The selection of officinal herbs also depends on the characteristics of this area: the mountains around Upacchi are not rich in water. The houses are supplied by a network connected to a spring, and Eric can only water the fields from the continuous-flow rainwater tank. “In the summer, however, the tank does not refill easily; water is already scarce and I cannot water the herbs enough to revive them. It’s just a matter of ensuring they survive and hoping the rain will be back in autumn”, he underlines, in the hottest summer of the driest year in the millennium.

The search for cultures needing little water led Eric to try growing hemp and Damascus roses, together with a friend of his. The idea of hemp (“It’s a project I have developed with a friend, for which we have created a separate brand, Natupa”, he explains) came up during the ReStartApp course, when Eric met Michele Galeri and his project Officina Biomat. All experiments are also aimed at ensuring economic sustainability for the business: “I cannot grow fresh produce here, as I wouldn’t be able to sell it – I necessarily have to grow something I can dry”. Today, the team has expanded, joined by a young man working through the platform Workaway. “He helped me with the harvest, in spring”, says Eric. Now it’s time to mix the herbal teas. “Today, instead, I have to bag some herbal salt, would you like to join me?” he asks. In the meantime, he gets a phone call: some friends are helping him develop the new packaging – he needs to sit in front of a computer, albeit for a short time only – there are some mock-ups to review. He is Pontepietra, at 360 degrees.