san cassiano
Andrea Di Muccio
Mural paintings by Tono and Guiliana
Giuliana, Tono,and Luna
Fonseca
Tono
Portraits of Rosanna, her late husband, and Genevra done by Tono and Giuliana
A dwarf apple tree
Genevra mural done by Tono and Guiliana
Genevra
After parting ways with Laura in Napoli Centrale I waited for the train to Piedimonte Matese, home of the Slow Food movement, but not before getting hustled by a little old lady who got €2 out of me “per caffe.” I conversed fairly easily with the ticket checker on the train who spoke no English and also wrote out some postcards. I was met by Andrea and his brother Vittorio at the train station and then brought to beautiful San Cassiano. I was a bit disappointed to find out that the only other WWOOFer was leaving that afternoon, but all in all it was a very nice time getting to know my host family and various guests as well as being able to have a lot of solo time to reflect and practice my Pimsleur Italian recordings. My first meals, as well as all the rest, were unforgettable, and being able to eat with a large group of family and friends three times a day is the absolute best. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the fried zucchini flowers we had on my first night, the most perfect eggplant parmesan I’ve ever had, or any of the delightful dolce we devoured.
On my very first day Andrea taught me about the permaculture methods used on the farm and also gave me a basic overview of the crops. The farm is quite large and has such variety in what they grow: wheat, barley, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, squash, zucchini, various salad greens, chard, bell peppers, onions, garlic, green beans, peas, cucumbers, strawberries, melons, raspberries, apricots, plums, apples, lemons, cherries, pomegranates, wine grapes, and olives. There are also many animals including horses, dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits, geese, sheep, ducks, fish, and frogs. In addition to the farm, the family also has a restaurant and B&B; agritourism is a very popular concept in Italy that usually incorporates some combination of growing, selling, or preparing food and providing some sort of accommodation.
HOSTS
The Di Muccio family and the frequent visitors and workers were a pleasure to spend time with. I wish I could have known more Italian during my stay there so I could express myself accurately and communicate with them on a deeper level, and am so grateful for their hospitality and patience with the communication process.
Rosanna-Matriarch of San Cassiano
Rosanna spoke no English and we shared a lot of mutual confusion together when I helped set the table or worked with her in the garden. She is a loving woman who has a very deliberate nature, from the way she works in the garden, kitchen, or even when setting the tables. Rosanna has an uncanny ability for knowing just how much food to cook and keeps her kitchen both spotless and religiously organized. I will never forget the day she said “siamo finito mi amo” when we finished polishing silverware together and I am so sad that I misunderstood the departure and arrival dates for her trip to London and did not get to say goodbye. I appreciated her company during World Cup games and was excited to see her get pretty into it despite her feeling that soccer players make too much money for “doing nothing.”
Andrea-Son of Rosanna, father of Genevra
Andrea is an extraordinary chef who spent many years in culinary school and continued to study cooking in Spain so he can speak Spanish fluently and some English. He, as I have learned is true with all farmers, is happiest when sunshine is in abundance and when he is able to accomplish a lot in the field or cook what he likes. He is also very happy when he is around Valentina and Genevra or with the animals. Andrea taught me so much about his methods and the various crops in such a short amount of time and always made sure I had time to relax or do something fun. The most beautiful thing he said was when I asked him how long he’s been working on the farm was “when my father died in a car crash while I was traveling Europe, I come home help my mother. I like life here, it’s slow, but good. When I want to see the world, I buy the ticket and I go. But I always come back here.”
Valentina-Mother of Genevra
Valentina is a wonderful mother and is responsible for organizing everything with the WWOOFers and WWOOF program. Before Genevra was born she studied French, German, and English in school and also developed her love of cake-making. On my first day she showed me the binder documenting all the WWOOFers who have stayed at San Cassiano and made a delicious Black Forest Cake on which she used a real leaf to mold chocolate with. I was ecstatic when I found out she and Andrea also love Game of Thrones and some of my favorite memories with them include our discussion of what we think will happen next season on GOT and who we are all rooting for, when we all went to a friend’s pool together during one of the hottest siestas, and when Valentina brought me to Rosanna’s sister’s house to watch the USA VS Portugal game since the public channel didn’t show it.
