SUSAFA, ECO RETREAT IN THE HEART OF SICILY
A journey in sustainability
Susafa’s green footprint
There are many small, everyday actions that we take, in collaboration with suppliers, staff and guests, that help us achieve our goal of protecting the environment, in-line with our business model that fully respects nature. At the same time, we aim to create a welcoming atmosphere by offering refined services representative of a boutique hotel, to provide an authentic, eco-friendly experience for your stay in Sicily.
Our leading practices, which concretely contribute to defining Susafa's Sustainability DNA, are:
- use of ecolabel laundry products in re-usable containers, distributed in re-usable bottles via automatic dispensers
- use of multipurpose dispensers
- drinking water for guests supplied in glass bottles only
- reducing packaged products, in favour of fresh products
- cultivation of fruit and vegetables on-site
- use of solar and photo-voltaic panels
- use of paper bags
- use of pens made with recycled paper
- use of glass or paper cups
- installation of a charging point for electric vehicles
- seasonal programmes focused on environmental education
- irrigation of the gardens entirely supported by rainwater
- no minibar in the rooms to reduce energy consumption and minimize the creation of waste from single-serve products
- "Let's Sow the Future" project in support of sustainable agriculture.
Biodiversity
Permanent commitment to care for the environment
PROMOTING THE REGION, OPPORTUNITIES FOR LOCAL PRODUCERS AND SMALL CRAFTWORKERS
Susafa is also a working farm, committed on several fronts to promote the region to which it belongs. This aspect includes positive efforts aimed both at natural cultivation and at raising awareness of the use of eco-sustainable materials; creating employment opportunities and collaborative actions to give preference to people living locally, by purchasing goods and services from local producers and also for general maintenance work, of both water and electrical systems.
As regards the restaurant services and the wine and food products, our priority is to ensure that the menu includes zero-km and plant-based ingredients. Susafa’s wine list favours wines from the Castellucci Miano and Tenute Tasca D'Almerita cellars, some 12 km from the hotel. The cheeses and dairy products as well as the meat come exclusively from nearby farms. (fish is served only on request).
Finally, Susafa organises activities to help guests understand in more detail the regional traditions and the old trades, taking part in demonstrations of cheese-making, or cookery classes to learn how to make traditional dishes, using zero-km products and gaining greater insight into the importance of the agri-food sector.
THE ARCHITECTURE: CONSERVATIVE RESTORATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND LOW IMPACT SERVICES
The area surrounding Susafa, an old farmhouse and now a modern eco retreat, has undergone a careful, conservative restoration intended to reduce its environmental impact as far as possible, both during the restructuring process and in the choice of fittings.
Susafa is a luxury boutique hotel in the Palermo countryside, where the work to restructure the buildings for hospitality is the outcome of an informed ecological choice, aimed at preserving the existing structure.
Susafa’s restaurant, for instance, was once an old granary; the rooms and suites have been recovered from what was once the stables or armoury, the dwellings of the bakers, the sharecroppers, the winemaker or the dairy master.
A natural, sealed coating material has been used for the baths, with natural, zero-impact wax coating; single-use products for courtesy sets removed and replaced by practical, eco-friendly dispensers. We suggest that guests re-use their towels and sheets to cut water and power wastage.
Photovoltaic panels are used for production of hot water and electricity, ensuring all-year-round energy autonomy. The air-conditioning equipment uses devices with energy-efficient certification
Hospitality and sustainability
At Susafa, we strongly believe that hospitality and sustainability can live side by side.
For this reason, we undertake to raise awareness and increase our insight of this subject.
Susafa offers a different kind of hospitality, a new vision of the hotel-keeping world, open to change while also providing luxury boutique hotel services, with design, modernity and comfort which also respect the environment.
In our small luxury hotel, for instance, surrounded by the Sicilian countryside, we chose not to include TV and minibar in the rooms. This is a considered, responsible position taken in order to reduce energy consumption and waste (e.g. the glass and plastic of drinks and snacks packaging), and to encourage activities and experiences in contact with nature.
Limiting the presence of some “traditional” services is a necessary feature of an eco retreat, in order to put into practice sustainable and responsible tourism.
Digital detox
discover nature's time
Susafa encourages its guests to enjoy the experience of being in direct contact with their surroundings, seeking, where possible, to limit the use of technology.
Reconnecting with nature's own rhythms, detoxing from the hectic life of the city, and enjoying the full benefits of the countryside provides a deep sense of a “digital detox”, at our small luxury hotel.
On the estate we organise many experiences and activities to help discover nature: visits to the kitchen garden, where the guests can find out more about the medicinal herbs and plants; picnics under the trees, aperitifs in the garden and the fields, walks, cookery lessons and regional wine tasting, massage, star-gazing, and more.
Take a regenerative journey through nature at Susafa, a break to breathe in the goodness all around.
Let's Sow the Future
“Let's Sow the Future” is a project which brings the unique value of the produce of the land directly to the homes of those who live in urban settings far from the countryside, using the adoption model.
Become a “modern farmer”
