Bepi Povia, a farmer and designer, would be the ideal speaker for a master’s program on sustainability. He possesses a clear vision of authentic sustainability, unburdened by market trends. His approach is built on rigorous principles, yet with the right skills and tools, he consistently surprises, applying himself with equal effectiveness to both economic projects and luxury resorts. From Puglia to London, via Milan, he has forged partnerships to integrate his work with specific and indispensable expertise. His deep love for his homeland, Puglia, served as the starting point for designing even in distant places. Yet, he always remains anchored by firm principles rooted at home, where he regularly returns to remember his (many) roots and revisit the lessons of the land.
I read the presentation of the farm and there is this dominant aspect linked to sustainability and the territory, now you tell me that you are becoming a partner in an international firm that perhaps has little to do with farms. London does not have the same characteristics as Milan.
It’s very simple. In reality, it’s about creating… neither of us took the first step. Davide Padua, CEO of Design International in London, and I met seven years ago in Puglia, where he has a beautiful house, and I gave him some advice. He also fell in love with my persona, half farmer and half designer, and now we are formal partners. The most important thing, however, is to understand that today any international firm needs to immerse itself in an ethical and local projection of the project.
Perhaps everyone needs local experts?
Yes, certainly, because ultimately the project has to be implemented in reality. The collaboration with Design International took on greater significance when, several years ago, some international investors (developers and real estate agents) whom I was already working with expressed a strong interest in investing in hospitality in Puglia, and I wanted and needed to ask Davide Padoa for structured and organised project support like that provided by Design International. The project – Masseria AuraTerrae in Polignano, inaugurated in 2023 – has become a totally Apulian reality. The whole concept has a local spirit and reflects my philosophy, but there is an expert hand at work. All the technology for the farm is located under the swimming pool in a four-storey underground tower that contains the rainwater cisterns, the systems for the entire complex, the entire green management section (24 hectares of agricultural park) and, of course, the swimming pool. There is an award-winning photograph showing a ziggurat of dry stone walls covering the underground system together with Maja-style stepped constructions. Masseria AuraTerrae is a concrete example of how even major interventions can be designed for a building which, despite originally being an old irrigation cistern, is located in an area completely restricted by the superintendency, with hydrogeological and agricultural restrictions, where nothing could be built. The farmhouse project was a continuous osmosis of expertise, engineering and technology combined with a project with a precise and local philosophy that kept everything standing without touching the territory, and this convinced the Superintendency.
You often deal with developers and investors, I believe…
Yes, absolutely, and have done for a long time. In Colombia, for example, we are currently developing a hospitality project for a major investor whom I cannot name for obvious privacy reasons. I almost always work at the top level: there is a real estate company, there is a developer, then the operator is chosen, a contract is drawn up and, if it works, everyone is happy. In this case, the developer is a large American company linked to a fund. But then names only matter to a certain extent. In my context, substance matters, then names, if they can be mentioned, and if not, it’s not a problem. In the preliminary stages, when nothing has been signed yet, it is understandable that there is maximum confidentiality. Certain projects – and
A colleague of yours told me that sustainability in design is a commodity. What do you think?
My point of view is that yes, it is true, it is a commodity in all respects, so much so that everyone talks about it as if it were gas or electricity. But what does this mean? If today we have to design a 5-star resort in Colombia that may become a 7-star resort, we are dealing with a reality where nature is unspoilt. What is the essential and fundamental element for this resort to be successful? I have been saying this for some years now: to create a project that looks at the roots of the place and those who live there, we need to be more like psychologists and anthropologists, entering the territory and creating architecture that does not add elements but subtracts them. Being sustainable in that place means not cutting down a million cubic metres of wood. The question is: can that territory today assimilate an ecological footprint made of concrete (because that is the material we have today)? Concrete is not the only technology; we are working in other directions. In the specific case of this project, we are working with those giant pantographs that work with CAD CAM, i.e. they build houses, and the architecture is designed using materials that come from the area, naturally mixed with aggregates that are not found there but are necessary and, in any case, natural and therefore sustainable. Sustainability becomes the fundamental element, perhaps hidden, but it exists and is concrete. What we (and almost everyone) offer in resorts is the experience, the point where the traveller and the place meet and create the two parts of a heart, but if you offer a concrete giant in the middle of the jungle, guests will rightly leave.
In your opinion, should buildings of this type have their own sustainability report, as some companies do?
Absolutely yes, and it should be communicated in a correct and understandable way. We already work with the Itaca protocol, which is obviously a national protocol, but in Puglia it is gaining even more followers than one might imagine. The Itaca protocol uses SWOT analysis (SWOT analysis is a strategic tool that evaluates the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) of a company, project or person, to support strategic planning and decision-making) to understand how much we are contributing and how much we are taking away, and this is already a first step. it would be enough to explain it clearly and simply, without technical jargon and vague wording, and I think that when our users arrive at a resort built with these invisible principles in mind, they will understand how much we have taken from nature and how much we are giving back to nature. And marketing would have a healthy and honest product to promote. From the point of view of European certification, there is the SFC, an organisation that monitors the timber supply chain. It has a protocol that I believe to be effective, but it seems to me that it is not very well known.
What is your relationship with the suppliers you inevitably need?
Wonderful. Design is fundamental for me. Let’s take Talenti as an example. I have a personal relationship with the owners, who are people who understand that design is important and have chosen talented designers, which is a fundamental element. For all the other furnishings, in the vast majority of cases, everything is custom-made because when we talk about historic architecture, unless we want to do a groundbreaking project, I use local craftsmanship.
Are there any designers and planners today that you like and follow with interest?
Honestly, I like almost all of them because I like design, I admire it, I look at it, but at the same time I feel connected to them, in the sense that ultimately I understand that my nature, my character, is completely tied to this land. Even when I talk about wine, I talk about the material I make, about how I drive a tractor, things that have nothing to do with that world.
