Over the past 12 years, we have restored and resurrected an antique olive farm and produce an award-winning Extra Vergine Olive Oil with wild olives. We built up an organic Azienda Agricola and turned our 2.5 hectares of wild land into a natural reserve.
Crowdfunding with We Make It
Due to many hurdles along the way, we are depending on financial support at the moment. That’s why we started a crowdfunding campaign which we succesfully ended on July 15, 2018. With the crowdfunding we are able to continue construction for our Agri-Camping and to support our olive trees. We were funded with the support of 99 generous backers and will keep you updated on our progress on this page.
Progress & Rewards
We will keep all our backers updated about our progress on the farm here on this page. We will regularly post photos on Facebook and Instagram and send out newsletters, when we have exciting news to share. Sign up here to our newsletter.
Would you like to support us?
If you have missed our campaign and you would like to support our vision, we would love to hear from you. Our olive tree adoption program is ongoing, please contact us for more details at info@agriturismolupupa.com.
Watch our video below:
Project L’UPUPA
Vision and mission
Our vision is to create a space to retreat where our guests can rejuvenate and relax away from the stresses of daily life. It is our mission to create a sustainable and eco-friendly business while preserving the local nature and culture for generations to come.
Our project
With our Agriturismo permit, we have the opportunity to build a small Agri-Camping, buildings for cooking and learning, community development and a space where we can turn our produce into finished products. As an Agriturismo, we also have the opportunity to offer our guests tours and activities, run a farm-to-table restaurant and hold courses, retreats and events for small groups and families.
CHALLENGES
Apart from bureaucracy and construction challenges, we are facing the threat of the Xylella Fastidiosa bacteria. That bacteria is very aggressive and slowly weakening olive trees all across Puglia. Xylella is slowly creeping into our olive grove and is starting to reduce our olive production. We are fighting every day, to nurture our hundreds of years old trees and work with organic approached to fight for their existence. This fight is very time consuming and costly, but it is important to us to protect this cultural heritage for future generations.
PROGRESS
During the last year, we have built camping spots spread throughout our olive grove, with services almost unnoticeably integrated into the landscape. Further, we have built the structures of a salt-water swimming pool, the facilities building with showers and outdoor kitchen, camping facilities and multipurpose buildings for courses and production rooms.
WHERE WE ARE GOING
As you can see throughout our website, we are creating a retreat from every day life. Where you can relax and rejuvenate within a unique natural reserve and organic farm. We are pouring our hearts and souls into this project and are so close to finishing construction. Our goal is to finish building by the end of the year, so we can have a soft opening of the Agri-camping before summer 2019.
We are also on a mission to save our olive trees. Xylella Fastidiosa has been a devastating desease that has taken over the Salento. But we are not giving up and are fighting to keep the trees and the powerful heritage that lies within the olive oil culture alive.
If you would like to support us on our journey and help us achieve our goals, we would love your support. How about sponsoring an olive tree?
Thank you from all of us at Agriturismo L’UPUPA