Il Dolce Far Bene
La Dolce Vita, the sweet life. Il Dolce Far Niente, the art of doing nothing and enjoying it. For decades, if not centuries, Italy has revelled in the serendipitous position of incredible cultural heritage, gastronomic traditions and a coveted, relaxed lifestyle. Pellicano Hotels is rebooting La Dolce Vita for the modern traveller with Il Dolce Far Bene, a concerted lifestyle philosophy on sustainability thatreflects our ethos of honest luxury, considerate travel and well-thought wellness.
On Earth Day 2021, Il Dolce Far Bene launched with the support of sustainability consultancy Eco Age, pioneer of solutions and betterment through responsible business practices with Il Dolce Far Bene, redefining what la dolce vita means in the 21st century. Reflecting our innate ethos of honest luxury and Italian culture, Il Dolce far Bene has been carefully designed to create a more responsible way of travel, allowing our guests to not only immerse themselves in sustainable luxury and experience what ‘The Good Life’ truly means, but to also create a positive and enduring impact for our local communities and landscapes.
Fostering Considerate Travel
Italy is blessed in every sense and for all of the senses. Incredible raw beauty, rich cultural heritage and a flair for innovation that is never surprising. Il Pellicano, Mezzatorre and La Posta Vecchia reflect Italian passion, tradition and culture by showcasing to guests the amazing wonders of that can be found simply by looking in the proverbial backyard, and sharing with them an unforgettable taste of Italy. How can this get better? By continuing to promote and upgrade the singular goal of fostering slow and sustainable travel that contributes to local communities.
“The ethos of the Pellicano Hotels has always been different in terms of the kind of experience we want our guests to have,” says Marie Louise Scio. creative director and CEO of Pellicano Hotels. “With our sustainability journey we wanted to also ensure we are being responsible in every aspect of the business – not only in things such as sourcing locally or banning all single use plastic, but also prioritising the development of our employees in all aspects of “being sustainable” and making sure our impact on the local communities is as positive as possible. Our guests will become active part of “Dolce Far Bene” and we are really excited to be working with consultancy Eco-Age to help bring this vision to life.”
“I have known Marie Louise for a long time and am one of her biggest fans, alongside with the team at Il Pellicano, which is one of the best in the world,” adds Livia Firth, co-founder and creative director of Eco-Age. “I am so excited for this new chapter as we all embark on Il Dolce Far Bene – something that started out of a conversation on a beach and in a few months has already grown beyond a commitment to a full on program involving every single part of the hotel operations.”
Doing good for the planet and for the people
Over the years, Pellicano Hotels has implemented a range of sustainability initiatives to reduce the impact on the planet and people, including purchasing renewable energy, making food donations to Banco Alimentare, promoting local producers and providing dedicated employee training. Now Il Dolce Far Bene marks the next step in our sustainability journey, based on two key pillars: Far bene per il pianeta (Doing good for the planet) and Far bene per le persone (Doing good for people).
Il Dolce Far Bene is a 360 approach to sustainability that starts from within the hotels and expands to the territory and the overall experience. Take a look around, a beautiful hotel is the sum of the wellbeing of its employees, its guests and the hotel itself. Pellicano Hotels has implemented rigorous best practices for responsible energy and water usage as well as plastic waste reduction in order to protect the surrounding areas of natural beauty, as well as reduce impact. Employees as family, and with that in mind, personal and professional growth opportunities are being continually developed.
Il Dolce Far Bene brings the Pellicano Hotels to the beach in the ongoing partnership with biodiversity conservation group Marevivo, that focuses on protecting and conserving local coastline through a series of initiatives including beach cleaning and the adoption of three local beaches in the territories of the hotels.
From Country to Kitchen to Community
Did you know that 95% of food and beverage amenities at Il Pellicano come from local producers, farms and businesses? As part of the objective for more sustainable travel, Pellicano Hotels works to create authentic and immersive experiences by aligning with local producers, artisans, artists, guides and more. These cherished producers and artisans are invited into the hotel to showcase their excellences to our guests through weekly tastings and events.
It is no secret that Italy has the best food. Back in the kitchen, Pellicano Hotels chefs create menus that reflect the local territory and region by featuring local delicacies, recipes and culinary traditions from the area. Did you know that Italy also has bragging rights to deliciously tasty produce? Pellicano Hotels chefs take full advantage with No Meat Monday, avegetarian menu which reduces the carbon impact associated with meat products, as well as taking steps to protect animal welfare. Most importantly, our kitchen teams donate edible food waste to the local food banks “Banco Alimentare”.
“My father’s motto is “to be happily unsatisfied,” says Marie Louise. “We pay attention to the micro details and strive to find ways to improve. This to me also means extending the special way we welcome our guests to make them feel part of our new vision. Our approach is to create a dialogue between past and present, which leads us to Il Dolce Far Bene.”
Il Dolce Far Bene is a vision and commitment to preserving the unique beauty and traditions of our territories and regions for now and for future generations through sustainable and ethical practices.
