Sora - Italy Farm Stay

Calvin and Aidan hopped the metro to Termini (train station) in Rome to retrieve the rental car.  We had to be out of our apartment by 11:00am so it was the usual frantic packing before vacating time but we knew we had a wonderful farm holiday awaiting us.  They showed up 45 minutes after they left with an electric blue station wagon and a missing hubcap or two…. inconspicuous…NOT!. Calvin discovered the walk up and negotiate a rental car from the dented and damaged lot.  $27 per day for a 2011 Station Wagon – who needs pride.  After a quick stop at the post office to mail a couple small boxes home (so we can travel just a little bit lighter) we were on the highway to Sora. 

We have booked the next six nights at an organic, self-sustaining farm in the heart of Italy on the edge of Abruzzo National Park – it is not Tuscany!  Calvin’s farm in Cape Breton is great but it’s really more of a horse and vegetable farm than an old school self-sustainable farm with chickens, bunnies, sheep, pigs, goats, donkeys, vegetables and fruits, etc.  We had been looking for a place where we could expose the boys to life on a farm.  Apart from relaxation, we hoped that being at the farm will be a learning experience…for me too. I’m a city girl!  Basically everything you eat at the farm comes from the farm, including bread, pasta, marmalade, vegetables, fruit, wine, oil, meat, etc...

Also, there are many areas for hiking, local markets, horseback riding, cooking classes, truffle hunting, cheese making classes with the local sheep farmer, wine making, fruit and vegetable harvesting, etc.. The nearest town of Sora is just a 40 minute walk and it has plenty to offer but very little English so we hoped our slightly improved Italian would get us through the next week.

Within minutes of our arrival, Antonello and his family welcomed us with genuine Italian hospitality! Antonello (the son), Giuseppe (the dad), Maria Siragusa (the mom) and the volunteers on the farm made our stay such a memorable one as they welcomed us with their arms wide open. Upon our arrival they served us a glass of their homemade wine and pieces of bruschetta. After one day on the Farm we all felt like part of the family.   

The volunteers are mostly young 20 something travellers who apply to work for food and board (of various levels – bedroom in the house to tent in the field) but mostly for the experience.  A few of the volunteers were in month 5 of their stay – a great indication of how well they are treated and how much they enjoy their experience.  A few of the volunteers were camp counsellors and really connected with the boys.  The boys played plenty of hacky sack, bocce ball and football with the volunteers and it was getting pretty competitive.     

Antonello is responsible for the creation of this new tourist model.  It’s a mix of Italian Agriturismo, WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and Low/Mid-range motel.  You can do as much or as little as you want while staying at the farm but it’s hard to not roll up your sleeves and get involved.  It’s not like the fancy farm hotels found at most Agriturismo locations or as rustic and demanding as volunteering at most WWOOF locations or as color coordinated as a roadside motel BUT it is the best of all three = Agriturismo setting + non mandatory hands on WWOOFing experience at Motel prices.   

Antonello started his ‘project’ as he calls it only five years ago and he is expanding for the third time due to the overwhelming success.  We booked two months in advance to get a spot during the farming season.  Our room was simple – four beds lined up in a large room with an ensuite bathroom decorated in flea market farm chic with a hand drawn forest scene on the walls around us.

The boys (Calvin included) started wandering around the farm within minutes of arriving.  At some point, Giuseppe waved to them to get in to his car. I had no idea where they were going and how long they would be gone. They all piled in and drove up the hill to the newly purchased, soon to be renovated, farm houses where they crush the grapes for their home made wine.  The boys got their hands dirty and were rewarded with glasses of freshly squeezed grapes (for the wine).  When they returned, the remaining farm guests had arrived and I was busy lounging on the veranda couch chatting with the various couples.  Everyone introduced themselves and we were lucky as everyone was very friendly and searching for a similar experience as us.  The boys were the only kids on the farm that week so they had plenty of attention.   

