Our projects

What we are doing now, and what comes next.

Every project below is small enough for one person to join and real enough to change something. Some are already running. Others are looking for the volunteers, partners and funding to begin.

Happening now

Three projects · 2026

Inside the Pre-Loved boutique in Gagliano del Capo, racks of second-hand clothing and accessories

Circular economy

Pre-Loved items, the vintage boutique

IIn April 2026, we opened our second-hand boutique, Chic & Vintage, at 38 Piazza Immacolata in Gagliano del Capo. The goal is to encourage people to consume in a more mindful way, reduce their waste, and support the local economy. The boutique also provides occupation for people with disabilities and the unemployed, who can develop skills and confidence through working on a meaningful project.

The shop accepts donations and consignment (members only) of clothing, homeware, small furniture and appliances. Every euro raised funds Alia Vita’s social and ecological work. We also collect furniture and personal belongings following the death of a loved one.

Open since April 2026
Where Piazza Immacolata 38, Gagliano del Capo
How to help Donate items, or volunteer in the shop

An Alia Vita pocket ashtray printed with the slogan Make waves, no waste

Biodiversity

"No butts, no waste, just nature"

Through summer 2026 and 2027 we are handing out 3,000 pocket ashtrays on beaches and in public places across Italy and Switzerland, so a cigarette butt has somewhere to go other than the sand.

A single butt pollutes around 500 litres of water. The filters release hundreds of chemicals that break down slowly, wash into the sea, and kill animals that swallow them. A pocket ashtray is a small object that stops all of that at the source.

Target 3,000 ashtrays distributed
Where Beaches and public places, Italy and Switzerland
When Summer 2026 and 2027

Rows of young olive saplings newly planted in red Puglian soil

Biodiversity

Sponsor a tree, a plant, a piece of land

We have rehabilitated two hectares of abandoned land and replanted 150 native olive and fruit trees. Replanting native species and bringing neglected land back into use is one of the most direct ways to repair an ecosystem, especially while Xylella fastidiosa continues to kill olive trees across the Mediterranean.

Sponsorship starts at €50 for one year and €200 for five. Every tree we plant and tend on your behalf is 15 to 18 months old, so it stands a better chance, and always a native variety. At €300 your tree carries a name plate and you share its harvest when you visit.

Done so far 2 hectares, 150 trees
From €50 per year
whenContact us

Comunità

Farm Days & Inclusion

We offer stays that connect you with nature, as well as educational afternoons in the countryside for children, adults and people with disabilities, to help them reconnect with nature and its cycles.We also help people with disabilities find their place in the world through nature-based activities, whether their disability is present from birth, develops with age, or results from an accident.

Photo: Emilie and her family (France) during a 3-day stay in our olive grove:“Alia Vita helped me and my family adopt sustainable practices and strengthen our connection with nature.”

Why the beaches matter

Operation “Protection of the Hawksbill Turtles.

In February, we took part in a turtle rescue operation in the Seychelles.Only one in ten thousand will reach the age of twenty. At that point, the females will return to the same beach to lay their eggs. Volunteers and the biodiversity conservation team are working to protect this endangered species.

Every cigarette butt and every sack of litter taken off these beaches is taken off a nesting site.

A loggerhead hatchling crossing the sand towards the sea — A new born on the coast.

Coming next

Looking for volunteers, partners and funding

Gloved hands collecting a plastic bottle into a jute sack on a country path

Biodiversity

Clean Days

A sweep of the town, the streets and the countryside, done together. We mobilise communities across Puglia for a single day of collecting what does not belong there: one morning, a pair of gloves, and a stretch of road that looks the way it should by lunchtime.

Volunteers and neighbours sharing a long table dinner outdoors at night

Community

Farm Days & inclusion

Educational afternoons on the land for children, adults and people with disabilities, to reconnect with biodiversity and the cycles it runs on. Alongside them we help people with a disability find a place, through work in the boutique or activities in nature, whether that disability came at birth, with age, or after an accident.

An open book and a cup of coffee on a dry stone wall under a vine, beside the olive trees

Mind & body

Digital detox

A few days in the Salento countryside with the screens switched off. Time, quiet and the outdoors, for people who want to find out what their attention feels like when nothing is competing for it.

Tomatoes, bread and olive oil on a rustic table in a Puglian farmhouse

Mind & body

Nutritional detox

Guided retreats of a few days to a week, led by our director Myriam Burri, nutritionist and naturopath. Seasonal local food, rest, and a way of eating you can keep after you go home.

2027 · International

GREENEYE

The first global contest and festival for circular economy and sustainability ideas, which we want to host here in Salento.

The plan is to bring initiatives from across the world to southern Italy for a few days: a competition for the ideas that cut environmental impact the most, and a festival around it. We are looking for the partners and sponsors who would help us build something on that scale.

Write to us about GREENEYE

Support these projects

None of this is funded by anyone but the people who choose to fund it.

A tree in the ground, a sack of litter off a beach, 3,000 pocket ashtrays printed: each one has a cost, and each one is paid for by an individual or a company deciding it is worth paying for.

Support our work Partner with us

info@aliavita.eu · +39 388 88 10 999