Responsible travel to Le Marche

At Villa San Raffaello we try to be as kind to the beautiful Le Marche environment as possible, ensuring that we have a responsible attitude to the use of precious resources, which we hope will reassure our guests that their holiday is a green holiday.

During the renovation process the building was thoroughly insulated to reduce winter fuel costs and to maintain pleasant year-round ambient temperatures without the need for air conditioning. Absolutely all old materials were recycled; bricks, tiles and doors have been reused and wood that couldn't be reused became fuel.

Sustainable tourism in Le Marche

We have invested in a new wood burning central heating system which reduces gas usage at the self catering property by 80% and is fuelled using sustainable local wood sources. Water is supplied to the house from the mountains nearby and the Villa's own waste is filtered and excess water returns to the land. As there is no doorstep recycling service we have installed our own bins for plastic, paper, glass and tins. Wherever possible we have used energy efficient light bulbs for lighting. In short, we hope that all we are doing will ensure that our tourism is sustainable tourism.

Responsible travel also becomes a low cost holiday option as our reduced energy usage, whilst great for the environment, has also enabled us to pass savings on to our guests.

Organic farms and permaculture

There are no such things as Food Miles at the Villa as we have attempted to adopt permaculture principles and devoted an area of farmland to our abundant organic vegetable garden. Guests are welcome to pick their own herbs, fruit, nuts and vegetables. In 2008 these included walnuts, hazelnuts, figs, cherries, plums, tomatoes, potatoes, parsnips, swede, beetroot, chard, onions, garlic, chillis, eggplant or aubergine, peppers, cabbage, chickory, lettuce, rocket or rucola, fennel, broad beans, peas, chick-peas, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, sage, marjoram, basil, rosemary, bay, thyme, lavender and mint.

We also planted a vineyard of Sangiovese, Merlot and Syrah but it will be a few years before our vines start yielding the first Villa San Raffaello vintages.

There are also no food miles on most of the local food. Historically, Sarnano was a big cattle market town and the tradition lives on with the local food shops and the market. Most local vendors have strong links to the farms that supply them and know their produce well. There are also many specialists within a stones throw of the Villa producing cheeses, wines, salamis and prosciutto.

Carbon offsetting

2009 saw the villa planting over 30 trees as they devour 10 times their weight in Carbon. Most of these trees were Ash as they have the fastest growth to Carbon absorption rates. We hope that by taking this step we can offset some of our guests carbon emmissions