We had dinner with the family and all the guests the first night on the farm and three more nights as the week progressed.  The dinner is not inexpensive but the amount and quality of food is outstanding.  . It was a real treat to eat organic produce straight from the farm and to experience Maria’s wonderful cooking.  The food seemed to just keep coming – green beans, eggplant, salad, fresh bread, pasta, chicken or pork. You could also purchase some of their homemade wine to have with your dinner. The atmosphere was relaxed, peaceful and friendly. It was fun to eat communally with our hosts and fellow travellers with the buzz of fun, laughter and conversation filling the air during meal times. 

The next morning, Calvin, Noah and Aidan drove to a local horse farm for a horseback ride through the countryside including four crossings of a rushing river…no really, the river was really moving and the group of six riders lost their dog to the current on three of the four crossings.  The dog made it to the other side each time but only after some frantic moments and a lucky bend in the river that ricocheted him from the water to the shore.

 
 

The boys spent vast amounts of time with the animals and learning about life on the farm. Each morning, Giuseppe would take whoever (usually Aidan and sometimes Devin and Noah) was up early enough to the orchard to pick fresh figs, dates, apples, grapes and pomegranates or to the chicken coup for fresh eggs which were added to the breakfast table.   Though he is not speaking English, Giuseppe seems to communicate with the boys with glances and waves of his hands (very Italian, don’t ya think) and they follow his gestures correctly…..most of the time. 

He was so kind and was such a wonderful person especially with the boys.  He took them for rides on the farm mascot Leia, the Donkey, and the older horse. The boys looked forward to feeding Leia the fallen figs every day. At the time we were there all the animals had recently had babies so we got to see baby pigs, chicks and rabbits. The boys were always eager to do work on the farm so each day they looked to Giuseppe for instructions. Aidan would work the pump for him when he watered the vineyard and Noah helped the volunteers with moving rocks from one area to build a wall in another area. Devin rode the tractor and helped to feed the animals. On two mornings the volunteers killed a pig for the meal the next night. You could hear the squealing and the boys were all onsite to witness the killing.  It was not terribly humane but it is a working farm so I should not complain.  Needless to say, I chose the vegetarian meals those nights. 

Every aspect of the farm life was a valuable learning experience for the MacInnis boys. Noah and Aidan have talked about going back to the farm as volunteers when they are 18. Every morning at about 6am the shepherd would bring his flock down the path behind our room. You could hear the bells on the sheep ringing and then again at 5:30pm he would come back the same way to take them home. Just like Pavlov’s dog, we would jump up when we heard them coming back for the day to watch the shepherd and his 50 sheep head home.     

We didn’t want to spend the $s to eat on the farm every night so we made our way into town to get some food supplies to store in the communal fridge.  We told Antonello that we would like to BBQ so he showed us to the wood and bonfire pit.  A couple from Israel and the UK decided to join us and the boys collected the wood and started the bonfire.  The palm tree branches are better than gasoline to start a fire and within seconds we had a raging fire.  


When it settled a bit, we spread some coals on the ground with a small grill overhead and cooked a great meal of fish, chicken and vegetables which we shared.  The bonfire became a nightly tradition with Aidan & Noah getting it started. Aidan picked figs, stuffed them with the rosemary that he picked and roasted them on the fire. They were unusual tasting but Leila really enjoyed them and we appreciated his creativity.    

Noah and Calvin love pomegranates and they seem to grow wild around here. They spent many hours over the week chatting and picking the seeds from the fresh fruit – this is a little piece of heaven.

While driving aimlessly through the town one day, we discovered a pizza joint full of locals.  Since it was lunch time, we decided to try some local za and ordered 3 large pizzas to take back to the farm.  It was outstanding and we all munched down while lounging on the veranda….life is tough.

