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Excited to be in Sora..
Our last hike together! Those were the famous words of Antonello--the 28 year old Sicilian who was our last host at Italy Farm Stay, a small organic, self-sufficient farm where Blair, Melissa, Alyssa and I spent the past three nights and our final days together as a foursome. When the four of us piled into his car for the first time, he told us that the most any one person staying at the farm had been lost was 2 times. He told us that if we broke the record and got lost 3 times, there would be a big celebration and a special bonus prize...unfortunately, even with my horrid navigational skills we only got lost once. 😊
The farm is two hours south of Rome and about 20 minutes outside of a small town called Sora, Italy in the Abruzzi National Park.
We heard about this place on a business card that we picked up at our hostel in Rome and decided to give it a shot. We took a bus from Rome to Sora where Antonello came to pick us up and then escorted us to the farm that he and his mother and father live on. This by far was my
favorite experience and most authentic experience in Italy.
Antonello's family has been living on the farm since 1975. His father Giuseppe grows olive trees, fig trees and grapes, he raises donkies (a baby donkey was born just two days before we arrived), goats, sheep, chickens and even tends bees. Its really neat because they are completely self-sufficient and get all of their food from their backyard (which is about a hectare?). They let us sample some of the wild asparagus and their own hommade wine. Maria, his mother takes care of the house and cooks meals for the family and the volunteers that live and work on the farm. Anotonello is the everything man...he dreamed up this idea of creating the Italy Farm Stay a few years ago and has just recently put the plan into action.
They started with just 3 rooms last year and this year have added on two more. He has already purchased more land and is planning on expanding. It was so neat to be at this place at the early stages of its development and to see all of his ideas beginning to come together. Right now it is just a small
Eating Pasta and Asparragus
The streets were lined with these carnival like lights and we had lots of yummy pasta, fava beans, formaggio and bread and vino! villa with 5 quaint rooms set against the mountains of the Abruzzi National Park and a small porch overlooking a beautiful garden.
At the moment he and the volunteers working at the farm are clearing trails that people will be able to hike on...he has one completed which leads to WATERFALL PARK. There are rocks that are hand chiseled which point you in the right direction. In the past, many people got lost on hikes because there were no signs, hence the phrase It is difficult to get lost, but not impossible.
The first night we were there Mel and I had a great conversation with him about his farm which ended up revealing a lot of his philosophies on life which were very inspiring. He told us that he had this passion to share Italy with travellers and to work with backpackers, but that he knew that he was limited and could not do everything on his own, so he has found people who he can trust and who share a similar passion about something in life to work with...which I think is brilliant...I once had a talk with a friend and we determined that one of
Antonello--our host
Talking with Beck, an Australian volunteer about the progress of the Compost Toilet! the purposes of life is to find people who share a certain passion with you and to work with those people to bring something good into the world to share with others. Anyways, in this process of developing the Italian farm stay he is eager to listen to other's ideas and in doing so has been capable of accomplishing more than he ever could have envisioned accomplishing on his own.
The activities that he offers are based around the passions of other people in the region. For example, he offers visits to a local cheese making shephard, yoga at waterfall park, horseback riding, italian cooking classes, etc, etc, etc.
While we were staying he asked for any suggestions that we might have to make the place better. One of my favorite things was our visit to the future COMPOST toilet where he asked our opinion on how it should be set up (bamboo walls, open air, an hanging curtain etc..) There will be an archery contest in the future to determine who will get to be the first to use the compost toilet. 😊
The second night we were staying at the Italy Farm Stay, Antonello took
us and the other guests to a nearby town called Pescosolido where there was a Pasta and Asparagus festival going on. For five euro we sat at picnic tables in the streets of Pescosolido and ate pasta, fava beans, asparagus, bread, cheese and wine with the members of the community.
While we were staying at the Italy FArm Stay, we made good friends with the two family dogs who followed US EVERYWHERE, on 4 hour uphill hikes to castles overlooking the city, and even on the front doorstop of restaurants where we spent two hours eating dinner--Felicita (happiness in Italian) and Baron (or Gremlin as we called him).
We had to say good by to Mel two days ago, she is off to Switzerland on her own for three weeks. Blair, Alyssa and I are currently doing our laudry at a laundry-internet place in Rome waiting for our overnight train to Salzburg, Austria where the hills alive with the sound of music are awaiting us.
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