Away from farming and art, the family’s hobbies include ballroom and Latin dancing, found art and fashion, traditional Japanese taiko drumming, and cooking. Trina and Samuel joined an intensive ballroom dance camp in America in 2010 and participated in the Tokara Wadaiko Bootcamp in Nagano, Japan, in 2005, conducted under the guidance of Art Lee, who was an all-Japan winner of the Solo Odaiko competition. When the occasion arises, Trina also likes to upholster and repurpose old furniture and to make children’s apparel. 

We enjoy welcoming guests to the farm. Many visitors to the farm are impressed with Samuel’s cooking skills, even if it is just simple, home-style dishes. Increasingly our food is homemade: pasta, gelato, bread, eggs, tomato sauce, mayonnaise, jams, honey, relish, peanut or pistachio butter. 

Visitors also greatly enjoy the chance to learn mosaics and painting with Trina. Above all, though, visitors come here in pursuit of a rich Italian experience alongside local Italian farmers still pursuing a lifestyle tied into tradition and nature, which many have long since left or forgotten in heading for the metropolis. 

We want both to foster strong local community ties and to introduce people from around the world to the joys of olive farming, olive oil, and a life in tune with nature. In pursuing the second aim we have sought to offer a kind of homestay programme. We invite people here at all stages in their life journey and offer them the chance to experience the Italian countryside, organic products straight from the garden, wild foraging, and traditional harvests all in a relaxed and convivial setting where we share time, experiences, thoughts, and dreams. 

We have a great reputation as hosts, evidenced by the number of people who return year after year; by the positive feedback guests have offered; and by the occasional profile in newsletters and blogs for young people travelling the world. 

Together in Italy, we want not only to produce a world-class oil, but also to foster an environment in which young people can see and experience firsthand the joys of a farm life in Italy; which in offering something raw and pure respects our common origins, our shared traditions, and above all the joy in nature which surrounds us. The local community helps us in our endeavours and proudly shares their knowledge, their methods and techniques, to promote the region and its heritage. 

We like doing as much as possible outside: meals overlooking the valley, picnics under the great oak tree in the fields, the outdoor white Carrara marble bath. Many guests have now experienced this grand bath hidden on a leafy natural terrace down in the gardens either early in the morning as the steam rises off the hot water or later at night when it is all dark and you are surrounded by gently flickering candles. It is hard to experience something which is more peaceful and relaxing: gradually you feel one with the surrounding countryside.

The enjoyment is not dissimilar when we go wild swimming in the large natural pond – although it is possible only when the water levels are high enough; and rain has been sorely missed these last few years. (If you haven’t read Waterlog by Roger Deakin then it is an excellent, genre-creating book that reminds us about the wonder of nature and how far we have now removed ourselves.) Occasionally there are races across the pond to the island on the far side.

Beside the pond is a small open BBQ and some nights we all collect there to grill vegetables or other dishes in the dark under the stars — no pollution here to hide the wondrous sky — gathered around the fire, gazing into the flames and smoke, faces red with the heat.

In our daily lives to date we have focused simply on our passions and quickly moved possessions along when no longer needed or central to our activities. We are fans of thrifting, markets, and barter; and overall we believe in removing unnecessary items and avoiding excessive waste. We live fully in the moment, if with a certain eye on the future

To reduce his carbon footprint, Samuel has never bought or owned a car and depends heavily on walking, public transport, or combining with others. At certain points in his life this has meant a daily commute up to 15km (9 miles) on foot. We are always amazed how we can, if willing, manage a lifestyle that minimises unnecessary movement and so focus simply upon what is important; and, in doing so, come to know better and appreciate more our actual surroundings, which we discover grow in meaning through the process. As the film director and writer, Werner Herzog, has often emphasised: ‘the world reveals itself to those who travel on foot’.