The Sagna Rotonda Ecovillage is a project that my family and I are making for the construction of an ecovillage in the Piedmontese Mountains.
The idea was born from the marriage of many personal experiences -mine in the area of plant design and artisanal restructuring and my wife’s in the area of tourism, managing a Bed & Breakfast in the Municipality of Pecetto Torinese. And last, but not least, affection for a mountain which is still intact and within reach of any family that wishes to spend a holiday that is different than usual, far from a hectic lifestyle, with the possibility of hiking and mountain biking, and in addition, the discovery and personal experience of the opportunities and results of using alternative sources of energy.
The project consists in the complete restructuring of a small group of mountain houses which we bought, abandoned and now in precarious state. This group of homes, called Sagna Rotonda, is located in the Municipality of Marmora in the Maira Valley (Cuneo) at 1800m and served by a forest road, about 2km from the nearest inhabited center.
The idea is to restructure while preserving the architectural characteristics of the building (presumed to date back to the 1700s) in order to create about 12 to 13 living areas and some communal spaces, all integrated with new construction and design techniques in areas of heat insulation and consolidation, operating on the inside of the building in order to avoid compromising the external esthetic and aiming at the exclusive use of alternative sources of energy.
Solar paneling producing about 20kwp will be used for the production of electric energy combined with an electrical heat pump to use for electric cooking and the use of electric induction cooking surfaces; hot water production will be via an electric boiler. In this way, we are able to create a completely autonomous structure from an energy point of view in complete respect of the environment and eliminating any CO2 in emissions in the atmosphere.
By using low energy lighting systems such as the new LED technology or fluorescent electronics, this structure, based on my research, would be one of the first (if not the only) of this kind, a self contained place that offers visitors and their families a new experience with the eventual possibility of socializing with other visitors, in a tiny reborn village, with an ample communal area with a stone barrel vault, built out of the old stall. The restoration of the portico at the entrance of the village stove for who would like to use it, provides an ample green area with games for children and a table to stay outdoors.
A region that offers to its visitors, the possibility of visiting a part of our mountains that are still relatively unknown, with for the most part, old, scattered, military roads of the Alpine Valley which borders France: ideal for hiking or biking while admiring forts and trenches dating back to World War II such as the Altopiano of Gardetta or the Rocca la meja in a mountain scene that is as worthy as the more famous mountain spots.
Convinced that Torino and Piedmont have finally begun to make themselves known and appreciated by national and international tourism, perhaps a tourism that is not so commercial but tied to the discovery of the region; we have embarked on this path with the hope of realizing an innovative project, but at the same time, connected to the rhythms of a lifestyle from the distant past.
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