7 questions for Carlo Puri Negri, President of Terre di Sacra

Terre di Sacra, Capalbio 30 August 2022 Ecotourism in Tuscany, Family holiday in the country, Terre di Sacra Country Houses

Carlo Puri Negri, entrepreneur born in Genoa in love with Capalbio, is the President of Terre di Sacra. A huge 9000-hectare estate established in 1922, today not larger than 1000ha after the expropriation by Ente Maremma (1952’s Great Land Reform), it is the first Italian WWF Nature Reserve which welcomes visitors from all over the world in search of tranquility, silence and contact with nature. 

“Something special that never changes”

Question: what is so special about Terre di Sacra that cannot be found elsewhere?

Answer: Terre di Sacra has beauty, space, silence and a strong identity that is always the same yet constantly variable with the colors of seasons.

Q: How has Capalbio changed over the last 10 years?

A: Capalbio has not changed much, not to say at all. We have been able to preserve the taste of Maremma inhabiting the territory with quality without building or modifying the existing buildings.

Q: When you are at Terre di Sacra, how do you spend your time?

A: I spend part of my time at work and the rest of it with my family. According to the season, I horse ride, which is the best way to enjoy the estate. In summer, I go sailing and take care of the vegetable garden and the roses in the late afternoon.  

“A patient investment”

Q: Is Terre di Sacra an investment, a mission, a passion or else?

R: It is surely a passion, maybe a mission and certainly a ‘patient investment’

Q: In an article published by the New York Times a few years ago the author said that you cannot go to Capalbio without bumping into you. How long do you spend at Terre di Sacra and which is your favorite corner of the estate?

A: I did not know about the NYT’s article, I think they have overstated! It is true that I spend most of the weekends of the year here at Terre di Sacra, with the exception of wintertime. During the pandemic I have realized that I would love to spend here even longer periods of time.

“A step from the centenary”

Q: Terre di Sacra is an adventure started back in the 1920s that you and your family have been pursuing with a group of friends/investors. How is your relationship?

A: Many of the founders got lost along the way over the years. Heirs of two families, Resta Pallavicino and ours, are still here. Our children and those of the Resta family are the fourth generation and my grandchildren will be the fifth. The company is going to celebrate its centenary soon: there is absolute harmony between us all and generation after generation they have all fallen in love with Terre di Sacra easily.

Q: In the 1920s, the aim of the company was to ‘redeem the land to produce new resources’. What has remained today of this principle?

A: the spirit is the same, objectives change. The constant aim is to anticipate the events: we have been the first to reclaim the land, as you reminded, the first to establish a Nature Reserve in Italy, among the first to imagine a different kind of tourism that would be less aggressive and more respectful but also enjoyable and then the first to make it real. New resources but still from a wonderful territory.

We wish to thank Carlo Puri Negri for sharing his SPAZIO AMATO with us and for making us feel like visiting Maremma, Capalbio and Terre di Sacra.