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Published: March 23rd 2008
Snow capped mountain behind the farm near Sora.
It was lovely warm spring weather at the farm and in town but you could still see remnants of winter on the mountains.From Rome we travelled south and further inland to experience a bit of Italia agroturismo on the outskirts of a small town named Sora. Italy is packed with these farmstays and we thought we’d chosen a “real” one - that is, one that was more into showcasing the natural beauty and produce of the region than squeezing as many Euros as they can out of visitors. It turns out our farmstay wasn’t as “real” as we’d hoped, but at the same time it wasn’t that bad. The scenery was beautiful and while the manager and his mum (who didn’t seem too happy with the whole farm stay idea but cooked and cleaned anyway) were a bit more business focussed than we had hoped, the father was an incredibly warm, friendly and patient man and the time we’ve spent with him has been one of the highlights of our whole trip so far.
Giuseppe doesn’t speak much English at all but he is so patient and willing to teach you that you can have whole conversations about anything and everything in broken Italian and English. We learnt so much Italian from this guy, both the language and the hospitality that the
Guiseppe's Goats
Thinking they're going to get fed, when really....they're the dinner. people are known for. He took us on a tour of his farm - and when we say farm, picture not the farms of Australia. This farm has an extensive veggie patch, they’re self sufficient and can grow all sorts of different things, 4 donkeys, about 6 goats and 4 sheep, 2 dogs and a Shetland pony! They also grow all sorts of fruit but of course nothing is in season at the moment so we missed out. Bit of a different enterprise than ones we’re used to really. Giuseppe grows his own meat, milk (goats), vegetables and makes his own vino which we had the pleasure of tasting on countless occasions. The vino is available to purchase (of course) and if you buy a meal at the house you get some with dinner but they are a bit stingy with it really (it is bellisimo). Giuseppe on the other hand is both a great lover of vino and good company and when son and wife are out of the room, you could guarantee a quiet voice asking, “Vino? Vino?” and with a simple “Si, grazie”, you would have a nice full glass and an impromptu Italian language class. He
Daniel and The Donkey
This is the first donkey we've met up close really and it has so much personality. She has been with the family since she was a baby and Giuseppe's son used to let her put her front legs over his shoulders and he would carry her on his back. She is, obviously, a little bigger now but still tries to do it to people. Trish was lucky as the donkey didn't think she was too bad but she seems to have a thing for men and in turn really hates women. She apparently doesn't let some women pass through the gate and down the path to the rest of the farm, so lots of people have to go a different way. When you go for a walk into town, she follows you down the path. Once you have to leave her behind the gate and walk beyond the boundary of the farm she carries on and makes that awful donkey noise for ages. is originally from Sicily and is terribly homesick. He delighted in telling us about “his” Sicily and the mere mention of the place induces a sad but loving, “Sicily, bella”. You just wanted to tell him to pack his bags and take him to Sicily yourself! Unfortunately we had to leave in a hurry to catch the train and didn’t get to say goodbye or have our photo taken with him. If it wasn’t for Giuseppe our time in Sora would’ve been very boring indeed.
While we wished we hadn’t spent so long at the farmstay it has given us a glimpse of “real” Italy - that is a place 95% full of locals not tourists or visitors. We could sit in the main square and afford to drink our coffees as we are paying local prices, not tourist prices and watch the locals go about their day. The only other foreigners we say in town were the Canadians who were staying at our farmstay. We’re glad we got to feel a bit of Italy not on the traditional tourist trail and got to meet Giuseppe. The Italian he taught us has come in handy as in some places
Daniel at Guiseppe's Veggie Patch
More than a "patch" this is where Giuseppe grows all the food for his farm (except for the fruit and the goat meat of course!) people don’ta speaka gooda English!
From Sora we caught the train to Sorrento. Our plan was to base ourselves in this coastal tourist town and do a couple of day trips to Naples and Pompeii. As it turned out we did both Naples and Pompeii in the same day so we had more time to just chill out in Sorrento. Sorrento has a different vibe to it than the other Italian towns we’ve visited. It is very touristy but at the same time a great place to be. We do think though that it is most definitely a summer destination. We had one day where the sun was really warm (by our standards - i.e. over 15 degrees!) and it was just wonderful. The best part of Sorrento was our “hostel”. This one came recommended in our guide book and we were still a bit suspicious after looking at the glossy website but upon arrival it was everything it promised to be. It was called a “deluxe hostel” and was basically a 4 star hotel without the free stuff - i.e. you had to pay for replacement towels and there was no free soap etc. We even had our
Miracolo! Miracolo!
Giuseppe set us a task of finding wild asparagus that grows around here. When he found some he started shouting "Miracolo! Miracolo!" (It's a miracle! It's a miracle!) and handed a bit to us saying "Muncho, Muncho" (Eat, Eat). Daniel while he didn't claim a miracle was pretty pleased with himself when he found some of his own. own bath tub!! And it was clean!! We are still scratching our heads at how management can afford to keep running this place at these prices but it was great to have a bit of luxury on an otherwise budget trip.
