What's up with today's "Agriturismos" and where can one

Bill, my friend and I stayed in a fun agriturisimo in 2009. I think you'll find some in RS under "Sleeping" and you'll find agriturisim there. We are in our 60s and stayed at Italy Farm Stay. There are people of all ages and you interact and eat with the family. The rates are very, very economical. We paid around 44 euros or something like that. Right now, can't remember the exact amount but it was very economical. They offer yoga, horseback riding, hiking, cooking classes, cheesemaking class (which is quite interesting) etc. and are very friendly. The food is very good and made by Maria, the mom to Antonello, the owner. Their email is www.italyfarmstay.com. They are also on Facebook.
They were a few miles away from Sora (which is about 1-2 hrs from Rome) and are very accomodating. We also stayed in one in Sicily, The Limonetta, where we had a room in the midst of a lemon farm. It's a fun way to get to know the Italians and the families There are many in Tuscany also. So check out RS. Mary

In April, we stayed at Casa Frati, a great agritourisimo which was a working farm with many animals within walking distance of Pienza. It was a small apartment but also a B&B. Breakfasts were great! We paid 60 euros a night, but they also had just rooms to rent too. The setting was absolutely beautiful.

Bill, check out Agriturismo Marciano in Siena (outside the city walls). The rates are extremely reasonable and as you can see, the reviews on TA are great. I don't believe that they have a minimum stay (we stayed there 3 or 4 nights) but honestly I wished we had stayed there longer and I think one night would not do the experience justice; you will wish you'd stayed longer. It's a working organic vineyard and they also have olive trees from which they make their own olive oil. It's an old farmhouse that has been beautifully refurbished and I believe they only have 5 or 6 rooms. The rate includes breakfast served around the kitchen table and you can reserve optional dinners which are absolutely to die for. Most of the ingredients for the meals come out of their own garden or the local market and everything is fresh and tasty. They also pair each course with one of their wines. They offer a great agriturismo experience. I believe this is what you're looking for.

Many agriturisme aren't really set up for travellers that only stay for one night. If they are working farms it is a lot of work for them to deal with so many changing travellers, much easier to handle week-long stays next to their day-jobs on the farm! It also depends on when you're travelling. Some places will post a mininum stay on their website but if you're arriving during low season they often waive this requirement. It's worthwhile asking for a shorter stay if you're interested in the place.

Take a look at slowtrav.com

Slowtrav.com won't be much help for someone who's only looking to spend one night at each place. Nothing "slow" about that.

@Michael - sure, many of the slowtrav listings & reviews are for weekly rentals, but there are also places like this with daily rates: http://www.contradadurano.it/

It's not that I don't want to slow down during the time with the rental car between, say, Rome and Bologna. But I'm afraid of leaving from a home base to visit some place like Montalcino or Chianti when it's a 45 min. or more drive away. Did anyone see Rick with Adamo (Best of Europe Tuscany) tasting his wines in Montalcino? He tries to gently swirl but practically swishes the wine out if his glass in a tipsy spasm. He spent half the episode with a glass in hand. (Probably part of the reason why we really want to go there.) He had a driver. I won't. My wife is a terrible passenger and is only good for a few hours of drive time at a whack. By then we're ready to put the keys away for the rest of the day. So keep the recommendations coming as they are quite helpful (especially if I've already looked at their website previously) and a thorough list is nicely compiling. Keep in mind, please don't suggest an Agriturismo with "town car service", because that'll most likely be out of my price range and just make me sad.

Also, touching on what Beatrix said, which I totally get... If you've got 20 or more beds (very typical), the "Agri" part of the operation just HAS to be taking a backseat to the "Turismo" part. I don't want to sit in a dining room with 40 people. I want to help with the meal, peel some carciofi, grate some cheese, and have maybe eight, or ten including the owners, gathered around the hearth with the last of the vin santo.

