Casa familiare e giardino - rurale, Azienda agricola, Fattoria di famiglia

Catania
Casa familiare e giardino - rurale, Azienda agricola, Fattoria di famiglia
Casa familiare e giardino - rurale, Azienda agricola, Fattoria di famiglia Casa familiare e giardino - rurale, Azienda agricola, Fattoria di famiglia
30 Updated 6 months ago
I am Marco (36) and I studied Engineering but I also work as a farmer. I have a small pistachio farm in the rural area around Bronte. There are mainly pistachio trees but also some other cultures (prickly pear, fig trees, olive trees, almonds and some fruit trees) including our big house garden with vegetables and herbs. Since for organic farming you need to do more work by hand than in the conventional way, I alwalys need help! The work can be hard (cutting the trees, harvest...) but the view is all the more beautiful :) The little train that goes around Etna stops not far from the farm (30 minutes by walking), but I can come by car. Sicily is full of attractions, the cities of Bronte, Adrano, Maletto and of course Catania are very much worth seeing. But also the nature around Etna is really nice with a lot of hiking trails. You are invited to do any of this adventures in your free time and weekends. Depends on the circumstances, I also use to go with woofer in some nice place more far away from the farm by car, to spend a day. You will have your own room with a bed. If there are two or three WWOOFer at the same time, you have to share the room. We have a shared bathroom and a big community room/kitchen with a beautiful chimney together. There is also the opportunity to sleep on the roof terasse or in a tent on the property. If you have a camper etc. you could live in it too. Usually we cook and eat together with the WWOOFers. We cook vegetarian meals (mostly pasta for lunch - typically Italian) but if you have any special wishes, we can adapt to this. -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- Sono Marco (36 anni) e ho studiato Ingegneria ma lavoro anche come agricoltore. Ho una piccola azienda di Pistacchi nella zona rurale intorno a Bronte. Ci sono principalmente alberi di pistacchio ma anche alcune altre culture (fico d'ndia, fichi, ulivi, mandorli e alcuni alberi da frutta) compreso il nostro grande giardino di casa con verdure ed erbe aromatiche. Dato che per l'agricoltura biologica bisogna lavorare di più con le mani che nel modo convenzionale, ho sempre bisogno di aiuto! Il lavoro può essere duro (taglio degli alberi, raccolta...) ma la vista è tanto più bella :) Il trenino che fa il giro dell'Etna si ferma non lontano dalla fattoria (30 minuti a piedi), ma posso andarci in macchina. La Sicilia è piena di attrazioni, le città di Bronte, Adrano, Maletto e naturalmente Catania sono da visitare. Ma anche la natura intorno all'Etna è davvero bella con un sacco di sentieri escursionistici. Siete invitati a fare una di queste avventure nel vostro tempo libero e nei fine settimana. Dipende dalle circostanze, di solito propongo ai woofer ospiti in un bel posto più lontano dall'azienda in macchina. Avrai la tua stanza con un letto e se ci sono due WWOOFer allo stesso tempo, dovrete condividere la stanza. Abbiamo un bagno e una grande sala/cucina con un bel camino in comune. C'è anche la possibilità di dormire sulla terazza del tetto o in una tenda nella proprietà. Se hai un camper ecc. potresti anche viverci dentro. Di solito cuciniamo e mangiamo insieme ai WWOOFer. Cuciniamo pasti vegetariani (per lo più pasta a pranzo - tipicamente italiana) ma se hai qualche desiderio speciale, possiamo adattarci a questo. Metodi organici: Handwork like digging or cutting, diversity management... Certificazioni: ICEA Progetti attuali: In general, we are planning a lot and are always open to new ideas! Since we already have a lot to do with the pistachio trees and the main management tasks, we sometimes don't have time for special projects. But if our WWOOFers have any projects they like to realise, they are welcome :) Accesso a Internet disponibile
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Forestry
Seed saving or production
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Methods or systems
Holistic management
Permaculture
Host type
Production farm
Certified organic
2.7 Hectares | 6.7 Acres
Accommodation
2 WWOOFers
Bedroom
Campsite
Children not accepted
Pets accepted
Meals
Vegetarian
Length of stay
1 day (local)
Weekend
Less than a week
1-2 weeks
3-4 weeks
Over a month
Marco
Marco
Member since 2022
Languages spoken: English, Italian
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 96% Response time: typically within 3 days
Catania
Adrano Nord, stazione di Bronte, Aeroporto di Catania
Feedback
Patricia
Patricia
Switzerland • December 2025
Ich habe knapp zwei Wochen bei Marco auf dem Hof verbracht. Während dieser Zeit stand das Zurückschneiden der Pistazienbäume im Vordergrund. Jeden Morgen haben wir gemeinsam mit dem Host gearbeitet, und am Nachmittag hatten wir freie Zeit. Die Zusammenarbeit und die verschiedenen Mahlzeiten fanden immer miteinander statt. Marco war stets sehr zuvorkommend und geht auf jede Person individuell ein. Ich habe meine Zeit dort sehr genossen und fand es sehr inspirierend, eine Weile abseits von allem zu verbringen. Wenn man jedoch das Bedürfnis hat, in der freien Zeit etwas unternehmen zu wollen, benötigt man dafür ein Auto, da der Hof recht abgelegen liegt. Ich blicke gerne auf diese Zeit zurück und bin sehr froh, diese Gelegenheit gehabt zu haben. Danke, Marco, für die tolle Zeit!