Genevra-1.5 year old daughter of Andrea and Valentina
Hands down the most animated child I have ever met. Genevra’s favorite words are currently “no!” and “go away!” (in Italian). I was in stitches when Rosanna nick-named her “Signiorina No” I loved practicing Italian with her because we had almost the same level of understanding and playing with her in the dining room or outside was always a blast. My favorite memory with Genevra was when we spent the day at the pool. She got chocolate ice cream all over her face, and on the car ride back to the house she stuck her head out of the window with me, smiling, waving, and saying “ciao!” to people on the sidewalks.
John Vittorio-Brother of Rosanna
I didn’t see much of John Vittorio. He did not live at the main house or dine with us and only came in the early morning and late afternoon to tend to the animals. But without fail, he would always cheerfully yell “Angé! Buongiorno!” at me every morning.
Vittorio-Son of Rosanna, brother of Andrea
Even though he was only around during my first weekend I spoke with Vittorio a lot in Spangliano and noticed how thoughtful and cognizant of others he is. He described one of a former WWOOFer’s daily schedule of working, writing, and working when he found out I was blogging and he stayed up to watch the Italy VS England game with me even though I could tell he wasn’t really that interested.
Tono, Giuliana, and Luna
Giuliana is Rosanna’s niece and Andrea’s cousin. Her and Tono are both artists who travel to different places to complete commissioned work, usually painted urban murals and they have an adorable baby, Luna. I don’t know how they met but Tono is from the Canary Islands, speaks a bit of Italian and English in addition to Spanish and has one of the most friendly faces. He likes Tokimonsta and SBTRKT and was intrigued by the iPhone-in-bowl trick that I taught him to amplify the sound. You can access their website here.
Fonseca
Fonseca is a pal of Tono’s from Canary Islands and served as my PIC during my first five days on San Cassiano before their departure back home. I’m not sure how he and Tono know each other but I do know that they both surf. I practiced spanish with Fonseca while we worked on restoring some window shutters together and found out that he, Tono, and most residents of Canaria are vegetarian or vegan. I noticed he only liked the non-frizzante water and had a ritualistic way of rolling his cigarettes. On their last day, Tono told me that Fonseca called me his friend after our days of teamwork on the restoration project—right on! Before their departure I took some of my favorite portraits to date of Fonseca and Tono, shown above.
Tony
Tony was the first WWOOFer who left on the day of my arrival. He is a Sicilian native who studies architecture and has been working on various sustainable building projects throughout Italy. He speaks perfect English after spending several years in Australia and New Zealand and a good amount of Spanish. While he was packing I noticed he had a pile of five or so hacky sacks and really likes Queen and Tenacious D.
WWOOF WWOOF
I learned very quickly that a thunderstorm is tempestra in Italian and for the first few days of my stay at San Cassiano there was much tempestra action and, therefore, little farm work. Instead, Fonseca and I worked on restoring the window shutters for the guest house which involved using a heat gun to loosen the old paint enough to scrape off and then sanding them down. The mask I wore during the project had me feeling like one of the Sand People from Star Wars and the work was surprisingly very rewarding. When I did make my way into the garden and farm I helped prune leaves and collected them for the compost, swept the gazebo and driveway areas, picked apricots and plums, and my main project was to tend to the tomatoes. In all parts of the main garden where produce is grown, it was crazy to see how close everything was growing next to each other insieme with the weeds, it was a good mental note that not much space is necessary for successful biodiversity. I left San Cassiano wanting to learn so much more about permaculture and understand now why two weeks is the minimum WWOOF requirement. I loved seeing that everything on the farm had a purpose and coexisted beautifully together, and I was truly amazed at how little went to waste in the field and kitchen. Even bread there, and in most of Italy it seems, is used as a napkin to wipe a plate clean.
There are three types of tomatoes that grow on San Cassiano: San Marzanno, Cuore di Bue, and one Andrea didn’t know the name of. My biggest project was weeding around the tomato plants, pruning, and “fixing” them to the bamboo posts to make them grow vertically. Andrea taught me that leaving the weeds in the center of the rows of tomatoes is great for the nutrient content of the soil, they just need to be pulled away from the crops for survival purposes. The lack of chemicals used and the variety of what is grown there were highly noticeable in our diet; we ate such a diverse selection of food featuring so many imperfectly perfect veggies and fruits that always left me feeling happy and satisfied. One of the most rewarding things I noticed during my time at San Cassiano was how symbiotic the relationship between me, us, the plants, the “pests”, and the animals really is and how rooted I think it is in our psyche somewhere, even without any prior knowledge or experience. I was surprised at how quickly I came to identify all the plants, trees, and different kinds of weeds and how instinctively I was able to figure out what the heck was going on in and above the soil.
