Italy Lodging

As my first day in the Masseria Genovese developed I realized that I was locked in behind the gates. Alone in the place, I climbed the stairs and took pictures from one easily accessible roof. I noticed a pool that I had not seen the night before, and I also realized that I would have to walk a lot to get to any city or village from here. All around are farms of olive trees and I could see only a few trulli and regular houses scattered in the distance. Eventually Gianfranco, the owner of the Masseria Genovese (now a B&B) returned with Minerva, the new volunteer from Catalunya (Spain). She is a cute, smart, friendly and energetic 18 year old, which he originally thought was 21.  She is also here to practice Italian and she is very good at it. She studied the grammar, something I did not do, and we tried to speak Italian with each other, even if she does speak English well. Happy to have a good chance to practice the language with everyone! Gianfranco’s girlfriend, Maria Teresa, is a lawyer in Bari and she arrived a few days after us. The coming Saturday they had a party for about 30-40 people. A couple of guests also stayed for the night (140Euro per room). Until the party, things were relatively good Masseria Genovese, except for being unsure of our day off in the beginning. The workaway page he has tells of an expected 5 hours per day of work. One comment by a person that volunteered here before mentioned an agreed 25 hours per week of work, which seems to indicate two days off. Later, when we realized we are not given enough tasks in time to work the 5 hours straight, and learned that we were expected to work in the afternoon as well (after Gianfranco took his nap) we asked about the schedule. We were anxious to do some exploring of the surrounding areas and eventually schedule a trip to Alberobello. We found out that the 5 hours posted were now expected to be 6, and scheduled in such a way that we are at his disposition all day long, with no real time to plan life apart from here. Also, we were going to only have Sunday off, one day per week, as opposed to what he had agreed to with others before us. To make matters worse, his flirting with Minerva made me uncomfortable. He and his girlfriend would also argue loud, on the phone at first, and later in person. Jealousy was involved, but they were civilized around us and would go far to argue or stopped when we were on site. Gianfranco did not want to tell us his age, although he knew ours. He said he is younger than 50 and his girlfriend, Maria Teresa, much older. He said during Minerva’s first night there, that he thinks he will have a child one day, but his girlfriend no longer can. Things got gradually stranger. Minerva was not concerned, as she regarded him to be too old for making a pass at her. She is smart and beautiful but young and inexperienced. The way he looked at her, laughed and touched her were obvious signs of trouble. When his “companion”, as he called Maria Teresa, was around I felt better, even with all their arguments. On the coming Saturday at the party, the work for us was easy, but we had to be available almost all day long. I took a nap at some point in the afternoon and he came to wake me up for doing some more electrical work for him. Generally, every day he would disappear for shopping, sometimes a few times a day, and he would not tell us what he wants done when we finish the first task. Mid-day he went to his rooms, where we had no access, probably for a nap, and we had to work again after he returned. The work was easy but many long hours of combined  work  and waiting for new tasks. On top of not having time off to plan going anywhere during the work days, we could not get too far alone, as the farm was in the middle of nowhere. At the party we set up the room and later picked up plates. We were treated like the other guests and could socialize and eat with them, as it was an open plate buffet. All went well until Minerva started speaking to Alan, a guy about her age. Gianfranco got mad and later spoke badly about the guy and all of his family. I do not know the guy but I met the sister and I liked her a lot. I also found out that the guy is first in the University in Rome, where he attends, and he speaks great English. How bad can he be? More likely, Gianfranco was jealous. Wow! Even before this Saturday, I realize now, things were a bit off. He would want to see what I do on the Internet and seemed bothered that I use it. I had to explain a few times who I write to and why I need the net. Later he even told me that he did not promise Internet. I told him that he had it checked on his page as having a good connection, and that if not, I would have not come here, as I need Internet for my life away from home. He made previous comments about checking my background on line before taking me here, and about other people of my ethnicity stealing from people they worked for. He offended me badly one day but I chose to let it go and take it as if it were a joke. He is also training all of his three big dogs to attack and kill. The camera outside the gate is another thing that shows how paranoid he is. Yet, he

