Meet our Star Award Winner: Hotel Ristorante La Pieja
On the 2nd of December, we awarded the Star Award winners 2021/22 during our ECST and Star Award Ceremony in the European Parliament. Keep on reading to know the overall winner, Ristorante La Pieja!
Congratulations! Star Awards winner in the category “Global approach to sustainability”
The International Jury decided to award the Hotel Ristorante La Pieja (IT) as the overall winner of the STAR Awards 2021-2022 edition for their comprehensive approach to sustainability. Hotel Ristorante La Pieja has been the only one to candidate to all four categories with consistently strong performance across all four.
Trail cleaning done by La Pieja
The hotel and restaurant La Pieja wants to create an “Economy of well-being” centred around enjoyment and conservation of nature in the area of the Abruzzo National Park. To make that goal a reality, they have created an integrated offer for tourists, that includes
nature, culture and outdoor activities. All of this is done in close cooperation with other local operators, guides, and museums. La Pieja regularly meets with the Abruzzo Park Authority and local producers to create common objectives and commitments that ensure
adherence to ecological standards.
To create this “economy of well-being”, staff of the hotel also regularly participate in restoration activities. These range from removing waste along hiking paths, promoting the restoration of historical objects that are characteristic for the landscape, or creating educational workshops.
Furthermore, La Pieja actively promotes the nature and territory of the Abruzzo National Park.
They do so by providing brochures in the guest rooms and adding the Park’s offers to the bulletin board. Hotel staff also work on “education” visitors by distributing rules on how to behave in the natural area. Moreover, they organise special seasonal activities, for example walks during deer mating season, excursions to examine the traces left by different speciesof animals, or the fall photography contest, aimed at capturing the autumn landscape of
the Park.
Hotel Restaurant La Pieja in its surroundings
Inside the hotel and restaurant, this attention to the needs of nature continue. The menu of the restaurant is composed of local and seasonal ingredients, some of which are ‘0 km produce’. The gardens surrounding the building are planted with native species, and only
eco-friendly fertilisers and insect detergents are used. Moreover, light pollution is kept to a minimum through the use of motion activated sensors. Attention is paid to the needs of the local community, to encourage moments of aggregation and promote the local economy.
All these efforts have led to the Hotel Ristorante La Pieja being our overall Star Award 2022 winner!