An oasis of peace and relaxation between the Apuan Alps and the sea. In a silence of a rural idyll, not far from the lively and bustling centers of Pietrasanta and Marina di Pietrasanta. Silence broken only by the sounds of nature, the sounds of animals, some small tractors around the gardens and fields, the voices of men who work the land and take care of the plants, here the olive trees, there the orchards. An oasis that is not by chance called Paradis: it is the Paradis Agricole, creature and kingdom of Alain Cirelli, French of Savoy but of clear Italian origins, so much taste for nature and art, the Beautiful and the Good. An oasis that is both a farm and a shop of products of the land and livestock, and a refuge of serenity for the guests of the agriturismo, pampered in environments of rare comfort and spoiled by a surprising “country cuisine”.
“I was born in a hotel.” Fifty-eight years old, born in Chambery in Savoy, Alain Cirelli comes from a family with Lombard roots who fled for fear of fascism when his grandmother was pregnant with his father and took refuge in Modane, where his grandmother opened a bistro that offered “pasta and simple dishes.”
His father then moved to Chambery where he sold trucks, with his mother employed by the shipping giant Danzas. Then, at the beginning of the Seventies, the total change of pace and life: there was a lack of hotels on the road to the sea, so the Cirellis decided to open one, a country hotel with thirty rooms. But the real turning point in Alain’s life came in Paris: at 14-15 years old he was an apprentice at the three-starred Lasserre in Paris, where he had gone with his parents to celebrate his brother’s graduation from the École Nationale d’Administration, and when the maître asked him “do you need anything?”, Alain candidly replied “yes, I want to work here”. Thus began his career as a chef, which took him in 1992 to the Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, where he remained until 1998. “I worked,” he says, “with Carlo Cracco and then with Italo Bassi and Riccardo Monco. When we had a few free hours we came to Versilia, and I immediately felt a great taste between the sea and the mountains”.
Flavours, memories, sensations that he rediscovered 22 years ago with his partner Laurent, with whom – having established their permanent residence in the hills – he decided on a new life change. And so the Paradis Hotel in Pietrasanta was born and then the Paradis Agricole
Style in the name
They called it Paradis, and as soon as you arrive you understand why. The silence and the peace, we said. The scent of a thousand essences, the bucolic setting with the beautiful eighteenth-century farmhouse painted white and adorned with brick arches around doors and windows, and framed by olive trees, flowers, fruit trees, with the unmistakable creations – the large bronze hands, like in Monaco, in front of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo – of the Toulon artist Bernard Bezzina, immersed in the large garden designed by the famous landscape architect Jean Mus, also French but from Grasse, the world capital of perfume.
Easy, then, to call it Paradis, because “this is a paradise”, was the ecstatic comment of one of the first customers. They called it Paradis also because in Alain’s Parisian memories there is a Bistro Paradis in the Passage d’Enfer, and there is also a rue de Paradis, and the step towards Dante Alighieri is even obvious.
Exquisite hospitality
In short, everything smells of paradise, in and around the farmhouse that now houses the Paradis Agricole farmhouse. On the ground floor are the common areas: central, the beautiful dining table of great artisanal value, right in front of the open kitchen, the kingdom of Cristina Merli, the “country cook”, as she defines herself, capable of creating delicious dishes, with a decidedly vegetal imprint, using the farm’s products, from the land to the farms to the beehives, with the utmost respect for sustainability and seasonality: not to be missed are the cabbage soufflé on a bed of cauliflower, cheeses with various honeys, black cabbage and burrata, green fettuccine (dough with spinach) with lemon pesto and pine nuts, lemon chicken with aromatic herbs, local yogurt with honey and “home made” grains.
The room hosts dinners by reservation for up to 22 people, 70 with a dynamic formula. The first breakfasts for the guests (and also for the “packages” reserved for external customers in the pool: with sauna and lunch 110 euros, with the addition of the massage 190 euros) are served at shared seats around another beautiful table outside, surrounded by fruit trees where you can taste fruit directly from the plants.
On the sides of the dining room, a common area that is at the same time a games room (table football and billiards) and a reading room, and on the opposite side the beautiful bar area with large windows, armchairs and sofas, and a rich range of spirits, liqueurs but also natural cocktails.
On the upper floors – which once served as the family home and higher up as a granary and cured meats – the rooms. There are 7 of them on the two floors, and they all have names of flowers: water flowers those “lake side”, wild flowers those “mountain side”; only scented flowers instead for the rooms on the second floor. Other rooms are then arranged in two small houses in the garden: two in the Casa delle Erbe, one in the Mimosa. Each room has its own large private bathroom, furnished in elegant designer marble, and in each room you can notice the touch of the art lover, with the presence of some works.
The hospitality of Paradis Agricole continues in the large rooms of the steel and glass greenhouses, reminiscent of the large Tepidariums of various cities. An area that extends over 1100 square meters, with the large 700m2 plaster cast gallery and the small 400m2 one that function as an events area, for weddings and meetings such as car presentations or large-scale events: in 2024 it hosted Mercedes, Ferrari, Banca Mediolanum and a team of the Giro d’Italia). The ideal capacity reaches 450 people, those who organize can use a catering of their choice: the chef Carlo Cracco, present on various occasions, had a wooden floor installed to recreate “his” Milanese cuisine.
