Agritourism

Agritourism was the focus of two of our class readings:

"The Practical Aesthetics of Traditional Cuisines: Slow Food In Tuscany" Mara Miele and Jonathan Murdoch. Sociologia Ruralis 42 (4), October 2002, pp. 312-328.

"For a 'Piece of Bread'? Interpreting Sustainable Development through Agritourism in Southern Tuscany" Roberta Sonnino. Sociologia Ruralis. 2004 vol.44(3):285-300

We were lucky to see for ourselves several of the issues that were brought up in the readings during our visits to 3 agriturismo sites: Poggio Alloro, Fattoria di Bacheretto and Spannochia. Below you'll find some pictures and fieldnotes about the three sites.

Spannocchia Farm

March 1, 2012

Laura 

We arrive in Spannocchia at 10AM and are greeted by our Irish guide, Katie. She gives us a brief summary of what we’ll be learning during the day and then leads up a path towards a very old tower. We run into Cody, a winter volunteer, who has stayed on from last year. Spannocchia takes twenty-four young, North American student volunteers for an 88-day cycle in the winter or spring each year. Spannocchia was part of the mezzadria system of Tuscany. The tower, where the landowner would live to survey his property was built in the 12th century. At the height of Spannocchia, forty families lived and worked the land, sharing their produce with the landowner. The homes they once lived in are now rented out for agritourism. During the mezzadria period, Spannocchia was self-sufficient. Everything the workers or landlord needed was made on the farm. At one point, Spannocchia even made its own linen. Katie informed us that Spannocchia is now much more democratic, though it still has young people working the land for room and board. The farm is organic and sustainable in everything they do. Katie said, “Everything we do is a nod to tradition,” in reference to how they work the land and how they raise their animals. All of the animals at Spannocchia were once almost extinct, specifically the Cinta Senese and the Calvana, a sub-breed of the famous Tuscan cow. At Spannocchia there are also donkeys from nearby Mount Amiata, which are used mostly as carriers.

We have seen the Cinta Senese pig depicted in medieval Tuscan art, most notably in Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s painting on the well-governed city in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena (1337-40). Between the 16 and 1700s, the Cinta Senese met with great competition when Chinese breeding stock was introduced to the region. This new breed put on weight faster and could be kept in smaller pens since it didn’t need to roam. The Cinta Senese is a foraging pig and gains and loses weight with the seasons which means that it cannot be raised industrially. Because of this, the breed almost went extinct. Today, there are strict rules governing the breed. The five general characteristics mentioned by Katie were the cinta, or belted white around the shoulders onto the legs, the floppy ears that protect the eyes during foraging, specific measurements for the size of the pig as well as a single curl in the tail. The Sienese consortium of the Cinta pig strictly regulates the pigs, and helps match up the pigs of different farmers to breed. The consortium also helps in the marketing of the final products. The latest owners of Spannocchia bought their first two Cinta Senese to start breeding in 1994 and now the breed is much more stable. They are organic, and have also obtained a DOP label.

We were lucky enough to meet Doriano, the breeding boar. There is only ever one breeding boar, while the other males and females are castrated or fixed. Doriano wore two earrings, which held all of his genetic coding, as well as that of his parents. This information would also be found on the label of the final product. Katie informed us that only breeding boars get named. She made it very clear that Spannocchia is not a zoo, it is a place where animals are raised in a humane way and then killed to become an energy source for humans. This reflects the Slow Food idea that in order to preserve biodiversity, we must consume it in a thoughtful manner. Just as Doriano was turning on his water hose, Katie explained that pigs are very intelligent. Because it was going to be 19 degrees Celsius that day, Doriano was making a mud paste to act as a sunscreen so he wouldn’t get sun burnt. In a few months, Doriano will have free reign to go about procreating naturally. His sperm will not be used to artificially inseminate any other pigs in order to avoid inbreeding in future generations.

Female Cinta Senese produce between 5-15 piglets a litter, but the ideal number falls at 8 or below because of the number of teats for feeding. The gestation of these animals is short, three months, three weeks and 2 days. The mother is allowed to go about the birth naturally and only when she does not return for food the next day do the workers know she has given birth. They then bring her and the piglets back to the open pens and allow them to nurse for 45 days. The Cinta Senese are kept in pens depending on their sex and age. These pens are large and open, but the pigs are also let out to forage. Because the farm is located in an environmentally protected forest, no permanent fencing is allowed. Sometimes a wild boar will roam into the territory and mate with an uncastrated female. Though the product is delicious, Katie said, it isn’t marketable as pure Cinta Senese. This is why it is so important to fix the pigs if they aren’t going to be used for breeding.

