Local Research

Since our arrival in Venice, the team has been very excited to start work on our project!

We began by visiting farmlands on the islands of Sant'Erasmo and Lido within the Venetian lagoon. Our goal when visiting these islands was to see what the current state of farming in Venice looked like, in person. This allowed the team to visualize what current farming methods are in place in Venice and what could be completed on Giudecca. The islands were both uniquely different than the main islands within Venice, Sant'Erasmo largely being the main source for farming and Lido being a more sparse residential area.

During the remainder of the week, the team began digging deeper into our research on local produce to help determine which might be most suitable for SerenDPT to grow in the future. Additionally, we set up a meeting with a local farmer named Michele Savorgnano, who will be allowing us to tour his farm. Over the years, Michele has been trusted to grow produce for over 30 restaurants on the Venetian islands and has offered to assist us throughout our project. Both Michele and his wife are key parts to the overarching project going on at SerenDPT, as they intend to use our project as a way to develop educational courses for Venetians on local farming and hydroponics within the city.

With Michele's expertise as guidance, we plan on purchasing a farming system to begin researching with and we will also begin to grow seedlings for our farm over the course of the next week. Additionally, we hope to visit more islands in the lagoon to look for agriculture.