Richard Harris has lived and worked in Italy since 1989. His home is Le Peschiere, which his wife, the architect Gemma Detti, restored in 1994.
Previously in the UK and then in Italy, he worked in communications and strategy in real estate and the development of the built environment, smart cities included. In 1999 he was the founding director of EPIC, Italy’s first full-scale real estate conference, and in the following years he organised and developed several more international conferences in Europe and elsewhere. He believes that the most important things in real estate are the three TR’s: Truth, Trust and Transparency. Not all agree.
In 2012 he launched Maremma.TV, which organises conferences with the emphasis on open discussion between members of the public and subject experts. The objective is to introduce a global conference format with some similarities to TED and TEDx, but with far greater audience participation. A related initiative is the Italian-language magazine “La Spia della Maremma”, which seeks to stimulate analysis and debate of the future of a territory that can be considered a metaphor for an Italy in which conservation and innovation must learn to cohabit.
Le Peschiere is now the home of the events of Maremma.TV and an independent and hospitable meeting place for other organisations.
He has an MSc in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and an MBA from the London Business School.