LIVING DIFFERENTLY

An eco-village lost in the Tuscan hills

Upacchi is a small village located in Tuscany and it’s a hilly area with many woods and a wild nature. It’s suitable for long walks and excursions. This place was abandoned in the 1950s when many farmers left their homes and went to live in the cities, where they found a less hard job with a safe income. In 1990 some people were looking for a proper place to realize “an ecological village” and they discovered Upacchi. At that time all the houses were destroyed and ivy grew up on the wall. They decided to begin the adventure of renovation in order to create a place to start a different and sustainable life, inspiring by other ecovillages in the world such as Crystal Waters in Australia, The Farm in America, Findhorn in Scotland. According to this plan a cooperative was founded and the houses were renovated following the meaningful criteria of green building. Despite all efforts not all ideals have been realized. The dream of collective life didn’t find enough support from the new inhabitants. Ten years after the Cooperative was dissolved and it took the road of “good neighborliness”. Today 12 familes are living there and four houses are not inhabited all year. The new inhabitants of Upacchi come from Italian cities, Germany, Austria, England and many of them have “green” professions, such as cultivating medicinal herbs, building wood-burning stoves, caring for gardens in an ecological way.
The houses have been renovated with natural materials such as stone, wood, straw, clay and are mainly heated with wood having high efficiency systems. The gardens of the houses are cultivated with biological methods and besides the machines of the inhabitants and their guests, there is no other traffic. All this increases the quality of life in Upacchi even if the city’s comforts are lacking.Arriving at this place I realized that things may not go as planned but they can still lead to a great result.
I found a silent nature, welcoming families and large common areas. My idea of photography is to tell a different way of life, which some people have consciously chosen, modified and preserved, following their intimate desires.