This Beautiful Country

Italy is renowned for its antiquity, classical literature, philosophy, and modern-day culture, cuisine and fashion, but what has gone largely overlooked and undocumented, even by its people is its unique biodiversity. Italy has over 58,000 different species of wildlife, of which 4,777 are endemic, the highest in Europe. Italy provides a home for a third of all European flora and fauna, with a vast range of fruit and vegetable varieties: more grape varieties than France, more wheat than the US and more olives than Spain. Edward Cutler, an art historian by trade, began to explore this history when, four years ago on his small Tuscan farm, he found a salamander that turned out to be endemic to that specific location. In understanding how Italy came together as a country, one of the youngest and still geologically active landscapes in the world, Ed realised that this natural history has also had an incredibly important influence on its human history, especially its food culture and low-impact agriculture.

Edward Cutler is head of faculty at the European Institute of Innovation for Sustainability in Rome, where he is course director for the Executive course, Biodiversity and Business Sustainability. Ed is convinced that, in order to fully comprehend the country of Italy, and to foster a greater emphasis on its natural wonders, it is imperative to bring this knowledge to light. British-born and educated (MA History of Art, Edinburgh), Ed has resided in Italy since 2009 where he is a dual citizen, is married to an Italian and has three children. An art historian by training, Ed has been obsessed by Italy since childhood and became a successful art dealer for several years in Milan. Ed then moved back to Rome and at the same time became a farmer in southern Tuscany, following his other passion for the countryside and nature. In 2020, along with his childhood friend Ben Goldsmith, he founded the Tuscany Environment Foundation, part of the Conservation Collective, and set about raising funds to support the best environmental initiatives in the region.