San Flaviano Monastery Responsible Travel Policy

Mission Statement

San Flaviano Monastery is here to provide safe, nurturing and a natural environment for spiritual growth and fellowship. We are here to facilitate an enjoyable retreat and spiritual living experience for all participants.

Our aim is to help tourism in this farming community to grow and become sustainable for the long term - we know that tourism can have both an exceptionally positive and potentially negative impact on local communities. We are therefore committed to operating according to responsible travel guidelines and we hope that with your help we can make a difference.

San Flaviano Monastery aims to:

Limit our impact on the environment in several ways. At the monastery and when out on tours, we aim to preserve and protect delicate ecosystems, wildlife and natural habitats by following strict rules that minimise the effects of our presence in an area. Our groups are small and limited to 12 people maximum. We also reduce waste and pollution and recycle, repair and reuse what we can, both on tour and at our premises.

Make a difference

Over the last 12 years, San Flaviano's owners Tess & Kevin Hunneybell have led and supported many different community-led projects around the world, with the goal of ensuring that the money made from their business in a region goes directly to those most in need, in order to make a lasting difference the local communities. For example, in Mexico they worked with a small fishing village to develop an off grid tourist beach community bringing water, roads, jobs and a growing economic future. They then went on to build the award winning Eco tree house resort Manicou River brining eco architectural design that was easily reproduced using all natural local materials and training a team of 10 local builders. In both cases, proceeds from these enterprises went directly to education including setting up small beach tourism fed businesses in Mexico, a training course for second chance Caribbean teens and creating regular incomes for newly trained workers in very low employment areas.

Tess & Kevin have recently spent two years renovating San Flaviano Monastery after years of neglect and earthquake damage. The surrounding villages of Piaggia, Renaro, Civitella, Mevale and the once devastated town of Sellano were also flattened in the '97 earthquake loosing 98% of their inhabitants. During the last 20 years with EU funding these villages have been rebuilt and the original families would like to return to their homes but there is no work now in this rural area. Using their many years of experience successfully promoting unknown areas of outstanding beauty they are now working with the local community to create a sustainable tourist industry to regenerate this area.

San Flaviano has been the spiritual heart of the mountain village of Piaggia since the 10C as the catholic church and centuries before as a place of worship for Sybil the Oracle from the temple of Apollo. It has seen many generations of life and celebrations of birth, marriage and was also the local crypt up until 1972. Since our recent renovation it has again become our village meeting place along with welcoming new guests. Again the village will celebrate it's yearly Sagra (village feast) with local foods, wines, music and dancing well into the full moon nights.

San Flaviano will be hosting retreats and events all summer bringing tourists to this forgotten village. This is already generating plans for a new B&B (as overflow for our retreat if needed) and a restaurant plus giving employment and training to 4 locals in a high unemployment area. We hire a minibus to reduce the need for cars. We offer excursions to the surrounding countryside, villages and towns to events while encouraging our guests to eat, drink and buy local.

Support the local economy

We ensure that local economies benefit from our business by using locally-owned accommodation when we are full, employing local people as cooks, gardeners, facilitators, specialist guides, working with local operators and suppliers, sourcing food from local farms and locally-owned stores and eating and drinking in local bars and restaurants. In doing so, we are not only investing in local communities but also offering our guests a genuine insight into the country and its people.

Local food and restaurants

As well as providing clients with a more authentic experience of local cuisine and culture, this supports local businesses and maintain their traditions in terms of cuisine and cooking methods. The meals provided on site aims to be high-quality fresh organic (when possible) food from local markets and local farm gardens. Our commitment to supporting local businesses means that these companies continue to prosper and develop their products and services. When on tours we encourage clients to eat at locally-owned restaurants rather than global multinational companies which they’re familiar with at home.

Local excursions and adventure activities

Optional excursions are often an exciting part of a holiday while staying at San Flaviano. We look for activities which will suit our clients’ varied tastes and budgets, while supporting local operators and putting money back into local economies.

Reduce carbon emissions

We ensure that our tours have a minimal impact on the environment by travelling in our minibus (Euro IV emissions-compliant, which means that the manufacturers conform to strict emission control standards in order to make the vehicles' engines run more cleanly and efficiently). We also offer our clients the opportunity to offset a portion of their share of the carbon emissions of their tour by making a donation to the World Land Trust, with San Flaviano contributing an extra 10% of our clients' donation.

Promote animal welfare

We are situated in an alpine valley that is home to farms, public walking trails, wild flowers and animals including wild boar, dear, porcupine, wolf, birds, stoat, rabbit, hare and weasel. All are welcome in and around our grounds as many feed in our truffle reserve and on the acorns from our oak forest. The exterior rafters are nesting areas for birds and we house wild bees in the walls of the church.

We do not block feeding & migrating routes with fences and do not use outside lighting outside of candles or noise pollution so as not to upset night time feeding wildlife. Many of our tours include opportunities to view local wildlife within our alpine valley and in The Monti Sibillini National Park or at dedicated conservation centres.

Onsite Practices

We operate San Flaviano Monastery in a safe, comfortable and sustainable way.

  • Turn off the lights when leaving a room
  • Appliances should be turned off and plugs pulled out of sockets rather than left on standby, which uses electricity
  • Consider taking a short shower once daily rather than a bath
  • Turn the tap off while brushing teeth or shaving and put a plug in the basin at other times to reduce water use and wastage
  • Reconsider whether they need new towels every day and let the us know if they would prefer to reuse their towels – this would reduce water used and reduce the amount of Eco detergents in the waste water which ends up in the sewer system / water ways / ocean
  • We offer a daily free wash of dark and light coloured articles. It is a mixed wash that will be sun dried as we refuse to own an electric dryer. This discourages individuals doing small holiday washes.
  • Recycle cans, paper and plastics in the facilities available in our village.
  • We supply each guest with a refillable metal water bottle on arrival and have fresh water drinking fountains marked on all walking maps therefore eliminating the need to buy bottled water.
  • We are committed to recycling 100% of our used paper and cardboard
  • We store most data electronically rather than on paper printouts or print documents or emails unnecessarily
  • Clients and agents can book online – paper booking forms are not required
  • We purchase stationery, toilet paper and paper towels made of recycled materials wherever possible
  • All appliances are A+ energy efficient
  • No dryer. No microwave. Iron available only on request.
  • New bespoke heating Eco pellet system added in 2014
  • Fresh mountain spring water throughout the whole property
  • Kitchen – we use pottery, glass, wood, stone & metal. No plastic.
  • We turn off all appliances overnight (except necessary servers)
Staff Education
  • San Flaviano Monastery Responsible Travel policy is included in induction materials for new staff
  • All staff are made aware of the reason for recycling and are asked to recycle all waste paper, cardboard, cans and plastics
  • Staff are reminded to turn off computers and appliances, heating and lights at night

When we are developing and planning new itineraries our destination managers are careful to ensure that our tours will provide maximum opportunities to engage with the local people and natural environment, so that local economies benefit directly from our business and our travellers gain a genuine insight into region and its people. Our experience is guests enjoy this aspect of their stay immensely.