“Energie und Umweltzentrum” – Centre for Energy and the Environment – is an independent and self-managed association that has been working on renewable energies, energy and water savings, green building and environmental education since 1981.

Its story begins this way: in order to give a practical realization to these topics, in the 1980s a group of young people engaged in the anti-nuclear movement bought and restructured, through a nationally launched subscription, a former school near Hanover that could function as a model demonstration.

Panta Rei is a beautiful centre for sustainable development education near Lake Trasimeno.
The centre is open all year and it’s entirely built according to the principles of green building, with natural materials, producing energy from the sun and biomass and using natural materials and Phyto-purification systems for the ecological management of water.

Città della Luce is not a real city, or rather it is not only this, but much more.

Everything started in the 1990s when a group of young men decided to dedicate their lives to the study and practice of Reiki. They joined forces, established a community and began to organize courses and events related to holistic disciplines in Genoa. Driven by the need to expand their spaces and to be surrounded by greenery, these people moved to Turbigo, near Novara, and then finally to the inland of the Marches, in a place full of peace and land to cultivate.

They wanted to experiment and create a new way of living and working, of being together in respect, with mutual support and trust. They wanted to cooperate in a dimension in which there is time and space to take care of ourselves and relationships, time for the partner and for the children, for studying, for personal growth and for professional self-realization.

In 2014, during our trip to Costa Rica, we visited this amazing Permaculture Farm where we found many inspiring ideas for our own project too. Rancho Margot is surrounded by the rainforest, where Nature itself is spectacular and enchanting.

The Swasti “Eco Cottages & Restaurant” is a sustainable eco-lodge located in Ubud, in the island of Bali.
The owners are French and their interest in ecology ranges in different fields:
– Employ of local materials: all furniture and manufactured items in the buildings are made of local materials, especially bamboo employed for the construction of bungalows, beds, wardrobes, desks, shelves, napkin holders, spice holders, straws, etc.

During our trip to Bali we visited this amazing school immersed in the jungle near Ubud, close to the river Ayung and to many paddy fields.

The sound of a gong announces the beginning of the lessons which take place in bamboo pavilions with no walls.
Desks, chairs and whiteboards are made of bamboo and all around it’s just jungle! 

When we travelled to Costa Rica we went toward the Pacific coast looking for Pachamama, a place for growing your self-awareness and experiencing a more spiritual lifestyle.
Pachamama was founded in 1999 by Tyohar and his travel friends with a deep passion for truth, meditation, silence and transformation.

Staying at Pachamama inspires personal spiritual exploration and living in harmony with mother Earth and all its elements. Since its establishment Pachamama has become a point of reference for people all around the world, creating a field of energy which is colourful and simply unique. It’s the ideal place for immersing yourself in a spiritual journey of transformation and physical rejuvenation while being in contact with nature and your inner soul.
Pachamama has been designed for challenging and embracing yourself. Here you can experience life completely, the energy of being together and the silent when staying alone. It’s a true temple of transformation.  
It wasn’t thought to become an ecovillage, but the desire for a healthier, natural and simple lifestyle has always been there. The adventure officially started in 2013 and the ecologic vision of Pachamama tries to embrace permaculture, cultivation of local organic products and living in a sustainable way.

PER is the result of a couple’s desire to put into practice the huge amount of theories that they had been studying over years and to realise a common dream. So together Alessandro and Chiara found a beautiful farmhouse in the Umbrian countryside, some friends who followed them and the willing to start a new life.

“The challenge was to start again the cultivation in the fields and solve the problems of water shortage.”    

We couldn’t avoid visiting it! Our ultimate model: Sepp Holzer’s Krameterhof.

The Krameterhof is located on the southern slope of the Schwarzenberg-mountain in Lungau, federal state of Salzburg. This mountain farm covers 45 hectares (111 acres), and is located between 1100 and 1500 meters above sea level.

Ananda is a spiritual retreat located on the beautiful Umbrian hills, near Assisi, the city of Saint Francis. The Ananda Centre offers hospitality and many programs based on the principles of Kriya Yoga and Self-realization, which were brought to the Western world by Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the spiritual classic, Autobiography of a Yogi. His direct disciple Swami Kriyananda (1926 – 2013), the founder of Ananda communities in the United States, Europe and India, has continued to develop and spread these universal and practical teachings around the world.

As we usually do when we visit this kind of places, we try to get the most of what they offer: their philosophy, their food, the environment, the buildings where daily activities are carried out and the spirit of the people that make these places so special!

To us Ananda was really enlightening.