E. E. C. "Antonio Bellini"
Environmental Education Center
The Environmental Education Center
The CEA “Antonio Bellini” promotes various initiatives for environmental education of young people and adults, as well as periodic training courses, internships, seminars, conferences, exhibitions, international exchanges, research and studies, green weeks, nature trips, camps summer holidays, stays, guided tours.
The CEA addresses its activities to school students of all levels, teachers, scholars and researchers, operators in the environmental sector, individual visitors, organized groups and families. It is connected and operates in a network with all the training and educational structures of the “Lago di Penne” Regional Nature Reserve. The “Antonio Bellini” CEA is also a center of excellence for energy produced from renewable sources, there are technologically advanced systems: photovoltaic panels, solar panels, biomass boiler with district heating, fireplace stove, mini wind turbine and fuel-cell for the production of energy from hydrogen produced in situ through the electrolysis of water. The services of the CEA have been entrusted since 2007 to the coop. Samara.
The CEA Antonio Bellini is located in the heart of the Lago di Penne Regional Nature Reserve, at about 500 m above sea level, on the top of a gentle hill immersed in the typical agro-forestry-pastoral landscape of foothill Abruzzo, between cultivated fields and mixed woods of Downy oak. The vast lawn that extends in front of the structure is a real natural “belvedere” where you can observe spectacular panoramas ranging from the Gran Sasso chain, to the Majella, to the Adriatic Sea and up to the highest peaks of the Sibillini Mountains.
The CEA accommodation facility was obtained from the recovery of an old country house of about 700 square meters and is able to host various tourist, educational and study, productive, entertainment, refreshment and residential activities with a total of 60 beds in multiple bedrooms with bathroom. The CEA has various private rooms, for meetings or gatherings, and a “chameleon-like” Main Room with 100 seats, which is able to pass in a few minutes from a convivial room for banquets or ceremonies to a conference-seminar room with a real own dedicated direction with quality audio-video systems. Inside the structure there are also a relaxation lounge, a small bar and an internet point.
The adjoining “Restaurant Collalto” offers typical traditional dishes prepared with locally sourced and mainly organic raw materials. The type of tourist service offered ranges from catering with à la carte or agreed menus, to the boarding service, and is aimed at both organized groups and occasional patrons. Finally, the CEA structure is also home to various production activities: the Oasis Laboratory, where iron and wood are worked; the processing plants for agricultural products managed by the Coop. Il Gallero which include a hulling system for spelled, a mill for cereals and the entire honey production chain.