Botanic, fruit and vegetable garden and park.
Grosseto
I have been living in Sorano, a small Tuscan medieval hilltown for 35 years. I began by renovating my home and other apartments in town and, as I studied anthropology in graduate school, did a study into the traditional life of the town which became the basis to my book All the Noise of It, Living in a Tuscan Hilltown. Much of my inquiry was based upon interviews I conducted with the oldest inhabitants, and so I learned that the wild landscape I see from my windows had been very different even only 30 years before my arrival. The wooded hills of the far side of the small river valley had once been terraced, and most families had their small allotments there, where they grew vegetables, fruit, grapes and animals. So, once I was done with my work in town, I began by acquiring two plots and created a vegetable garden, botanic park and renovated the bronze-age caves that are also part of the property. I set up solar panels and made the caves habitable. Soon I began inviting guests, and started to have events and dinner parties- which became the basis to another book I wrote called Feasts from Paradiso. I then acquired three more adjacent plots where I made a fruit orchard and a bio-dynamic garden. Recently I have been given another 2 hectares of land which takes my property down to the river. This land has been abandoned for many years and will require a considerable amount of work.
WWOOFers will be involved in the maintenance of the original property- the botanic garden, vegetable garden and fruit orchard, but the main activity will be in reclaiming the abandoned land. My aim also is to create a small hydro-electric power facility to supplement the solar power system. Ultimately, I would like to open the complete three hectare park to the public.
To this time I have basically done all the work of renovation and maintenance myself, but now the project has become bigger than one person can manage. I would hope that WWOOFers would be prepared to devote a reasonable portion of their day to general maintenance like weeding, and watering on the established land that I have cared for about 20 years. Depending on skill set, help would be particularly appreciated with some of the bigger projects devoted to renovating and clearing the newly acquired long abandoned portions of land .
Sorano is in a beautiful and unspoiled part of the Alta-Maremma of Tuscany- the hills above the agricultural plains of the Maremma. It is wonderful for cycling and hiking , but also the lovely Lake Bolsena is only 20 minutes by car, and some of the best seaside in Italy is only 45 minutes away. There would be time aplenty to enjoy all that the area has to offer.
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Vivo a Sorano, un piccolo borgo medievale sulle colline della Toscana, da 35 anni. Ho cominciato rinnovando la mia casa in paese e altri appartamenti e, mentre studiavo antropologia, ho condotto uno studio sulle tradizioni di vita del paese. Questo lavoro è poi diventato la base del mio libro "All the Noise of It, Living in a Tuscan Hilltown". Il più della mia ricerca era basata su interviste condotte tra gli abitanti più anziani, così ho imparato he il paesaggio selvaggio che osservavo dalle finestre di casa era molto diverso anche solo 30 anni prima del mio arrivo. Le colline ricoperte di boschi oltre la valle del piccolo fiume erano una volta tutte campi terrazzati e molte famiglie possedevano lì orti, frutteti, vigneti e stalli. Allora, dopo aver concluso i miei lavori nel paese, ho comprato due di questi terreni e costruito un orto, un giardino botanico e rinnovato le grotte etrusche che fanno parte della proprietà. Ho installato pannelli fotovoltaici e reso le grotte abitabili. Presto ho cominciato ad invitare ospiti, vi ho cominciato a tenere eventi e pranzi... e quindi ho fatto un secondo libro "Feasts from Paradiso". Ho poi preso altri tre terreni che sono diventati frutteti e orti biodinamici. Infine, mi sono stati regalati ben 2 ettari di terra che estendono la proprietà fino al fiume. Questa terra è stata abbandonata per molti anni e richiederà un considerevole impegno.
Posso coinvolgere i WWOOFers nella manutenzione della proprietà originale (il giardino botanico, gli orti, i frutteti) ma l'attività principale riguarderà il rinnovamento della terra abbandonata. Sogno di installare una mini stazione idroelettrica per integrare il sistema fotovoltaico. Come obiettivo finale, desidero poter aprire tutti i tre ettari come parco pubblico.
