San Carlo Estate

Organic Farm – Grosseto, Maremma, Tuscany

From our family to yours: four generations listening to the land in the wild heart of Maremma.

An out of the ordinary place

There are farms, and then there's Tenuta San Carlo: a unique place in the heart of Maremma, where rice paddies meet pine forests and pristine landscapes sweep toward Tuscany's western coast. Here, in the province of Grosseto, the land has been managed by the same family for four generations—long enough to understand a simple yet profound truth: agricultural work serves not only to produce food today, but to ensure a better future for one's children, the community, and the planet. It is this awareness, even before organic certification, that makes Tenuta San Carlo a truly extraordinary company.
 
 
 

1936: Achilles' wager

It all began in 1936, when Achille Gaggia decided to invest in a plot of land in southern Tuscany. Achille is originally from northeastern Italy, but faced with the wild landscape of the Maremma—a then-harsh land, home to cowboys and reclaimed marshland—he saw what others couldn't: enormous potential. That land became Tenuta San Carlo, and with it began a family story that spanned nearly a century. A pioneering gamble, made at a time when the Maremma was still synonymous with frontiers, one that time would transform into one of Tuscany's most coherent agricultural experiences.
 
 

 Olga, Ennio and the two souls of the Tenuta

From Achille, the land passed to his daughter Olga and her husband, Ennio Lotti: two different visions, which, rather than separating, complemented each other. Olga chose to plant a portion of the land with pine trees and populate the forests with horses, giving the estate the wild soul that still characterizes it; Ennio, on the other hand, dedicated himself to crops, and among these he brought rice to Maremma, the crop that would become the heart of the company. In the years that followed, his son Marcello and his wife, Diane, joined together in managing the estate and a local breed of cattle. Pine groves and rice paddies, horses and cows, forests and fields: the two souls of the estate were born here, and would never be separated again.
 
 
 

The Great-Granddaughters: Samantha, Ariane, and the Biological Turning Point

Today, this land is cared for by Achille's great-granddaughters. Samantha manages the agriturismo, opening the estate to those who want to experience Maremma from the inside; Ariane is the family farm's agricultural manager, and has guided the estate to obtain organic certification for all agricultural activities. A rigorous choice: adhering to the strict organic regulations means protecting plants, animals, and the local environment from harmful toxic chemicals, monitoring every stage of cultivation, day after day. And that's not all: the family is constantly looking for ways to improve the organic method itself, with additional eco-sustainable and experimental studies.
 
 

 
 

Listen to the earth, follow its rhythms

At Tenuta San Carlo, agriculture is born from listening to the land and its natural cycles. The environment is especially suited to the main crop, rice—an Italian rice produced according to strict organic certification standards—but a broader plan revolves around the rice fields: ancient grains, chickpeas, lentils, and flax are planted in carefully planned crop rotations, improving soil health year after year. And then there are the guardians of the regional tradition: a small herd of Maremmana cattle, grazing year-round in the open air among the estate's cool pastures and pine forests, like the herds that have defined the landscape of this part of Tuscany for centuries.
 
 
 

A rice that bears family names

There's a gesture that describes Tenuta San Carlo better than any certificate: the line of organic rice products is dedicated to the family, with each variety named after a different member. Because every grain grown here is steeped in the history of these people and this place: of Achille who bet on the Maremma, of Olga and her pine trees, of Ennio and the first rice fields, of Marcello and Diane, all the way to Samantha and Ariane. Putting the name of your loved ones on a package of rice means putting your face to it, in the most literal and beautiful sense: a pact of trust that passes from their family to yours.
 
 

 
 

Maremma, shared with the world

Community is of utmost importance to the Tenuta: whether among the rice fields of Grosseto or on the other side of the world, the family is grateful for every opportunity to share the history of their land and the flavor of the Maremma. A land consciously managed to continue producing food and supporting the local ecosystem for many generations to come. At Al Passo Food, you can taste the fruits of this: every bite is a piece of this four-generation long story.
 
 
 

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