The pigs are fed with a natural feed made on the farm. It’s tailored to the needs of each pig, but contains black beans, wheat and barley. The pigs are also only given natural supplements for ailments. For instance, tumeric is used for gas, and arnica is used for skin issues. If the pigs aren’t eating the bean, wheat, barley mix, they’re eating slop from the tables, but never any meat scraps. It was interesting when Katie said that the pigs hated artichokes, asparagus, onions, leaks, garlic, and citrus and that they would leave little piles of everything they didn’t want to eat on the side of their eating dish. The third way in which pigs eat is through foraging. From September to March, the pigs forage for mushrooms, truffles, worms, chestnuts and so one. They are slaughtered between September and April, but not at Spannocchia. Instead, they are killed in an incredibly humane manner at a slaughter-house in Colle di Val d’Elsa, 15 kilometers up the road. The pigs are loaded into a clean, new trailor with food and water Sunday evening to create an environment that is non-stressful for the pig. The pigs are slaughtered first thing in the morning when only organic slaughtering is done. Riccio, the farm manager, gets his pigs in first because he doesn’t want their pigs to even hear other pigs being slaughtered. The pigs are stunned, then a retractable pin is shot into their brain. The throat is then slit as the pig is hung and finally, the pig is steamed and rubbed through rollers to take the hair off. This process takes about three or four hours. Every piece of the animal is returned to Spannocchia except the hair. This, as Katie said, is the embodiment of the Tuscan utilitarian culture. Everything is used, nothing goes to waste.

Following this we went into the main house for a meat tasting. We tasted six different meats, but this all started with Katie drawing a pig on the board. She showed us where we were eating from, how it was made and had us look for specific flavors and textures. First up was lardo, which is the back fat of the pig. Surprisingly, it did not taste fatty at all and left no filmy after taste. It literally melted in your mouth. Lardo at Spannocchia is made by placing layers of fat with layers of salt and layers of herbs and allowing it to cure. The lardo we ate was sliced very, very thin. Next we tasted Pancetta, which is the belly fat. Pancetta was earthy and full in flavor and much saltier than the lardo. The pancetta is salted for three days then moved to a second room to cure for two months. Following this was the prosciutto, which comes from the hind legs. It is common for prosciutto to smell like its environment, but my mouth was watering so much that I just ate the sample on my plate. The legs are rubbed with wine vinegar and garlic to remove the germs. The meat is then massaged daily for weeks to remove all of the blood. This process is key. It is not possible to take a day off from deeply rubbing the meat. After this process is complete, the prosciutto is washed of the salt and rubbed in an elixor of liquid lard. Katie also showed us a wittled horse femur, which is a tool to poke the leg to test whether the meat is curing properly or not. It absorbs the smells, but then they quickly dissipate. After this was the capicola, which is from just behind the pigs head. The muscles are rolled into sausage shapes—round—and given a similar treatment as the prosciutto. Katie said, “you are what you eat, as applied to the cinta senese.” This is so true. Everything the pig eats, how it is raised, slaughter and so on, impacts the final product of the Salumi. Last, but not least, we met the meat that made Katie want to take the job at Spannocchia. Sopressatta is predominantly from the head. It is a fresh meat that has been cooked. All of the elements of the head are boiled down and the edible parts are then stuffed in a cotton casing. The meat is stored over night and ready to be eaten the next day. There are medieval spices like cardamon, cloves, cinnamon, salt, pepper and lemon used to flavor the meat. These are the same spices used in the Sienese dessert, panforte.

Fattoria di Bacchereto

2/24/2012

Lana

After our long and windy car ride to Fattoria di Bacchereto we stepped off the bus to a beautiful view overlooking a valley. After we let our stomachs settle we took pictures and finally focused our attention on the group of men who were patiently waiting for us.

An old man in an argyle sweater began to explain to us his growing process of the grapes. His explanation completely mesmerized me for I could tell he was very passionate about his job. He spoke in a way that reminded me of a children’s book, using fantastical images and explanations to describe simple and seemingly mundane tasks.

He began by describing their fertilizing process, which involved using legumes and manure to create nutrients in the soil. He went on to describe the watering process. They get a huge vat of water and then stir this water with copper sticks that are tied with willow branches. They stir and stir the water creating a magnetic reaction that somehow makes the water more nutritious. Our translator told us that he said the magnetic reaction happened because of magic from the moon that came down into the water. As he told us about this he had a huge grin on his face, and I really believe that he believed in this magic from the moon. They then spray the water on the ground using large metal canisters. The fertilized dirt along with the magic water apparently help the grapes grow.

After he finished telling us about the growing process he led us inside to give us a tour. We first stopped in a room that held about 20 barrels. The old man explained to us that this is where they make the Vin Santo, which is a sweet dessert wine. The room held different varieties of wine, each one aged for a different amount of time. He said that Vin Santo must be aged for at least ten years. All the Italians laughed when he said that some places age it for only 2 years, because that doesn’t count as real Vin Santo. After that he led us into a small room and showed us a bunch of jars that were filled with different seeds. These were the legumes that he mentioned earlier that were part of the fertilizing process.

