Courses & Workshops
TRAVELLING TOWARDS THE TRANSITION
Theoretical and practical courses to prepare for the transition.
From March to June the Torri Superiore Ecovillage is holding a series of courses oriented around the goal of creating a world which uses much less fossil fuels and has a greatly reduced environmental impact.
We wish to learn and to teach how to consume less and how to do it in a responsible way, how to develop the local economy and to make a commitment to increase our well being and joie di vivre: in short, we would like to make concrete steps towards the Decrescita Felice (sustainable contraction), following the positive example of the Transition Town movement.
The program “Travelling Towards the Transition” is part of the project "The transition journey - Sustainability to Touch" financed by the "GRUNDVIG - Lifelong Learning Programme" of the European Union.
All prices include the course, related materials and full pension for the days of the course (from the evening before to the lunch of the last day) in shared rooms. The prices in brackets are for those who live nearby and wish to come to the course but not stay at Torri Superiore, and include the course, reference materials and lunch each day.
Please notice: all courses will be held in Italian.
To look at the Terms and Conditions click here.
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4 / 7 MARCH
- Animal Traction – working with donkeys, with Marco Spinello 20 / 21 MARCH
- Introduction to traditional techniques for making felt with water and soap, with Gaia (Gaia di Lana) 17 / 18 APRIL
- Home beer brewing - the basics, with Katjia Mirri 8 / 9 MAY
- Home production of natural soap and creams, with Lucilla Borio 22 / 23 MAY
- Introduction to biodynamic gardening, with con Stefano Cattapan 4 / 6 JUNE
- Building floors with clay, with Stefano Soldati 30 MAY / 13 JUNE
- Permaculture Design - 72 hour certificate course, with Massimo Candela, Stefano Soldati and Fabio Pinzi 14 / 19 JUNE
- Permaculture in practice, with Massimo Candela and Daniel Von Düffel 19 / 20 JUNE
- Introduction to Biochar, with Nathaniel Mulcahy
4 / 7 MARCH
Animal Traction – working with donkeys
With Marco Spinello
Euro 250 (without accommodation Euro 160)
Learn the basics of working with donkeys, from how to take care of them to carrying loads, ploughing and doing other agricultural work.
The course includes: general care of donkeys; training donkeys for work; agricultural implements for donkeys from the Association Prommata (plough, harness, spring tooth plow, harrow, pack saddle and more); agronomy and the application of ecological farming with donkeys; transport of loads with pack saddle.
Practical work in the gardens, special techniques for loading wood.
Marco Spinello
Marco Spinello from "La Masca" (goat and dairy farm) has been working with donkeys for many years and is the representative in Italy of Asinoi (Asti) and PROMMATA (http://www.prommata.org/index.php), a French organisation which promotes animal traction and produces tools such as ploughs for donkeys and horses. Marco will be helped by Simon Clissold, a resident of Torri Superiore who has been working there for the last 2 years with his donkeys.
The course will be held over 4 days, from Thursday the 4th to Sunday the 7st of March, and is open to a maximum of 12 participants.
20 / 21 MARCH
Introduction to traditional techniques for making felt with water and soap
A journey from carded wool to creating objects for everyday use.
With Gaia
Euro 210 (without accommodation Euro 140)
Introduction to what is felt, the history, myths and legends relating to it, the situation in Italy of wool production; familiarisation with the material; see and touch dirty wool, clean wool, wool cleaned and carded and begin to familiarise ourselves with felt. After the first attempts at making felt from wool we will make a simple object such as a plate mat or a little rug and finally an object in 3 dimension such as a bag or slippers.
Gaia (Gaia di Lana)
Her little felt workshop in the mountains of Alto Verbano is where Gaia follows her personal passion to rediscover ancient crafts and makes a small contribution to the construction of another perspective on the knowledge of traditional skills. After a career as an information technician, Gaia chose to dedicate herself full time to the revaluation of a material completely forgotten. She chose to work with felt attracted by its versatility and by the magic of its long history. She follows the entire process of making felt products, from selecting the wool from shepherds of Verbano, to the washing, carding and making the final product. For more info: www.gaiadilana.com
The course will be held over 2 days, from Saturday the 20th to Sunday the 21st of March, and is open to a maximum of 10 participants.
