Italy: Former shelter in Torrita di Siena now home to vertical farm

Rome: A vertical farm lights up within the centuries-old walls of what was first a warehouse for the storage of raw materials and, during the Second World War, an air-raid shelter in Torrita of Siena, Italy.

Led by the Municipality of Torrita di Siena, the project aims to recover the tunnel that winds for 186 meters under the historic center with the installation of vertical growing walls and an itinerary that narrates the agricultural and social progress of the area.

Built by the Torrito engineer Matteo Benvenuti together with the Vertical Farm Italia group represents one of the few cases of underground ‘vertical farming.’ In the Torritese case, the products obtained will be destined for the municipal canteen.

The rest of the tunnel, adequately renovated, will also host a path dedicated to the transformation of the Torrito area, historically linked to agriculture, through the exhibition of artifacts, tools, and photographs.

The vertical farm and the entire Torrita di Siena tunnel, which can be accessed from an entrance just below Porta a Pago and from another diametrically opposite via Traversa Valdichiana Ovest, will be inaugurated on Friday 15 September at 6.30 pm, after which they will be open to residents, visitors, school groups, scholars and all those who want to discover a route in a historical place which, starting from the rural dimension, reaches innovative agricultural techniques.