Life on a Tuscan Farm

Our wonderful garden manager Carmen has finished the massive, and beautiful, project that is the Spannocchia Erbario. The Erbario is made up of wild herbs, collected by Carmen on the Spannocchia property, which have been carefully cataloged (including the latin name, family and Italian name) and placed in a book handmade by one of our Book Making program participants, Jennifer Storey. We would like to thank The Maine Audubon program participants for their generous donation towards the creation of the Erbario.

The Erbario will be on display for guests and visitors alike in the villa library. Thank you again to Carmen for her patience and knowledge in the assembly of this fascinating book!

Spannocchia is looking for long term winter volunteers! This winter we will be taking three volunteers for both farm work and salumi/butchering experience. Farm volunteers will stay the duration of winter (3 months) while butchering volunteers will stay on for one (1) month. A quieter time of year here at the farm, Tuscany has a certain magic about it once it gets cold out. For those looking for a bit of tranquility and a lot of hard work in the the company of our permanent Spannocchia community, click here for more information and the application (don’t worry, its brief!).

Spannocchia played host this past weekend to a gorgeous event…the wedding of Catherine Detalle and Antoine Carle. Following a service at San Galgano, the happy couple was joined by 120 friends and family, most of whom made the trek down from various parts of France as well as the USA and beyond to dine and dance in front of the Villa. The weather held, after a very brief sprinkle early in the afternoon, and made for an idyllic setting as the sun set behind the hills and candles were light. The bride and groom were elegant as can be while taking full advantage of all the fun to be had. Festivities lasted till the wee hours and were followed up the next day by more delicious food at brunch, again, on the villa lawn. Family and friends have remained after the wedding to take advantage of the surrouding area, relax and enjoy the happy after-effects of the fun. Felicitazioni from the Spannocchia family to Catherine and Antoine…it was a pleasure and honor to have been a part of such a special day. Come back again soon!

A presto!

A nice piece in the Christian Science Monitor about environmental/experiential learning in the US and beyond using Shelburne Farms as an example and including a nice bit on Spannocchia as well…read it here!

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Spannocchia is on the wires again! A nice little piece about a journalist’s experience at Spannocchia is up on Examiner.com. Click here to have a look!