We are Ordine Contadino. A broad agricultural project. An act of love towards the territory.

The History
After purchasing the first ruin in Gresta in 2010 and starting its restoration to make it their home, Danilo Nadalini and Gertrude Pum began a journey to know, transform, and reactivate Gresta surrounding area. This part of the valley had been forgotten for years and over time the forest saturated all the fields and open spaces. Crops like cereals, walnut and chestnut, apple, plum, cherry trees, and many agricultural practices were lost and fell into disuse. The distinctive dry-stone walls collapsed and there are signs of landslides and landslips dating back to the weather events of 1882 and the flood of 1966. 
Listening to the tales of the village 20 permanent residents, Danilo and Gertrude developed an understanding of the natural area around Gresta. They learned about the existence of ancient drainages, canals, waterways, abandoned paths in the woods, the toponymy and characteristics of the soil, of typical ancient crop species, and local festivals and rituals.
From the beginning, they aimed to transform and to restore the landscape, to bring a perceptive and aesthetic improvement of the territory and to safeguard it, while reviving the spirit of the place and distant traditions. Their work has been an act of resilience aimed at bringing back to life living spaces which are fundamental to the economic, social, and cultural development of a community. Their ideas gave rise to visible changes that follow the natural terrain and existing paths with the use of porphyry stone, natural steel, wood, and selected seed mixtures for the turf. The regeneration of the landscape resulted in the creation of the farm Ordine Contadino, of the bed and breakfast Cervo d’oro, and in the reactivation of the village festival. The B&B welcomes guests from all over the world who can enjoy the tranquillity of the valley, and after 50 years the festival gathers more than 300 people in the main square of the village on the first Sunday of December.
On the Ordine contadino farm soil, crops like vegetables, fruit and chestnut trees, cereals, edible flowers, and medicinal plants are grown. Sheep and donkeys roam the land, and activities such beekeeping and wild harvesting are kept alive. Three natural springs have been restored across the farm. A well gives access to 50 meters deep groundwater. 4 of the 8 hectares belonging to the farm have been reclaimed so far, 6000 square meters of chestnut grove were cleared, and 15 ancient fruit trees have been recovered. Moreover, the farm owns 20 apiaries and a top-bar hive. The best placement of the crops was chosen after assessing the biological fertility of the soil through chemical and physical analyses as well as organic and observational analyses such as circular chromatography.

The Site
Gresta is like an abbey: a sacred space crossed by the river Avisio which springs from the Marmolada glacier in the Dolomites and which has carved a deep valley in the Atesine porphyry platform shaped by glaciers. Gresta is an alpine village that has stood still in a snapshot for many years. Electricity arrived in 1943 and the connection to the main road was completed in 1970. There is an atmosphere of detachment from reality but at the same time everything feels part of a unique natural and anthropized landscape. Terracing, fields, crags, gardens, solid porphyry houses, ancient paths, and tall trees are like soft words that compose the poetry of the place.
Gresta is in the Cembra Valley, a wild place where heroic agriculture has been practiced on kilometres of dry-stone walls over the centuries. It is a hamlet of Segonzano located at 600 meters above sea level and divided into two settlements that rise on alluvial plains and partly on the ancient bed of the Avisio river.

The Rule
To Ordine Contadino, the soil is the exclusive element of wealth. Ordine Contadino is the rediscovery of primitive food. We consider this landscape a living space traversed by a constant stream of desires, a space of stimulating participation. Our research is aimed at reactivating dormant spaces through nature and to create a new balance. That is why the farm Ordine Contadino has an in-house protocol that provides for extensive sustainability and a synergetic-wild method. We reject treatments with synthetic products, and we only use preparations of natural origin. To us, the value of the product is not only the result but the whole process. Every year we explore the local nature and experiment in the field with different plant species.