Italy’s Alpaca paradise

Agriturismos are a staple of the Italian countryside – farmhouses offering visitors a variety of nature activities, a bed or campground, and a meal cooked from local produce. But there are few that offer quite as fluffy an attraction as Vita da Pacos in the countryside of the Marche region.

The fluffy inhabitants come in different colours, shapes and sizes: One short, white and snowball like, another one tall and brown, with a trendy fringe befitting an indie-rock musician. In this rural area near the Adriatic coast, they stand out and yet fit perfectly.

“Alpacas are community-minded and empathetic, and they can completely turn the tables on people afraid of animals,” says Elisa Bilancioni, who started the biopark in Fano together with her husband Matteo two years ago. “They’ve got these inquisitive big eyes and super-soft fur, and their teeth are comically big – people are just naturally drawn to them.”

They let you approach them, she says, but only if you are calm and respectful – which is exactly the energy they try to instil in the whole project that brings together nature lovers, artists and even psychologists around activities that are meant to nurture the soul, environment and local community.

“We were looking for a way to live simply, connected to nature,” recalls Matteo Ceccarelli about the family’s decision to start Vita da Pacos, which they call a “social bio park”. “But above all, we wanted to transmit to people, starting from childhood, the right relationship between living beings.”

“Often, humans consider themselves above the environment and use it only for their own interests, without regard for sustainability,” he explains. “Here, we teach care and how we’re all connected.”

Visitors can join the family for lunch made from home-grown, seasonal products, take a bee-keeping course or sign their children up to learn about ecology or nature painting from one of the many community volunteers – and of course, cuddle an alpaca. “The idea behind the park and the community we’ve built is that it brings change to people’s daily routines,” says Elisa. “We want it to be regenerative for nature and for people.”