The Milan Design Week ended a few days ago with a huge success with the public. Among the events there was also a space dedicated to outdoor tourism. Indeed, Crippaconcept organized a round table attended by Italian and foreign guests. The Open-air design vision has been divided into three distinct blocks: one dedicated to the green transition, one to design, and one to the economic and cultural impact of open-air tourism. Today we talk about the first one: Green Transition and Open-Air Tourism: Successful Experiences.
“We are ready to face the challenges of the future with enthusiasm and determination, and to work together with all the players in the sector to create a sustainable and responsible future for outdoor tourism,” said Sergio Redaelli, CEO of Crippaconcept, in opening of works. “For this reason, we make use of the collaboration of the most important Italian and foreign experts, from the academic world to the large groups of open-air tourism, from architects and landscapers to representatives of local administrations, to try to tell what the open-air system of the future is using trends and data we have available. We are here to tell who we are, where we were, where we are going, and where we want to take future developments”.
In Cavallino-Treporti a Protocol for Sustainability
Roberta Nesto, mayor of Cavallino-Treporti, President of the Association of Mayors of the Veneto coast and Coordinator of the G20s Permanent Table, was responsible for introducing the theme of sustainability. “The open-air is sustainability par excellence, but today we risk considering this theme as something theoretical, about which much is talked about and little is realized,” she said in her speech. “We therefore ask our operators to sign a voluntary adhesion protocol to implement sustainability actions. Nothing different from what is normally done in one’s own company, but by inserting them within a territorial framework in which everyone contributes something. By joining the forces of public and private, this theme becomes less theoretical and more concrete, more down to earth”.
“We are creating protocols and paths designed for those who want to join and network,” Nesto explained. “In Cavallino-Treporti there are many examples of concrete actions, from the reuse of water to the recycling of waste, from the use of alternative energies to the use of eco-sustainable materials. Without forgetting that there are three sustainability aspects: environmental, social, and economic. This is why territorial management is needed. We have to think of a path that is constantly monitored, that has indicators. With this working method and looking ahead, we will obtain the results that especially young people ask to us“.
Fornella, a Pilot Project to Constantly Improve
The speech by Sigmar Cavazza, owner of the Fornella Camping & Wellness Family Resort, was very interesting. In this important accommodation facility on Lake Garda, which has already adhered to the voluntary Ecocamping certification since 2018, a pilot project has been launched called “Fornella One Earth 2030“, which aims to establish new standards of sustainable hospitality based on the “best available practice”. “We are analyzing the situation looking for different standards from those we have applied up to now in order to then be able to apply them to new installations,” Cavazza began. “It is an ongoing process that will materialize completely within a few years”.
There are six macro-sectors on which the structure is organizing itself:
- Architecture and technique – Work is underway on dimensioning, insulation, and radiation. With the help of Crippaconcept, the slope was modified to obtain a different object, also changing the design of the terrace.
- Water saving – Flows have been limited and a drip sub-irrigation system has been adopted, applying a Finnish technology to monitor the consumption of each cluster in real time. This also allows for early detection of any leaks.
- Efficiency and energy independence – To obtain it, you need to start with good insulation, then get help from home automation. At Fornella, a photovoltaic system connected to the network was mounted on a mobile home. The average annual production is around 8 megawatts, of which more or less 3 are consumed by the mobile home itself and the rest made available to the facility. With a hundred mobile homes thus equipped, total independence could be achieved.
- Management and participation – It is necessary to train the staff, but above all to create awareness among customers, offering a holiday worthy of the 5-stars thanks to their actions in terms of sustainability. All data must be collected and measured.
- Circular economy – At Fornella techniques such as the reuse of swimming pool water, the management of waste recycling, but above all the recycling of the materials with which the mobile homes are built are applied.