Ad oggi ho sostanzialmente fatto tutti i lavori di rinnovo e manutenzione da solo, ma ormai il progetto è diventato molto grande per essere gestito da una sola persona. Spero che i WWOOFers vogliano dedicare una ragionevole parte del loro tempo per attività di manutenzione generale sui terreni che ho curato per 20 anni (diserbo, irrigazione, ecc.). A seconda delle capacità e degli interessi, apprezzerei molto l'aiuto con alcuni dei progetti più grandi destinati al rinnovamento dei nuovi terreni a lungo abbandonati.
Sorano si trova in una bella e intensa parte dell'alta Maremma della Toscana (cioè le colline dietro le pianure agricole della Maremma). È un posto ottimo per passeggiare a piedi o in bici. C'è anche il delizioso lago di Bolsena a soli 20 minuti d'auto e alcune delle più belle spiagge d'Italia sono ad appena tre quarti d'ora di guida. Ci sarà tempo in abbondanza per godere di tutto quello che la zona ha da offrire.
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Viticulture
Forestry
Wild foraging
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Bakery
Traditional crafts
Renewable energy production
Methods or systems
Biodynamic agriculture
Host type
Nonprofit / Community
3
Hectares
|
7.4
Acres
Chris
Member since 2023
Languages spoken:
English, Italian
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Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
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Sat
Response rate: 100%
Response time: typically within 2 days
Grosseto
Orvieto
Reviews
Ciro
Italy
•
May 2026
Persona adorabile, colta e gentile in un paese medioevale e caverne nel tufo da esplorare, natura e storia in un luogo meraviglioso.
Bravo a cucinare e attento alle esigenze dei wwoofer.
Lavori di manutenzione di un giardino con panoramica sul paese medioevale dove si alloggia.
Nola
Germany
•
October 2025
The apartment I stayed in was next to Chris's place, and it was beautiful, as was the garden and the hills surrounding it. I enjoyed working there, mostly weeding. There are Etruscan paths and caves that you can hike to, and buses that go to neighbouring cities. Maybe I was lucky, but the few times that I wanted to take the bus, everything worked out perfectly.
Chris also cooked delicious meals — thank you!
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Misty
United States
•
October 2024
Chris was a wonderful host, and I would recommend staying here to anyone. He does not ask too much, usually 4-5 hours but many times we did not work on days because of the rain. He was very accommodating, respectful and appreciative of the work I did for him which was a great feeling. He is a wonderful cook and very hospitable. I was the only WWOOFER at the time and had a wonderful apartment all to myself right in the center of the village. The views right outside of the door were incredible, and even better was the view of Sorano. I felt quite lucky to have had this place be my very first experience. A couple of days I got to meet some friends and everything was fantastic.
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Barbora
Czechia
•
July 2024
Me and my two friends spent a week with Chris.
He teached us a lot about history of Sorano and people who lived there. We did some work on his beautiful garden, yet we had a huge amount of time left to explore surrounding villages and country side.
Chris was very kind to us and took us to some of his favorite places, all of us really liked to spent time with him and if we could we´d be there till now.
Hopefully, we will be able to visit him in the future.
Barbora
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Ilona
France
•
June 2023
Cette semaine passer chez Chris était très enrichissante nous avons appris beaucoup sur la ville de Sorano, sur les plantes mais aussi sur l’histoire de son grand jardin. 🪴
Le Décor et la vue sont splendide.
Nous avons fait la rencontre de ses nombreux compagnons à quatre pattes .🐱
Et j’ai moi même appris beaucoup de la langue italienne.
Merci pour le pain maison, merci pour ton accueil, merci vraiment pour tout.
Et peut-être un jour on ne sait pas, je reviendrai à Sorano. 🤗
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