Bill, as a fellow half Italian, having myself lived there, I will try to give you and others some perspective, on top of what others already mentioned. First, as with most of Europe, agriculture is changing a lot. Even if it hasn't grown to the scale of super farms in Iowa or Missouri, it has become more sophisticated and, despite all stereotypes, more technological. The small winery probably relies on latest weather forecast service, GPS precision monitoring of the grapes and so on. Second, costs and regulations have increased. There were many agriturismos disguised as lodges for illegal immigrants, and the government has cracked down upon then. This is the reason for which casual help in farm work is usually refused by farmers willing to say within the law. Third, the active generation of people owning farmland is likely educated and trained. No more old nonna who can't even read that well open her house to increase her income. It is quite intrusive the whole idea of you having strangers in your house, Italians born well after WW-2 also share that perception. Finally, to reinforce what others wrote, if an agriturismo is successful, it pays off to stop farming and dedicate yourself to lodge and hosteling. Farming can be smelling, dirt and noisy, so to rest the land and use it as a country estate increase the money you can make for it charging guests. If it is not successful, competition has made the market for dirt-cheap agriturismo just not worth the costs of legal compliance.

With all due respect, can you imagine how intrusive in a family a life of strangers wanting to "help with the meal, peel some carciofi, grate some cheese, and have maybe eight, or ten including the owners, gathered around the hearth with the last of the vin santo." is? Let alone the fact most people, the overwhelming majority, are not looking to help with the dishes of someone else when on the road?

take a look at budget travel magazines latest issue. article on small farm hotels in the piedmont. says its what tuscany used to be. quaint and off the tourist track.

That is compelling Andre. Perhaps, where it has already become so popular, and so many of these places have morphed into full-on hotels, they need to find a new category and name for them? It's obviously lucrative enough, because there are truly too many to choose from. If I would be considered an illegal, migrant worker for helping out and harvesting some fava beans (which I grow every winter with great success in my own little urban garden, I might add), maybe I'm just loaded with false notions. I'll have to blame it on Anthony Bourdain. He absolutely swooned over the Agriturismos he went to in Sardinia. Check out the first photo in this slide show: http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/Photos/sardinia-behind-the-scenes Intensely quaint, idyllic AND tiny. Charge me extra for a "Cooking Class", just let me use the wood-fired oven for a while. -------------------------------------- I obviously just have to go there first and check it all out, keep working on my Italian, then figure out how to make TV fantasies a reality. This is going to be a very expensive learning experience. Because there'd probably be no Travel Channel without him, I say "Curse you Rick Steves!"

Charge me extra for a "Cooking Class", just let me use the wood-fired oven for a while. I think we stayed at an agriturismo that was quite "authentic" and small. 3 apartments for a maximum of 12 guests. And the owners live in the building. And yes, I too loved using the wood fired oven. BUT - it was built there only for the tourists! the owners - a Tuscan couple in their 60s - had no idea how it functions and how to use it ....

Good luck in your search Bill, if such a place does exist, it will be a very well kept secret. In the case of Anthony Bourdain, I believe I read somewhere that his wife was from Sardinia so that particular show may have been more family and friends than reality for most of us... There are plenty of smaller agriturismos, many do a family style meal with the guests one or more nights a week, but the only for one night at a time may be the killer there. I would have to suggest that Italians do not for the most part believe in drinking to excess, so what you took for tipsiness on one show may have been nervousness at being filmed, not necessarily tipsiness. The smaller places that will take you for a week or so works out better for us as we like to get to know the people that we are staying with and if you are only staying for one night, that would be much more difficult. We also hate packing an unpacking all the time so prefer to be situated for a bit when we can and have good day trips. You may want to consider stays of a few days or more if you want to get to know the owners of a smaller agriturismo and participate in a more family atmosphere with them.

Yeah, that's his wife and aunt-in-law at the table. Trust me, I'm no stranger to my expectations not being met. I guess I really imagine BIG. Maybe this thread shoulda been titled: "Are there any Tuscan's out there who want to adopt a new uncle and show him around? I really do have some enviable cooking skills ^_^"
------------------------------------ And P.S. ~ I still say he looks too tipsy to drive.

I believe I may have found a solution! Tell me more of what you know about the special dinner nights at the smaller places, please... It may elicit another juicy topic idea for next weekend.

I will second Sheron's suggestion of Agriturismo Marciano. It was my favorite place to stay on our 4 week trip. Their optional dinners were the best we had in Italy, and gathering around the table and talking to everyone was so much fun. We stayed 4 nights and were the only people from the U.S. during the time we were there. They have 6 rooms. We paid 85€ per night last September. It seems like they serve dinner every other night. I doubt you will find a place willing to let you help out with dinner, but maybe you would enjoy taking a cooking class at some point on your trip. Good luck finding the right place for you.