The owner, a woman named Rossella Bencini Tresi, finally joined us. She took us into a larger room with wine barrels and told us about her story and how she got into the business. She talked about her wine, Terre a Mano She also talked about when she started and how she had trouble getting used to the amount of chemicals they were adding to the wines. When her father had run the company in the 1970s he wanted to sell wine at any cost. When he died and she took over the company, people were constantly telling her what to do and what chemicals to add. Finally she was so fed up with not knowing what was going on that she decided to make biodynamic wine. She stayed up all night learning what she needed to do, and Terre a Mano was born. She chose the name Terre a Mano because it created a closer connection to the earth. The literal translation meaning, “land by hand” draws on the mezzadria system when families would work the land with their own hands. She liked this name because it connected the wine with a classical feeling of wine. Wine that comes from the earth.

After we spoke with Rossella we were shown into a large room with food set out for us. Behind this room was a smaller room with a fire where the old man who had been talking to us before was toasting bread over an open fire. He brought out the bread, coated with olive oil and garlic and we eagerly put tomatoes on it and munched away. This was one of the best things I have had in Italy so far. The texture of the bread was unbeatable and the tomato taste was pure and true. The wine was delicious and perfectly complemented our snacks. We stood around for a while, talking to the different workers and asking them questions about what they did.

I found myself talking to a man who had a sample of some of his dried figs. This region of Carmignano was approached by Slow Food to create a presidia to preserve their tradition of drying figs. He explained that the figs were purified using sulfur and then set out on straw to dry out in the sun. There are no additives to these figs and they are dried only with sun. He had two types of figs, ones that were cut in half and then pressed onto another set of figs with bay leaves and fennel seeds, and ones that are never cut open and dried all the way through (which takes a lot longer). This man, Pietro, was very similar to the man from the beginning in that he was very passionate about his job. Needless to say I bought a bag of figs for my family and stashed couple in my pocket on my way out. 

Field Notes: Poggio Alloro

March 11, 2012

Ellie 

            Poggio Alloro is just one of many farms that dot the Tuscan countryside, but its attitude towards agritourism is what brought us there. From the outside, the “facility” is a modest looking home turned attraction with separate bathrooms located outside, with spectacular views of the surrounding area from the hill the farm sits upon. There are several dogs who have free reign around the property, and a few men outside coming and going, doing various farm tasks.

            The tour starts, we are guided by a young woman named Gloria, and the smell of manure and animals almost immediately hits the nose. It is warm and familiar smelling; paired with the lovely afternoon sun heating up the ground, the aromas are simultaneously pungent and comforting. In between rows of olive trees grow a variety of lettuces, nestled inside tall grasses and bathed in afternoon sunlight. Beyond the olive groves, other fields of trees and grapes can be seen passing under the shadow of the hills nearby. Poggio Alloro cultivates many herbs, including saffron, which yields little of the desired product compared to the number of saffron plants that grow here.

            The farm strives to sustain itself using only the materials from the property and its available resources, excepting materials needed for building new facilities, equipment for wine making, etc. Willow branches get collected and are used to tie off vines in the vineyards. Their bottling center is fairly large and the equipment inside looks new and clean, despite the amount of production that takes place. They can bottle four varieties of wine in this machine, a Tuscan red, a Tuscan white, chianti, and the famous Vernaccia wine that is local to the region. Their wine is typically sold by the bottle, but people from neighboring towns can come and fill their own damigiana if they wish, which is cheaper than buying bottles when sold by the liter. At the farm, they plant roses and artichokes at the end of the rows of grapes because they are the first to be affected by fungi and certain pests; the farmers can react to the infestation before the grapes are subject to harm.

            Next on the tour was the barn where they kept the cows. The breed they have here is called Chianina cattle, which are all white and massive in size, local to the Tuscany region. They prefer to have these cows here because they are native to the area. Gloria explained that they have 20 female cows for reproducing, through artificial insemination, and 30 male and female cows for slaughtering. Poggio Alloro slaughters 20 cows per year. The slaughtering is done off site, but the packaging and preparing is done on site at Poggio Alloro. They also have other cows that are used for working and tasks done on the farm; these are kept in a different areas of the barn and have special “privileges” that the other cows do not have.

            After the tour, we began the tasting in a warm room, complete with hanging, aging prosciutto and a fire going in the hearth. We were served two different types of pecorino cheese, a salame, their prosciutto, and each of the wines produced on site. After our plates were refilled several times and the wine was all gone, we finished with homemade cantucci and vin santo, a very Tuscan way to end the meal.