17 / 18 APRILHome beer brewing - the basics
With Katja Mirri
Euro 200 (without accommodation Euro 130)
Learn the basics of brewing beer at home, from the equipment needed, the ingredients, how to brew it and how to bottle and store it. After tasting several kinds of home brews, we will study the theory of basic and advanced mathods; how to store and keep the bottles.
The course will end with the tasting of local beers produced in small breweries.
Katja Mirri
Katja began making beer 6 years ago as a hobby. She began with a kit and moved on to full grain brewing. She then completed the Master in Beer at CERB (Centre for excellence in the research on beer) in Perugia and completed a long apprenticeship at the microbrewery of Le Baladin di Farigliano (CN).
The course will be held over 2 days, from Saturday the 17th to Sunday the 18th of April, and is open to a maximum of 12 participants.
8 / 9 MAY
Home production of natural soap and creams
With Lucilla Borio
Cost Euro 210 (without accommodation Euro 140)
The ecological, ethical and economic reasons for home production of natural creams and soaps: information on the basic ingredients, in particular vegetable oils. Soaps: technical explanation, security measures, how to create balanced recipes, how to calculate the lye: production of 3 different soaps using the cold-process method (CP).
Creams: technical explanation, discussion about the ingredients. Preparation of 3 different creams (hand, body and face) and a tonic or an aftershave crème. The participants will take home the products they produce during the course.
Lucilla Borio
Founding member of Torri Superiore Cultural Association and resident of the Ecovillage, since 2002 she has conducted a personal research, theory and practice, on the domestic preparation of personal hygiene products. She collaborates regularly with the Scuola di Pratiche Sostenibili di San Giuliano Milanese, where for many years she has been running courses on the home production of cream and soap.
The course will be held over 2 days, from Saturday the 8th to Sunday the 9th of May, and is open to a maximum of 8 participants.
22 / 23 MAY
Introduction to biodynamic gardening
With Stefano Cattapan
Euro 200 (without accommodation Euro 130)
Learn the basics of biodynamics and how it is applied to gardens and orchards. From the origins of biodynamic agriculture (Steiner and anthroposphy) to its development in modern day agriculture, with all related environmental problems (pollution, pesticides, health hazards).
The course will cover the management of organic matter in the soil, what is a truly fertile soil, the world of microorganisms in the soil, the influence of various forces (physical, astral, spiritual etc) according to anthroposophy, green manures and how to use them, the preparation of biodynamic preparations 500 and 501, the management of insect and parasite problems, the biodynamic calendar, the making of herbal teas (using stinging nettle, horsetail, etc), sensitive crystallization and other methods of studying the quality of food.
Stefano Cattapan
Graduated in natural science, Stefano is a scientific consultant of the Botanical Garden and natural oasis of Villarey di Prascorsano (TO), and is a technical inspector for Bios Srl. He is shortly about to take the exam to become a technical inspector for Agribiodynamic in biodynamic agriculture.
The course will be held over 2 days, from Saturday the 22nd to Sunday the 23rd of May and is open to a maximum of 12 participants.
4 / 6 JUNE
Building floors with clay
With Stefano Soldati
Euro 350 (without accommodation Euro 250)
Clay is an incredible material unfortunalty very much undervalued today.
Floors made with clay are simple to make, easy to clean, durable and beautiful. The use of natural materials garantees a healthy and confortable living space. A floor warm in winter and cool in summer also contributes to the livability of the house. During this course we will learn what the caracteristics of clay are and will make a small floor from start to finish.
Stefano Soldati
For over 20 years Stefano has been working in organic agriculture. For 17 years he has been travelling the world studying and teaching organic agriculture and the management of organic farms. He was one of the first Italians to receive a diploma in Permaculture and quickly became a teacher and tutor of it. He studied straw bale building in the UK with Barbara Jones and specialized in building with clay at the FAL e.V. centre in Ganzlin Germany. Each year Stefano holds many courses both in Italy and abroad.
The course will be held over 3 days from Friday the 4th to Sunday the 6th of June and is limited to 10 participants.
