The CASAM
The Casa delle Semenze delle Alpi Marittime is the sister organization of the MSPM on the Italian side of the border. Working in close partnership, both associations strive for the same values across borders to design and sustain peasant seeds as a bioregional common.
Our History
WHY THE CASAM EXISTS
75% of cultivated biodiversity has disappeared in a century. Faced with this massive erosion, local seeds can no longer be considered simple varieties to be kept in collections: they are living forms, linked to the land, climates, agricultural practices, and the communities that grow them.
The CASAM was born from this conviction.
Here, we speak of Semenza: a common rooted in a coevolutionary relationship between a territory, cultivated plants, and the inhabitants who sow, select, cook, pass on, and share them.
In a region crossed by administrative borders but united by common ecological, agricultural, and cultural conditions, the CASAM affirms another way of inhabiting the territory: recreating links, exchanging seeds, strengthening agricultural and food autonomy, and sustaining a biodiversity adapted to local realities.
This is how the Casa delle Semenze delle Alpi Marittime is organized: as a house of Semenza, self-managed, open, and rooted in the Alpine and Mediterranean bioregion.
Our conception of the bioregion is deliberately undefined in terms of geographical limits, because it is not a line on a map that determines its existence, but rather the sense of belonging and the ability of local communities to recognize themselves in a territory and its agricultural and cultural practices.
Our roadmap.
"Building a collective to manage the agrobiodiversity of the Maritime Alps."
Following the establishment of the Casa delle Semenze delle Alpi Marittime APS and the collective definition of its bylaws, we developed our first roadmap in April 2026 for the next three years.
From 2026 to 2029, our actions will be guided by a central ambition: to sustain Semenza as a community good, rooted in the Maritime Alps bioregion, and to strengthen the seed, agricultural, and food autonomy of local communities.
This roadmap is based on the founding values of the CASAM: the preservation and improvement of local seeds, the transmission of know-how, agroecology, collective self-management, cross-border cooperation, and the refusal of any appropriation of living organisms.
It outlines the main directions for our first years of action: collecting, growing, selecting, conserving, transmitting, and sharing the seeds of our territory, from the Ligurian Alps to the Occitan valleys, in connection with all those who wish to bring agrobiodiversity to life.
Our Governance
A COLLEGIATE STRUCTURE TO GOVERN THE ASSOCIATION
Statutorily, the CASAM has a presidency, held by Maria Messner, president of the association. This role ensures the legal representation of the Casa delle Semenze delle Alpi Marittime APS, in accordance with its status as a social promotion association.
In its daily operations, however, the CASAM is inspired by the same principles as the MSPM: horizontal governance based on cooperation, shared responsibilities, and collective decision-making.
Decisions are made by consent among all directors, in order to seek directions that are sufficiently shared, respectful of the people involved, and consistent with the association’s values.
At this stage, the association is managed by an initial founding group bringing together committed individuals from the two main sides of the Maritime Alps bioregion. For the Ligurian Alps side, the administration includes Maria Messner, Maxime Schmitt, and Virginia Altavilla. For the Occitan valleys of Piedmont side, it includes Roberto Schellino, Giada Bellia, and Luca Pistoi.
This composition reflects the CASAM’s deeply cross-border vocation: building a common space for cooperation between the Ligurian Alps, the Occitan valleys, and the Maralpine territory, in service of Semenza, peasant autonomy, and cultivated biodiversity.
Get Involved
THE COLLECTIVE AT THE HEART OF THE PROJECT
The CASAM is above all a living collective, open to all those who wish to take concrete action for peasant seeds, agrobiodiversity, and seed autonomy in the Maritime Alps bioregion.
To circulate information, share calls for participation, and organize meetings, workshops, seed exchanges, and events, we primarily use a WhatsApp group.
Exchanges are mainly in Italian.
If you would like to follow the CASAM’s activities, offer seeds, participate in an event, lend a hand, or simply join the collective dynamic, you can join us here!
The only border is the one that dissolves the moment two people meet to exchange a handful of Semenza, thereby creating links and strengthening agricultural and food autonomy.
The Ligurian Alps Food Community
The Comunità del Cibo delle Alpi Liguri is part of the official framework of the Comunità del cibo e della biodiversità di interesse agricolo e alimentaire, recognized by Italian law No. 194/2015 for the protection and enhancement of agricultural and food biodiversity. This framework, promoted notably by the Italian State and the Regions, supports collective projects centered on agrobiodiversity, local seeds, peasant know-how, and regional food.
It also provides a concrete framework for launching the CASAM’s first actions: structuring a seed bank, training, participatory research, and projects around local varieties, particularly beans.
This community is specifically focused on the Ligurian Alps area, in the provinces of Imperia and Savona.