Dirt under our nails, muddy shoes and dusty clothes, this is how we, the international volunteers at Agriturismo L’Arca in Belvedere Marittimo look today. Hiding in a valley between the hills of Calabria, away from the main road and the train rails, yet separated from them by just one row of hills, the “agriturismo” L’Arca is a jewel not many have discovered yet. “Agriturismo” is similar to a hotel or B&B with an attached farm. The farm here is on the hills and the accommodations are in modern rooms, each with its own bathroom. The restaurant can host up to 200 people and the terrazzo (patio) has a view that no words will do right to justify. The top of the surrounding hills are covered with old and older buildings (fortress and castle like walls included) clustered like grapes. They look like they all had to climb there for some obscure and secret reason. L’agriturismo L’Arca farm is on a lot of land and in my three days here I have still not discovered it all. It has green houses (with a lot of plants and fruits), fruit trees, a small pond with ducks and a lot of animals. I have discovered so far that a peacock, a pony, pigs, rabbits, sheep, goats, chickens, dogs and a cat share the address here. The building with the rooms and the restaurant is the highest building on the farm, while the pool area below that provides as much pleasure with its view as it does refreshing enjoyment in the summer’s sun. The lounge chairs by the pool are made to spoil and too soft and comfortable to leave. Below the pool area is the pizza restaurant surrounded by a garden on three levels. The two upper levels are for tables and chairs while the bottom one is designated to music and dance. The place will open on Friday and gelato was made and tasted today. I love the pistachio one! Most days we start at 7am picking eggplants, tomatoes, cucumbers and fruits. Today that would have been OK if not for last night’s old movie with Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins dubbed speaking Italian. I absolutely had to see how it ended, as Brad was going to take Anthony with him to the land of death. My problem was that he did not do that until midnight. My few hours left to sleep made me grouchy in the morning but I guess that watching a young Brad speaking Italian was worth it. Was it? The man working here starts his day even earlier in an effort to escape the summer’s hot sun. They hoe the soil, weed, dig for potatoes and tend to the animals. We all eat half an hour past noon and clean after that. The afternoon is ours to explore, relax by the pool, connect with friends and family through the Internet, watch movies or simply sleep. Anna, the owner, is smart, friendly and very much liked by her employees. She loves the animals and the farm, and envisioned and built the whole place from the ground up. She seems to concentrate on the farm more than advertising for tourists and the L’Arca website does not do her much good, as even the pictures do not depict the whole and real beauty of the place and the area. Her site needs a lot more work and I do not really know yet why she chooses to overlook that. I am newly arrived and I do not know her business and struggles just yet. It amazes me the huge project she took over. I admire her greatly. She is modest, unpretentious, real,  hard worker and smart. I hope that I will be able to help somehow. I am now in a wonderful place, a corner of paradise, surrounded by nice people, many of them Romanians. Funny, as I came to Italy this time to learn Italian. I avoided volunteering in hostels again, as last year I spoke too much English with guests in the hostel I volunteered at. A farm should have been a safer bet to meet and interact with locals. You think? Now I speak more Romanian and English and we are like in the tower of Babel as the translation goes through three languages at times. The roads of life’s adventure are amusing and unexpected. LOL

At the Gianni House hostel, we are fortunate to learn to cook Italian dishes as well as Italian language with Gianni. He speaks English well but he is happy to speak Italian to help us practice, and teach us the language. The Italian dishes he makes are delicious and I have already learned a few fresh and fast recipes that would cost a lot in a restaurant, where I would not even know the provenience and freshness of the products. Check the other post, Gianni, Our Master Chef, I did on cooking with Chef Gianni, as I detailed the whole process of cooking these mouth watering dishes. A few days ago we had an Italian cooking class and pasta party where we all enjoyed cooking, socializing and eating together. It was fun and we plan to do more of this at the request of our Gianni House guests. Gianni welcomes and enjoys the guests asking for cooking lessons and/or Italian lessons as we practice our language skills here. After the cooking class and the pasta party we went all together to the fabulous gelateria Go-Go, near Gianni House, and for 2 Euro had a cone filled with two big scoops of gelato. The pistachio and lemons are locally grown and that night I tried those flavors. We often go there and my friend, Yosette, has tried all the flavors and all the gelaterias in town already. Go-Go is still the best. My favorite flavor so far is the pistachio cake. Wow!

From the time I arrived at Gianni House I was spoiled with fresh home cooked Italian meals. In fact, one of my first new Italian words is  “viziare” (spoiled). Gianni is a fantastic chef and he made a few dishes that I would love to replicate someday, even if my chances at that are minimal, considering my talent for cooking. I normally offer to wash the dishes and buy food supplies but he normally goes on the hunt for food on the streets, as you never know where the local farmers park their fresh fruit and vegetable trucks. Please do not laugh at me! I wash the dishes well! And I will offer to attempt cooking some days. Although there have been some failed food experiments, like the salad I made a few days ago, where the taste and smell of onion followed us for a long day or two and made the salad’s memory unforgettable. Yet, at least if I cook it, I eat it. Burnt or tasteless I will eat it to the last drop, as my sweet grandmother taught me not to throw food in the trash. But how about I write here a few tips and tricks for making this delicious food you see in the pictures? The eggplant and yellow squash seems simple enough. He just cuts them in slices an bakes them on the grill (or oven if grill is not available). No oil, just salt, turning them on both sides until they are baked. Then he mixes a lot of small chopped garlic, parsley and pepper with olive oil and dips the baked eggplant in it, pouring the rest on top.  Presto! Food is done and it tastes delicious! The pasta with clams is another mouth watering story! The chopped garlic with pepper is fried in oil until the aroma is all around the kitchen. 🙂 Maybe two minutes. Then he added the clams and whatever the other shell food is and fried them a bit, maybe three minutes. In the meantime he boiled the pasta in water with salt and a bit of oil (just so they do not stick to each other but they get slick). He took some of the clams out of the shells, while waiting for the pasta to get half ready (al dente). When the pasta was half boiled he added it to the frying pan mix and cooked it there more, adding two full glasses of good white wine. Mixing the pasta with the  wine and lots of garlic, these foods are delicious. He also added the small tomatoes and some parsley just at the end, so they are still fresh and tasty. This is the taste of Heaven!