Riccardo is, of course, in charge of the inspections, which he carries out during the second tour of the year, when he visits the sites and dismantles the tents at the end of the season. “I inspect the sites, read the reviews on Booking, and check the performance of our Instagram account. My ideal location is a well-established, possibly family-run holiday farm in a scenic location and boasting some unique features like, in this case, the lavender garden”, he outlines. Instagram is also the social network he is using to grow his project. In mid-September, for example, he used a post to promote a call for new tents, Adotta una Tipì 2024 (Adopt a Tipì 2024). The message is: “From mountain refuges to 18th-century villas, every place is ideal for a Tipì’. He enthusiastically describes all the facilities he has partnered with: from Rifugio Antonioli, on Passo del Mortirolo (“it can only be reached on foot”) to the holiday home near Capo di Leuca, a stone building typical of Salento.
The Instagram account is a formidable tool for Riccardo: in two years he has reached over 40,000 followers and it is the customers themselves, through their photos, that are strengthening his brand, which is becoming increasingly recognisable and – therefore – inimitable. “Most of our guests are couples, staying for one night and essentially treating themselves to ‘a gift’. In addition to the overnight stay, I also work with the hosting facilities to organise several activities, ranging from ‘tent-service’ for dinner to cocktails, horse riding or hiking in the area. Oftentimes, the presence of the tent itself works as a flywheel for the host’s standard activities.

The business model Riccardo is describing leaves room for human relationships: “Every season I secure a few facilities that are bound to be successful, because there are areas, like Tuscany, that are very popular among tourists, and then I choose 2 or 3 projects to ‘invest’ in: whenever I meet people I instinctively bond with, I’m ready to take a risk”. As an example, he mentions Fattoria dei Sibillini, in Montemonaco (Ascoli Piceno), a farm run by two brothers together with their grandmother under Mount Vettore, in the area hit by the 2016 earthquakes. “They have done very well, even though the Marche region is a challenging area, where tourism is still struggling to take off”.