- Greenness planning – This is an important aspect, even in the framework of Ecocamping, which asks not to use chemical products except for biological control. At the facility, choices have been made to arrive at vegetation that consumes little water, is resilient, and can resist climate change. Then there is the so-called “food forest”, in which 23 varieties of edible plants have been planted, from raspberries to apples, up to plums, designed with progressive maturation time: the customer leaves the mobile home and can directly access the fruit. And thought has also been given to the well-being of microorganisms and insects, with the external part of the structure made up of flowery meadows enriched by a dozen beehives.
La Rocca, in Balance Between Nature and Tourism
The experience of La Rocca Camping Village, another reality that insists on Lake Garda, in Bardolino, was also positive. Here the particular environment protected by landscape protection, on the slopes of the Garda fortress, has led to great attention to the balance between natural heritage and tourist offer.
“We opened in 1961 and at that time tourists settled freely,” said Orsola Rizzardi, CEO of the structure. “At the level of the buildings, there were only reception and common bathrooms. In the 1970s we went from the initial 4 hectares to 8, also creating the swimming pools. When in the 2000s, returning to Italy after various work experiences abroad, I found great potential, and I developed a 360-degree master plan to make the campsite progress over the years, identifying the two areas: the pitches by the lake and the village on the slopes of the rock. The first 20 maxi-caravans arrived in 2005, respecting the orography, nature, and historical context”.
In recent years, the search for a balance between adapting the tourist offer and maintaining the natural environment has become even more intense. “We reduced the capacity by favoring quality,” explained Rizzardi, “and in 2017/18 we redeveloped an area of 4,000 m2 in the center of the campsite by redoing the services (restaurant, supermarket, spa, and so on) to seasonally adjust the activity. With great attention to eco-sustainability, adopting photovoltaic modules and reusing the water from the swimming pools for irrigation. In 2021 we opened the doors of our farm: 12 hectares of woods, olive groves, and vineyards, with an animal park. Last year we created a glamping area with tents only: we are the only ones on the lake to have a bubble tent in the olive grove and geodesic tents“.
Zoom and Lake Eyasi Resort, Africa at the Gates of Turin
The third experience brought on stage at Milan Design Week is that of Maurizio Baldini, Hospitality Specialist of Bioparco Zoom and Lake Eyasi Resort. At the gates of Turin, in land where up to 15 years ago there was only a depressed area, the biopark has become a real tourist destination in just a few years, which in 2022 had 530,000 visitors, more than the Reggia of Venaria and in Piedmont second only to the Egyptian Museum. “The development of the site was outlined in three phases,” explained Baldini. “In the first one, the structure was created, with a local catchment area no more than two hours away by car; in the second phase we expanded communication by looking for guests also from other regions, and we saturated the capacity of the less than 3,000 beds in the area; finally, it was decided to create a resort, a structure for hospitality, within the biopark“.
The challenge was not only to comply with the regulations, but also to recreate an environment as close as possible to the natural one. “We started with 20 maxi-caravans and involved cooperatives of African women who live in the Lake Eyasi area, in Tanzania, commissioning them blankets, bedspreads and pillows to offer visitors an immersive experience, with the thrill of sleeping next to the habitat of the lion, as well as that of ostriches, antelopes, and giraffes. It has been a long and difficult journey. Today we employ 280 people, including veterinarians and biologists. We have 70 housing units and in the medium term we want to reach 100. Our dream now is to create an Asian environment, after the African one“.
Maxi-Caravan: not a Smaller House, but a Different House
The interventions of the panel dedicated to sustainability were closed by Carlo Berizzi, Associate Professor of Architectural and Urban Design at the University of Pavia, who also addressed the issue of the ergonomics of mobile homes. “We have been carrying out a research path together with Crippa for five years,” he said. “We try to interpret a product that is not a home and is not just a hotel room. We have developed the maxi-caravan concept with recycled and recyclable products and materials, for advanced sustainability performance. The result is called Wonderland. In 2022 we instead focused on environments and measures. We started from caravans, boats, and lunar modules merging them with the architectural models of the last century. The second reasoning was made on ergonomics and accessibility. We then worked on the universal design. We must consider the maxi-caravan not a smaller house, but a different house”.