To follow and coordinate the events, the courtesy and professionalism of Lucia Gordesco with Virginia Di Lelio.
Flavors and scents: the land
In addition to the events, however, the greenhouse also functions as a… greenhouse. It is the heart of the farm, led by a team formed by Filippo Francesconi as the agricultural “entrepreneur”, Fabio Cima as horticultural manager, Stefano Micheli as olive grower, with 9 workers in the summer and 7 in the winter; the agronomist who supervises the operation of the company is Alessandro Marino Merlo.
Certified organic like the entire company, the large greenhouse, 4 thousand square meters of vegetable garden, is automated for thermoregulation with a system of insulated sheets and with mechanized ceilings controlled by an electronic control unit.
Between 57 and 65 types of vegetables are grown inside, in rotation to respect the dictates of organic farming, without the use of sulfur or copper but not even invasive machines. There are legumes, courgettes, tomatoes, cruciferous vegetables (various types of cabbage, broccoli, turnip tops, radishes), pumpkins, 7 varieties of tomatoes, chard, celery, aubergines, peppers, basil, friggitelli, salads, spinach, and finally two rows of strawberries. The “hunchback” cardoons, on the other hand, are grown and harvested in the field, outdoors, where the garlic is also grown in singular crates.
In the greenhouse they are also working on an experiment on the Pietrasanta Cedrato Lemon (or Cedar), a citrus fruit introduced in the Medici gardens in 1600 that they are trying to replant here. Then, outside the orchard expands with apple, pear, cherry, kiwi, orange, fig and apricot trees from which the fruit is drawn for the restaurant. Or rather, for the restaurants: the one at the agriturismo, and the Paradis in the centre of Pietrasanta.
Outdoor animals
At Paradis Agricole, there is breeding. There are about 200 chickens, for eggs and meat, including American Amrocks chickens with their characteristic black and white barred plumage; they are particularly well cared for, the chicken coop is like a real home, they have an automatic watering trough and garlic is dissolved in the water to protect the animals from possible intestinal problems. Then there are turkeys, sheep, rabbits of various breeds, also very beautiful to look at; there are 4 pigs, which naturally arrive small and are renewed every year.
Then there are the bees, in the 9 hectares of Paradis and in other areas where the company owns olive groves and land, up to the hills of Capriglia. The hives are cared for in collaboration with the beekeeper Sandro Gori of Magie della Natura in the town of Stiava: another interesting feature of Paradis is this form of synergy with local companies, so in the all-wood shop, built and perfectly furnished in country style, accessible from Via Pisanica, 99 not far from the exit on Via Bugneta (from here guests with rental bikes can go pedaling towards the sea or towards Pietrasanta, which is just two kilometers away) many delicious products are sold.
There is helichrysum beach honey from Vecchiano, eucalyptus honey from Massaciuccoli, naturally dried pollen, royal jelly and then jams, vegetable creams (always strictly seasonal), various sauces and pâtés made in Seravezza by Il Sogno Verde.
The oil produced by Paradis Agricole is also available in the shop. On average, it produces around 220 quintals each year, from the classic Tuscan olive varieties – Frantoio, Moraiolo, Leccino and Pendolino – but also from the typical local olive, the Quercetana, native to the area between Forte dei Marmi and Seravezza, which makes up over 30 percent of the plants (even centuries-old ones) in the plots in the Capriglia-Capezzano Monte area, a late variety that is appreciated for its richness in polyphenols, low acidity and resistance to the olive fly by virtue of a smaller and harder fruit, and therefore less susceptible to attack by the insect.
Oils that are used in the company’s restaurants, but also sold in separate packages in the shop: 250 cl cans up to a liter. Then there is the half-liter bottle for 20 euros, up to the singular particularity of the large formats for the oil produced according to the Toscano Igp specifications. Large formats, also suitable for a special and rare Christmas gift: the one and a half litre magnum and the 3 litre Jéroboam which costs 150 euros with its beautiful wooden case.
Sustainability
Paradis Agricole is firmly aiming for the goal of “carbon free”, with its 30 kilowatt-hour photovoltaic panels, and water self-sufficiency with its two 300-liter-per-minute wells. But sustainability is still a basic concept in the management of the company, in relation to the land as well as to work. It means, explains agronomist Alessandro Marino Merlo, “fully organic with a further step, the peculiarity of a work group in which everyone knows everything, each with their own dignity as a worker who does their part”.
And this is reflected in every operation, he continues, “they may seem like subtleties, but how much carbon is saved by cutting the grass but without lighting fires? Here is the saving of carbon dioxide in the air, with 70% that must come from bacterial colonies”. And so, he adds, “there is a ‘daimon’ to be grasped in the event in which to tell how one works, where cultivating means managing the environment, and in agritourism eleven liters of water are used for a shower, and so the waste water towards the sea is better”.
And to complete these concepts, Paradis Agricole also raises three donkeys: “entry” protagonists of a model of educational farm that is being established in collaboration with the technical schools of Versilia.
