For some reason best known to itself, Benfeita – a relatively isolated village in the mountains of the Serra do Açor, Central Portugal – has become a magnet to ‘eco-immigrants’ from all over Europe and the rest of the world over the last decade. The community is of the default, unintentional variety. There’s nothing remotely ‘organised’ about it, unless that organisation is operating at some higher level we can’t perceive, so we have no shared ideology, culture, dogma or rules. What unites us is the desire to live a substantially more sustainable, environmentally-friendly and humane life as part of a real and largely autonomous community.
In October 2017, the entire community and the valleys in which we are living was decimated by the largest wildfire in Portugal’s history. It destroyed over 2,000 square kilometers of land in less than 24 hours. 22 people in these valleys lost their homes. 2 people lost their lives. The surrounding ecosystem, already degraded and impoverished by decades of rural depopulation, neglect and inappropriate monocultures of pine and eucalyptus trees, is a disaster zone.
This brought things home in a big way. It has galvanised us into more directed and concerted action, even while many are still trying to put their lives back together again. Several community initiatives have taken root. Replanting and regeneration work has begun.
We are currently in the process of formalising an umbrella organisation to take forward the vision of an ‘ecozone’ for these valleys. This vision, based on the unique topography and population dynamics of the area, is for the ecozone to become a nationally and internationally-recognised ‘living laboratory’ where sustainable and regenerative initiatives (individual and collective; natural, technological and social) originating with and developed by the area’s diverse community, can be designed, evolved, trialled, studied, prototyped and disseminated within the surrounding bioregion and beyond.
Membership & Visitors
- Current members: 200
- Open to new members
- Open to visitors
As we already mentioned, Benfeita is NOT any sort of intentional community. What this means is that if you'd like to find out more about it, or rent or buy somewhere here, then you need to come here and find out for yourself, just as you would in any other town or village anywhere else. We can’t provide you with details of places to rent or buy because nobody collects or compiles them. Sometimes you'll find properties advertised on various nationwide sales or rental sites, but we can't tell you which because nobody monitors them. Everyone in this community came here in their own way and found their own way to stay here. So if you want to come here then you will need to take the initiative and do the same.
Several projects within the area host volunteers. There is no central organisation of volunteers within the community so you will need to apply to individual projects. We can provide you with a list of these, or alternatively you can search for "Benfeita" in any of the volunteering sites like WorkAway or Helpx or apply to the affiliated projects listed on this site. It's possible to visit some of these projects as well.
Hola..Estamos buscando una ecoaldea con estas características para vivir.Por favor qué trámites se necesitan para participar y compartir con ustedes?Saludos.
Boa tarde,
Poderei visitar a ecoaldeia por favor?
Obrigada,
Silvana
Hello,
My name is Silvana. I am Portuguese, I live in Coimbra at the moment and I was always curious about living a simple sustainable life.
Would you be open for a visit please and when?
Silvana