Apicentre’s Bee Havens

In order to achieve our mission of supporting natural bee population growth, Apicentre seeks to set up “Havens” . We do this by agreeing to bespoke arrangements with landowners, as well as working with local communities to identify unused land to repurpose: here’s some of our “bee-watching” locations.

Italy

Italy offers a wide array of potential Bee Havens. Local legislation assimilates honeybees to other farmyard animals, therefore anyone wishing to install a beehive will need to obtain a specific registration number from the local health authority.

LA CERQUA DI GIANNI, Località fontecese, gubbio (PG)

Latitude: 43°19’56.5” N

Longitude: 12°35’39.5” E

This plot of land is located in Gubbio, at the heart of the beautiful Umbria region of central Italy. We have sown about a hectare of land with a mix of several melliferous flowers (so-called apistico pluriennale, containing among others, clover, gorse, sainfoin, mustard, phacelia, buckwheat, honeysuckle, alfalfa, linen), with early seasonal flowering, and good resistance to cold - in compliance with local ECO 5 indication. We have installed three KTBs that are clearly visibile from the local SS219 freeway. The current colonies are apis mellifera ligustica, native to Italy, and were obtained from a nearby sustainable beekeeper.