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Merana is known as the village of ravioli and every year during the 2nd and 3rd weekend of June there is the “Sagra del Ravioli” where around 800 kg (1763 pounds) of ravioli is served to people who come from all over the region to taste them. But where do all these ravioli come from? […]

One of the things that made us immediately fall in love with our hill is the fact that our closest neighbor is a medieval tower. Centuries ago the village of Merana was build around the castle of San Fermo because from the hill they could track all movements in the valley and this was the

One of the benefits of being a farmer is that I get the chance to follow all kinds of free courses, ranging from learning how to handle the chainsaw, pruning walnuts to … learning to recognize wild plants and their use in the kitchen. We are always intrigued by people looking for delicacies in the

One of the specialties of our region is the “Robiola di Roccaverano”, a goat cheese that has very antique origins (first testimonials were more than a 1000 years ago).  There are a lot of goat farms in the neighborhood, but the one we visited on a lonely hill near the Erro valley is really unique.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had absolutely no clue about farming. Yes, during a herbalist training I learned about the benefits of lavender and other herbs, but nothing about growing them … and certainly nothing about having 25 000 lavender plants. I was superproud of us when we managed to finish planting

After we finished the guest apartments and the outdoor kitchen we started to run low on money and realized we wouldn’t be able to finish our own house. When we bought it, our house was just a big, unfinished storage space. Walls and a roof, that’s it. And on top of that, it wasn’t big

I was the kid that hid behind books. I remember one time, sitting in a corner with my huge glasses on, reading as always, when the teacher of a higher class came over and invited me to take books of his class, as he was sure I had read all those from my age group

After we renovated the 4 guest apartments it was time to start the other renovation projects. When we bought our property we knew it was a bit too small to realize everything we wanted. But we preferred having something too small and ad things too it, instead of having something that is too large and

The big change for us was not only moving from one country to another but also moving from a city with 200 000 inhabitants where you can live your life in anonymity to a village with 190 residents, where most of whom are related to each other and the word privacy doesn’t seem to mean

As some of you have already learned by reading other threads, there is a lot of bureaucracy involved in farming. Unfortunately I can not deny this, but there are reasons for all these seemingly exaggerated rules. As a farmer you can get a lot of fiscal benefits and grants, which means that people are motivated