30 MAY / 13 JUNE
Permaculture Design
72 Hour certificate course
With Massimo Candela, Stefano Soldati and Fabio Pinzi
Euro 760
Returning to Torri Superiore after 6 years is the Permaculture Design - 72 certificate course. Permaculture has been defined as applied ecology. It is the planning of sustainable human habitats and covers many diverse themes: land, climate, wildlife, agricultural production, creation of a sustainable economy, the built environment and more.
Permaculture has as its basis the observance of nature as the guiding principle to creating a permanent culture. It is also a philosophical model that can be applied in our everyday life, that asks us to begin the change starting from now.
The 72 hour module is the standard course recognised by all the International Permaculture Academies. Upon its completion, those interested can continue their studies with the Accademia Italiana di Permacultura (www.permacultura.it) to finally achieve the Diploma in Applied Permaculture, which takes around 2 years to complete.
Massimo Candela
Massimo is a resident of the Ecovillage of Torri Superiore and in 2000 was one of the first organizers of the 72 hour module course in Italy.
In 2003 he was one of the first in Italy to complete the Diploma of Permaculture (received from the British Permaculture Academy). Since 1990 he has participated in the rebuilding of the Ecovillage of Torri Superiore and today divides his time between running the guesthouse at Torri and farming.
The course will be held over 14 days, from Sunday the 30th of May until Sunday the 13th of June and is open to a maximum of 15 participants (minimum 8).
14 / 19 JUNE
Practical Permaculture
With Massimo Candela, Daniel Von Düffel and other residents of the Ecovillage
Euro 250
Learn how Permaculture is put into practice at the Ecovillage of Torri Superiore. Some of the activities will include: learning to make cheese and beer, animal traction with donkeys, the integration of animals with vegetable gardens and orchards and more. The course will be run by various members of the ecovillage with diverse experience in agriculture, working with animals, natural building and creating a community. The program is flexible and will depend on the interests of the group.
More details are available by email upon request.
The course will run for 5 days from Monday the 14th to Saturday the 19th of June and is open to a maximum of 6 participants.
19 / 20 JUNE
Introduction to Biochar
With Nathaniel Mulcahy
Euro 200 (without accommodation Euro 130)
Learn the basics of Biochar production and the use of Biochar from Nathaniel Mulcahy founder of World Stoves (http://worldstove.com) who produce a vast range of stoves to make Biochar. Biochar not only fixes carbon from the atmosphere and therefore helps to mitigate the effects of climate change but also is a fertilizer and a very good material for water retention in soil. Biochar offers many opportunities for small scale farmers in Italy and during the course we will cover in particular the use of Biochar in vegetable gardens and olive groves.
The photo is courtesy of www.biochar.net.
Nathaniel Mulcahy
For years Nathaniel has lived in Tortona where he invented, among other things, the LuciaStove that burns 300 gms of biomass for every 100 grams of Biochar produced. Thousands of LuciaStove’s are already in operation in diverse countries such as Uganda, Indonesia, Zaire, Cameroon, Malaysia, Mongolia and the Ivory Coast.
The course will be held over 2 days from Saturday the 19th to Sunday the 20th of June and is open to a maximum of 12 participants.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
- The application must be made using the module that will be e-mailed upon request.
- A deposit of 50% is required upon booking.
- In the case of cancellation you will be reimbursed 70% of the deposit up until 21 days before the course, 30% 10 days before the course following which there will be no refund for cancelation.
- The course will be held with a minimum of 6 participants.
- The advertised price is for a shared room with all meals included; for a private room without en-suite bathroom (if available) there is a 15 Euro/day surcharge and with en-suite bathroom 20 Euro/day.
- The cost of the course includes all necessary material.
- The lessons will be held from 9-1 in the morning and from 3 to 6 in the evening with a lunch brake from 1-3. The hours of the final afternoon of each course will be variable depending on the participants.
- We ask that all participants bring their own bath towels.
- For more information or special needs (single room, extra nights, etc.) please contact the office: info@torri-superiore.org.
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Bring your group to Torri Superiore
Our village is also ideal for small groups (of up to 18 people) for self-organised courses or for trekking programmes. Special tariffs are available. If you are interested in bringing your group here, please contact info@torri-superiore.org, or call us on +39 0184 215504.
