The Village
THE VILLAGE
A few months before my first trip to Italy,which was supposed to be after my divorce was final (not how it worked out of course) I was telling my son in law that one of the things I hoped to find was an organic farm to stay for a while. He said, “I worked on an organic farm in Italy, it’s amazing!” What are the odds? He sent me the name of the farm, and three trips later, I own property and land in Italy and amazing things are unfolding in this tiny little village. The wackiness of it all is very familiar. What’s different is that you’d think this would have been a dream at some point in my life. It wasn’t. Ever.
Italy Farm Stay is a family owned farm in Pescosolido. You can stay as a volunteer or a guest. Volunteers work on the farm with Giuseppe, the father, or in the kitchen preparing meals for the guests, volunteers and family with Maria, the mother. All the meals are made from food grown on the farm and dinner is served at 2 long tables where volunteers, guests all eat together with the Siragusa family.
Antonello is the son of Giuseppe and Maria and he is the one who turned the farm into a thriving business. Antonello and his family live on the farm. Yoga teachers from all over the world come to the farm and host retreats and teacher training. Antonello has restored property all over the town of Pescosolido to serve the yoga community but I did not know this when we met.
One night, Antonello arranged for a dinner at the “restaurant” which is actually an apartment in a mostly rundown village. Charming though, the way everything is in Italy. A lovely woman cooked dinner the Farm guests. It was confusing to me because I had a massage with Anna the day before and now we were at her “restaurant.” I thought she was hosting a dinner for visitors but it turns out Antonello provided an income opportunity for her by way of the restaurant.
The view from the apartment was spectacular. The photo above is the one I took that night. I asked our hostess how she’d found such a beautiful apartment because I couldn’t imagine how she even thought to look there. She said, “Antonello owns it, and I rent from him.” To myself I said, “He’s a real estate guy.” At least I think I said it. In hindsight, maybe it was said TO me because why would I care if Antonello is a real estate guy?
The next night at the farm dinner, I was seated next to Antonello and across from a Turkish banker. I said to Antonello, “So you’re a real estate guy.” He looked at me perplexed and said, “What makes you think that?” I told him how he obviously has an eye for special property. Antonello lit up the way people do when asked about their passion and he clearly was passionate about restoration in his village. He told me about the property that had been abandoned, the beautiful, sound limestone buildings throughout the village, and said “I don’t want to tear anything down, it’s beautiful, it’s our history and deserves to be restored and preserved.”
Hello, new BFF.
Antonello told me about the restoration they have done at the farm and about property he has purchased in nearby villages that he’s restored already or is in process of restoring. I was staying at the farm so his talent for restoration and renovation was obvious. Their yoga business was growing, and they needed more space to rent to guests but he could not buy and restore all the property he needed. He told me the price in Euro’s for abandoned property (as low as $1000 for an apartment + restoration costs which vary.) The Turkish banker listened in and encouraged me to only invest in already restored property. As if that is one ounce of fun! I told him that did nothing for my soul and with that, Antonello and I hopped into the farm van to go see the property in the village of Forcella, a five minute drive up the mountain.
The house Antonello showed me didn’t resonate with me but the village did. Like, THE VILLAGE. I knew that night that I was going to buy property because even if it didn’t work, it was a worthy investment just for the stories.
I left the farm the next morning and asked Antonello to keep me posted on property. I asked the sweet driver of farm guests, Mauro, to drive me up to the village before he took me to the bus. That village got under my skin, it made no sense but I could not get it out of my mind.
January 2018-Now What?
Antonello was in Thailand teaching yoga for 4 months, my divorce lingered on, so I sent him an email to let him know that I was still serious about property, but it would be a while. For whatever reason, probably vino, I blurted out that I could not stop thinking about the village, that it didn’t make sense. I didn’t know why I kept thinking about it blah, blah, blah and hit send.
Antonello responded as only an Italian could, “Ciao, dear, tell me what you are dreaming about, I want to hear all of it!” From that moment on, I knew I was meant to do something with the village. No clue what I was meant to do, but that’s my happy place. A blank canvas. My divorce was final three months later, and the first thing I did was book a ticket to Italy.