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Anna
Anna
Switzerland • December 2025
Unfortunately I only stayed with Marco for four nights but I felt completely at home. There were two other WWOOFers at the time and the atmosphere was great. We often sat together after dinner and had interesting conversations! Our job was to prune pistachio trees for 4.5 hours a day, which I found very enjoyable! In the afternoon, we could do whatever we wanted. I didn't know that we would be cooking, which might be important information. But it wasn't a problem for me, as I enjoy cooking. ;) I wish Marco all the best!!
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Verena
Verena
Germany • December 2025
I spent 5 days at Marco‘s farm pruning the pistachio trees. He‘s really fair with the working hours - 4.5 hours per day. We cooked together - he provided the ingredients and asked if I need anything else from the grocery store. I was with a friend and we had our own private room - it was a bit chill in there since the Camino only heats the main room but with all the cozy blankets I slept very well. Marco is a pleasant, calm guy - you can talk about everything and nothing with him, listen to all kinds of music or just be for yourself for a while. He‘s also happy to help you with the bus scedules (he also drove me to the nearest bus stop) and to give you advice about his favorite places around the area. It was really nice to meet you Marco, thanks for sharing your home and your experiences with me! Wishing you the best! ✨
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Gintarė
Gintarė
Lithuania • November 2025
Marco was incredibly welcoming — he even picked me up from the airport, since my flight arrived late and the buses were no longer running. I learned a lot about olives, and we had many interesting conversations on all kinds of topics. Both Marco and his mother are warm, friendly people. I also realized that WWOOFing is genuinely important to Marco. Unfortunately, there were a few downsides. The workdays ended up being longer than what we had agreed on, simply because this season’s olive harvest was larger than Marco had anticipated. After work we would cook dinner together every evening, and by the time we finished, it was already getting dark around 5 PM, so there wasn’t much you could realistically do with the little free time that was left. The only day I truly got to see more of Sicily was on my day off, when Marco kindly drove me around himself. For that I’m grateful, because in just one day I managed to see many beautiful spots in the region.
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Xénia
Xénia
Switzerland • November 2025
Marco is a nice and welcoming person. I had a great time pruning the pistacchio trees in the morning, and enjoying some free time the rest of the day. Marco shared his lifestyle by having discussions, teaching me about the trees, showing me his city and having dinner with his nice mother ! Thank you I had a great time :)
Arlene
Arlene
Australia • October 2025
The farm is peaceful and natural I instantly connected with the land. I contributed with olive picking, lava rock collecting to build a small retaining wall, dried pistachio selection, maintaining pistachio trees ground and prickly pear harvesting. Late in the evening, we bought vegetables from a local farmer and from a local bakery, a fresh warm bread. I enjoyed Marco's mother's home cooked pasta with wild fennel and delicately layered parmigiana. The farm house is very comfortable and I looked forward to cooking lunch and dinner each night and cuddles with Piccola the cat outside the house each day. It was very useful to visit another local pistachio farm where Marco did a tour for about 20 tourists. The next day after harvesting prickly pears, we carefully peeled, squashed by hand, drained and cooked the juice for a while. We toasted some almonds from the farm which took the delicious Mostarda di fichi d'india to the next level. It was an amazing experience going to the Bronte Pistachio Festival where Marco introduced me to a local producer who makes 100% toasted pistachio crema. Thank you Marco, for the intellectual conversations, your honest questions, your music and laughter, also, for being a consistent gentleman. I highly recommend this farm. It's like being hugged by a Nonna on a cold night, after having a savoury warm soup.
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