We have had several occasions to mention La Tabacca , a host company in Genoa, in our blog. Most recently a couple of years ago-Francesca and Giorgia shared the story of how they were coping with what was a difficult time for everyone.

“These are complex years that challenge us, and only by sharing hope, reflection and practices together could we find benefit,” was the opening line of that contribution. After all, sharing projects and practices is in the DNA of La Tabacca. Already in 2018 we had been solicited for feedback on ecological design activities.

The Tabacca: our home is open to all

A few weeks ago we then happened to stumble upon this headline in Vanity Fair, a magazine that mostly covers fashion, current events and entertainment. The introduction paragraph to the article reads:

“Tucked away in the woods around Genoa is an agro-ecology company that produces food without consuming soil and the energy is 0 km. Welcome to Tabacca, the sustainable community where the future is planned, everything is possible and we stand together to come out different.”

We do not want to hide behind a finger: the first reaction was one of distrust; Agroecology is one of those terms close to being snatched by the global market for yet another image-washing operation.

Before the due call to Giorgia, I naturally read the article and then asked her how they had managed to maintain consistency of content in a context seemingly foreign to our language.

Giorgia told me about this opportunity to tell about Tabacca and Agroecology to an audience that hardly comes in contact with the real players in the transition. It is precisely part of the agroecological choice to want to engage in dialogue with non-homologous worlds, starting with institutions, which are often so distant from perceiving our practices as central to the future of the world.

It was a good talk that led us to pick up the thread of previous exchanges: let’s take into account that they slowly lead to the widening and consolidation of relationship networks.

Once again, we had the opportunity to share the “problem” of mutual friend Paola Migliorini who is unable to get the compost toilet that UNISG garden workers would so desperately need approved.

A trilateral exchange immediately ensued, with a generous influx of papers on the work done over the years precisely on the legislative issue to circumvent obstacles that often appear more rigidly bureaucratic than effective health protection.

Who knows, maybe a new article will come out of it soon that may route other realities on this “dry” path. In the meantime, we are expanding the circle of people to interview to find out how they have or have not resolved with the necessary authorization.

But we will talk about this at the next opportunity; in the meantime.

The photos posted on this page are from Italia che Cambia