics: agriculture, tourism, education and non-profit. Farming is organic certified since
1998, and we produce Extra Virgin Olive Oil, vegetables, horses, cows, and as many items as we
can for our own consumption, like honey, pigs and soaps from oil byproducts. All oil and most of
the vegetables are canned and sold directly to the people from our stores that we have, one on the
farm, and the other in the village of Tuscania. Some of the fresh vegetables are sold through a CSA-like
operation in Rome, with weekly home delivery to over 300 families. All of our gardens are
sustainable not just in the fact of being organically fed with the manure from our livestock, but for
the water system we use for irrigation, operated through a PV system that raises the water, and by
simple gravity for distributing it. This is something that derived from my studies on the Etruscan
hydraulic engineering, something that we have still functioning on the farm in the form of an
artificially carved underground tunnel for water production, and that I had the opportunity to fully
understand through direct knowledge of similar devices in desert oases that I visited in different
countries around the world. A comparative study made me understand concepts such as small and
continuous withdrawal from water table as opposed to sudden and big, passive use of resources as a
means to prevent overexploitation, and gravity driven flows to minimize energy inputs in water
management, and the research led me to hold seminars in different universities and institutions
around Europe and North America (among them the Inweh, the department on water of the
University of the United Nations, past January).
On the farm we have a small bed and breakfast with an 18-seat restaurant, and we host
events, seminars and other kinds of gatherings. We are so proud of all we're doing, that we can't
stop talking about it - it's not just a good marketing tool, but a way to fully share what we believe in.
This kind of alimentary and environmental education of the consumer isn't limited to the farm and
within the shops, but it takes the form of off-site seminars that I hold every year around Italy and
the USA. The trip that will take place next January will have me speaking about Olive Oil making
and the values of organic farming in fighting against desertification at Stone Barns Center in NY, at
the ICASI in Cleveland and the CIA in Hyde Park NY (two of my usual commitments, and those
that I like most for the average age of the audience), plus other places in Oregon and California.
We're now working on developing two internship programs to submit to American schools and colleges, to give
four students a year the possibility to come and stay on the farm.
Other than farming, we have on our grounds a large number of Etruscan ruins and
archaeological remains that span all through the ages (among them, a couple of Etruscan water
tunnels, which is where I started my study). Non-profit projects future plans include restoring the
medieval church and convert it in a museum on groundwater sacrality, among other things, but I'm
very proud of the fact that since last year we have an agreement with the Natural Preserve of
Tuscania, and now we're the only farm that has been turned into a visit center for the park, we have
the first part of trails available at no cost for whoever wants to come and share what we have.