The standard of our “hostel” confused our purse strings and they relaxed a bit so we ate out quite a lot in Sorrento. Because the strings weren’t totally relaxed, the most affordable option for us (especially if we wanted to have an after dinner gelato - which we did, no brainer there) was pizza. Now, we LOVE pizza and never thought we’d say this but we can’t even stand the sight of pizza at the moment! And because we blew the budget a bit in Sorrento we’ve had to resort to cheese and crackers again for some meals. This doesn’t bother us too much as the only other thing we can afford is gelato (always room for that in the budget) and more bloody pizza!!!
Anyway, you guys will all think that our whole trip revolves around food......well that isn’t far from the truth really but hey, we’re in a country whose culture revolves entirely around the
Daniel in the Forest
We went for a short hike on the farm; the scenery was beautiful but not too good for photo taking because of all the trees. church and the kitchen so we had to choose one of them. Sorrento itself is a bit short on sights and is mainly a place to..... well eat and drink. Other than our day trip to Naples and Pompeii that is pretty much all we did.
We were a bit disappointed with Pompeii to be honest as we’d expected a lot of the relics to still be at the ruins but of course they’re in a separate museum in Naples that you have to purchase another ticket for, so Pompeii is pretty much just ruins. We tried to get in with a student discount but were told they don’t offer any. Then after proving we were West Aussies we were apparently eligible for a discount...discounts are only for Southern and Western Australians. Upon asking why the ticket guy just shrugged his shoulders and said “thata isa justa the rules”. Happy with our discounted tickets (always a bonus in a country with SO many museums that are pricey); we trotted through the streets that were once filled with Romans. Like with the Roman Forum in Rome, we’ve tried to include more descriptions in the captions of the photos rather than
babble on meaninglessly in the blog (well we try.....)
After Pompeii we headed to Naples. Now we’ve always received mixed reviews of Naples and had decided against staying there because of the bad ones we’ve heard. Then the Canadians at the farmstay went for a day trip and got ripped off on numerous occasions and we heard for the first time the other name Naples goes by - “The City of Crime and Grime”. An Italian friend of someone staying with us at the farmstay lives in northern Italy and is not allowed to go to Naples - her mum won’t let her! Apparently it is that bad.
Instead of being scared off though, our sense of adventure kicked in and we were so intrigued we had to visit this place and see if it lived up to its reputation. We were pleasantly surprised, while yes it is very dodgy and you need to keep a close watch on your belongings and your pockets, we survived. After leaving the train station saying to each other, “what’s the big deal”, we were inundated with offers to buy various merchandise. We walked the gauntlet hardly stifling our laughter as men
The Shepherd making Pecorino cheese
We paid our (too many) Euros and got up really early one morning to watch the shepherd make ricotta and pecorino cheese. Basically, when slaughtering a lamb (it needs to be young enough to still be drinking milk) they drain the stomach of everything except for the undigested milk. They then dry the undigested milk in the stomach for a few months when it forms a hard ball that smells like ricotta cheese. They then take a small bit of this "rennet" and put it in a pot with fresh goat's milk. They then put it on the fire and keep stirring. The milk curdles and turns into a soft cheese. The shepherd takes the ball of cheese out from the pot and squeezes it into this strainer thing. He keeps moulding it until all excess liquid is drained out. Once completely drained and moulded he puts it on the shelf for storage. It can be eaten in a few weeks and gradually gets harder and more yellow as it matures. pulled cameras and phones out of their pockets and offered us laptops and other gadgets, one after the other.
After getting through them we were back to the normal street vendors with sheets laden with knock off designer bags, sunglasses and any other bits of crap they thought we’d be stupid enough to buy - or more so that people ARE stupid enough to buy so they continue to sell. We were used to these guys as they’re everywhere in Italy. It is illegal for them to sell, either these goods or in this way - we’re not too sure which. The funniest sight is watching word spread that the police are coming down a street and they quickly pack up (their displays are “designed” for easy removal) and run for cover. Then as soon as the police car has driven by they all come out again and set up shop.
Naples is known for other things too though, the home of mafia and more importantly to us the home of pizza. We were still loving pizza at this point and after finding that the place to go for pizza was well and truly bursting at the seams
we went to apparently the next best place across the street. We remember it being very tasty but we’ve eaten so many that they’re all a blur now *shudder*. We have to admit, other than entertaining our sense of adventure and defying all the advice we’d been given to stay the hell away from Naples, pizza for lunch was our reason for coming.
After the obligatory and now ritual “after-lunch/dinner/any type of meal gelato” we wandered around the streets of Naples. There is currently a garbage strike on in Naples and it has been going on for quite a while so there is rubbish EVERYWHERE. There is also less tourists and a real pulse to the place that has hints of crime and more than a hint of grime but it makes it a real adventure and navigating your way through the garbage, gangs of scary looking school kids, men with produce trolleys, 3 wheeled trucks, and speeding Vespas is a feast for the senses really.
On Wednesday we made our way to Florence, home of the Renaissance...
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