Mountains and the Sea, Liguria

I next arrived at Casa del Sole, in a quiet valley south of Genova. Liguria is a very mountainous state and includes the cinque terre, and has many rivers and creeks reaching long fingered into the mountains creating these village dotted valleys. The farm, Casa del Sole, was a terraced farm close to two beach towns called Chiavari and Levanto. In the large three story house lived Massimo and Marco. Massimo, who owns the house and farm was a vegetarian who almost practiced a form of yoga and was usually singing operatically. He had farmed for about 25 years doing most work by hand. Marco was a recently arrived vegan and activist working with Massimo. His experience farming amounted to less than mine but knew about anything there was to know about trains in Italy, and had a super vocabulary which greatly increased my knowledge of Italian. 

We had some awesome vegan meals, I took a few trips to the beach, and learned so much about so many summer crops.  I also got some great vegan recipes and made the famous Genoan pesto (pesto genovese) with home made pasta. We would go to an organic market every Friday that Massimo had organized in a neighborhood of Genoa. We would prepare all the previous day for the market and then spend many hot hours under the umbrella selling and chatting to customers. The variety we had was spectactular :) 

Il Rosmarino, Veneto

At Dino's place in Cortona I met Nicoletta from the Venice area who told me about a Wwoof farm there. I went a week to visit the farm called Il Rosmarino and to see Venice. The farm was one of the last agricultural properties in an area that has been industrializing. They produced grains, fruits, and vegetables and had horses and donkeys. While I was there they were hosting a summer day camp for kids. It was a place with very interesting social dynamics, and in the week I was there I just began to figure out how everything was organized. They produced huge quantities of fruits and veggies which they sold at a market in Venice and in Mogliano. I made great friends while here. Above are Amir, Nicoletta, and Nelo. We were a very diverse bunch of all ages and places. Aside from helping with the farm work, I helped with the kids at the market and painted new signs for the farm.

Venice proper is a magical city, beautiful old buildings, tiny streets, plazas, canals, boats, bridges, etc.. Full of tourists, yes, expensive yes, but it gives you an idea of how cities felt like before we made cars the center of attention. Right outside of Venice are smaller cities with industry, factories, warehouses, ports, shopping centers and all the cement and confusion of modern developments that has not entered Venice. The area is also a place that has always recieved immigrants (legal or not) from the east: albanians, romanians, afghans, turks, iranians, ... and these immigrants are those who work on the farm, for example.