I signed up for a cooking class with Maria as the instructor.  Her English is not great but cooking is more of a watch me and repeat exercise.  Initially, the boys were going to join me but there was just too much competition in and around the farm to pull them in to a kitchen for more pasta making instruction.  I was joined by a man from Australia and a lovely woman from the US. We spent a few hours preparing the night’s dinner.  We used the fresh eggs supplied by the chickens that morning to make the dough for the pasta and a sauce from the squash on the farm. I learned such an easier technique for making the pasta from Maria and I was her #1 student. No gold stars but my dough rolled out so nice and thin. Maria’s mantra is stretch and roll. The chefs were toasted many times at the dinner table that night so I think our cooking was a success. The homemade wine is pretty good and only $4 euro a litre so maybe it was just an excuse for everyone to tip their glasses a few more times than usual.

It’s become a tradition to stroll through the Centro and experience a few hikes at every location, so we set off with the hand drawn map from the farm to scale the highest local mountain with a deserted Castle on top.  We packed a picnic and some water and left the farm to make the climb. It was crazy hot that day and the climb up was directly in the sun.  We drank most of our water by the time we reached the top.  The castle was amazing. 













We were the only people there.  We climbed a circular stair case in the dark to reach the upper walls of the castle where we had the best possible views of the town below.  After we searched every possible nook and cranny for treasure, we ate our lunch and started down the shady side of the mountain.  Going down is so much easier.  We made our way back to the farm and enjoyed another terrific dinner with the family and new found friends.   

The volunteers told us of a local rodeo happening at the farm where the boys went horseback riding.  We decided to attend the event that was scheduled to begin at 3:00pm.  The first rider crossed the wire at 4:10pm after a 18.9 second run around the barrels.  Calvin took the pictures and this beautiful blonde was nowhere near the best but she is the only rider that we have pictures of ??? .  It was a lot of fun and most of the town had turned out to cheer on family and friends. 

It was difficult to say good bye to our new family at the farm but we were on our way to Istanbul, Turkey where very different, but new experiences awaited.  We left late in the morning for a hotel near the Rome airport in the small town of Fiumicino for an early morning flight the following day to Istanbul.  The hotel was fine but it didn’t have a restaurant and we really felt like a non-home cooked meal.  We unpacked the minimum amount possible and went to search for some lunch.  We drove into the local town and circled the area until we found an all you can eat Japanese place that was unbelievable.  

The boys tried just about everything on the menu. We were stuffed and went home to kick back for a while.  We finished our Italy time with some tiramisu and gelato not knowing if we would see either again on this trip.

I thought to myself that there’s no knowledge of the Turkish language in our family as we drove to the airport and I can’t say it wasn’t without some apprehension when we boarded the flight to Istanbul. 

Ciao Italia – we had a great time!

Brief summary of our Italian encounters

Venice to Fucecchio to Florence to Pisa to Fucecchio to Pompeii to Castellabate to Paestum to Naples to Castellabate to Rome to Vatican to Sora to Rome

1,925km - 24 hours of driving not including city time

Best experiences:  Seeing Venice for the first time by boat; Cooking class in Florence; Italy beating Slovenia; holding up the Leaning Tower of Piza; strolling the streets of Pompeii; eating Pizza at the world’s first pizza joint; cruising the Amalfi coast; discovering the origins of mooning; the Colosseum; horseback riding in Sora, and; making lots of new friends

Best accommodation: Venice for the romance (yes, romance), Sora for the company, peace and quiet, Florence for the food, Castellabate for the company & view and Rome for the location and the history.

Best meals:  Too many to list: Japanese in Fiumicino, Pasta in Tuscany, Chinese in Rome and traditional Italian in Castellabate

Best desert: Tiramisu courtesy of ourselves and gelato everywhere but especially Grom in Venice

Bested by an animal… NOT this time but run-ins with the following: 2Pigs / 3Horses / countless bunnies / Bazillion Wasps / 1Donkey / 3Chickens’ /100s of stray dogs.

Best cathedrals: St Peters

Best repeated new phrase: “We……(pause)…..INVeNTed  EVERythinG” 

Best city: Venice, Florence and Rome

Best beaches: Castellabate