Summer 2026, agricultural summer centres for children to rediscover the countryside and rural traditions

As the summer season arrives with the end of the school year and parents still busy at work in the city, the age-old problem of keeping the little ones busy, perhaps in something worthwhile that can combine learning and recreation, arises. With summer 2026, a new possibility opens up: that of a summer centre in the countryside. Next Sunday, 17 May, Coldiretti and Campagna Amica are organising the first open day of summer centres in the countryside with agritourisms and educational farms (the list region by region can be found at www.campagnamica.it) that will open their doors to welcome children and parents and show them the opportunities linked to 'agricultural' summer centres in contact with nature.

The initiative promoted by Coldiretti and Campagna Amica aims to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the approval of the Orientation Law, Law 201 of 18 May 2001, strongly supported and inspired by Coldiretti, which changed the face of Italian agriculture. The Orientation Law in fact opened wide to Italian farms the universe of 'activities connected' to agricultural activity. These range from agritourism to direct sales, from energy production to direct sales, and the provision of services to the public administration. It is precisely in this last chapter that agricultural summer centres should fall. These are activities that, being connected to the main agricultural activity, are subject to the same favourable tax regime.

A universe that has greatly expanded the boundaries of agricultural activity, generating a turnover (of related activities alone) estimated at around 12 billion euro and that has also given a strong impulse to the growth of agricultural added value, a factor on which just last year Italia achieved European leadership.

Returning to the agricultural summer centres, the appointment is therefore for next Sunday, 17 May, when with the open day families will be able to visit participating farms, meet the farmers, learn about the summer centre programmes, and take part in a preview of the 'farmer workshops' designed to stimulate curiosity, manual skills and environmental awareness.

 "A different way of experiencing summer - explain Coldiretti - with open-air activities and experiential routes designed to bring the youngest children closer to the world of agriculture, its rhythms, values and traditions. Practical workshops, encounters with animals, activities in the vegetable garden, nature trails and rural games will accompany the children in their discovery of the countryside, nature and farming traditions".