Italian fruit farmers use hill caves to help cut energy bills

People walk inside a natural refrigerator, carved under the rocks of the Dolomites, where apple producers are storing their harvest in an effort to cut energy bills, in Predaia, Italy, September 13, 2022, in this screengrab taken from a video. REUTERS/Matteo Berlenga

Apple farmers in the north of Italy are using natural refrigerators carved under a hillside to store their harvest in a controlled environment that remains at a constant temperature in all seasons.

Three hundred metres beneath their fruit orchards in Predaia, a small town in the Trentino region, the Melinda group has created 34 refrigeration areas in vast caves, where they are able to keep 12-13% of their produce and cut their energy costs.