1 / 14

See all photos

(1)

Come on, help us to realise our dream of a permaculture oasis in Caltabellotta, Italy

Italy
Favourited 45 times
Last activity: 15 Sep 2022

Profile information

Host rating
85 %
Last replied
14 Feb 2019
Feedback
2
Facebook verified
Email verified

Badges (1)

Give the gift of Workaway

Find your perfect host

New Zealand

Come and help our family and learn about a farm in Cheviot, New Zealand

(14)

Turkey

Immerse yourself in beautiful magical Antalya whilst helping me with the day to day family tasks. Turkey

(5)

Australia

Welcoming travellers to come stay Castlemaine, Australia

(2)

Nepal

Assist in teaching English, art/craft and sports in school. Eastern Terai near Itahari, Nepal

Sweden

Help out around our off-grid, permaculture family homestead in Tjörnarp, Sweden

(1)

Vietnam

Farming on the outskirts of Saigon, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

(9)

Australia

Improve your English and help with landscaping in the Sunshine Coast area, Australia

(7)

Peru

Help us creating a self-sustainable community in the mountain-jungle close to Tingo María, Peru

(2)

Oman

Organization and management in the biggest festival in Middle East - South of Oman (Salalah city)

(2)

Sweden

Come and help out on a small organic family farm in Undersåker, Sweden

(6)

View the full host list

Availability

2024

Min stay requested: at least a week

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

What's this?

Details

Description
Hello. We are Alessandro, Edite and little Dario. We live in a beautifully small town Caltabellotta in Sicily. It is a year around that we have settled down here to take care of our one hectar big centenary olive grove whitch is just next to the town. The project is to create a permaculture oasis and off-grid hospitality.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Babysitting and creative play
General Maintenance
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help with Eco Projects
Help around the house
Language practice
Help with Computers/ Internet
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
You will stay in a trilingual family (italian, latvian, english). Alex will be happy to teach you some good italian as he was an italian language teacher. And me, Edite, as an ex cook, love cooking sicilian, italian, vegetarian, vegan and absoloutely natural disches. As well we do lot of self-production. We love photography and telling storys about sicilians that we call "the constructors of the desire".
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
For now we need help to create trails in stone, hedges of agave and prickly pear, move small stones from the ground to set them around the olive trees to create a covering that will attract the humidity.
From October we would like some help in harvesting manually our beutiful olives. We will do some preserved olives too.
We will accept only no smokers.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
Latvian (Lettish): Fluent
French: Beginner
Russian: Beginner
Accommodation
You will stay with us in Caltabellotta town. You will have your own room (max 2 people). Bathroom shared. Three meals provided.
What else ...
In your free time you can take a bus to visit the nearest towns like Sciacca, Agrigento, Palermo etc. In summer we will be happy to go all together to the sea and do some naturalistic excusion nearby. As well you can walk around the town and it's trails.
A little more information
- Internet access
- Limited internet access
- We have pets
- We are smokers
- Can host families
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

Host ref number: 342697171499

Feedback (1)

12 Oct 2018

Left by host for Workawayer (Anna & Jonna)

We have had some bad experience with Anna and Jonna.
Even if the first impression was really good about them and we thought to be happy to have them in our house, in our little family in this delicate period of time that we are completely changing our lives. Well, then what went wrong.
Before arriving Anna wrote us that they will stay with us till… read more 9 of November, so it is practically one month. This is the time of the year that the main activity is the harvesting of olives, so we loved to have some help with that. They arrived Thursday, 4 of October, and we had few days of relax before Sunday when the harvest had to begin.
Saturday night, instead, they do communicate to us that they can stay only one week. Well we said ok, because woofering is not a job, and not always there is perfect harmony between hosts and volunteers so yes it was ok for us that they leave earlier. Then, Sunday, after only one day of helping with olives, they said that they will leave the morning after. Wow, that sounded bad, what have we done, we thought. Are we that bad.
Then the main excuse arrived- the weather was not good enough. Yes Sicily in October is still summer, but sometimes the clouds gather together and it can even rain! And not every season is the same like the one before. Yes there is no organised bathroom in the middle of the olive grow. Sometimes it is just necessary to get out of our comfort zone.
But I understand that this is not for everybody, and we will solve out the bathroom question really soon. If somebody wants to help us with compos toilet building, happy to know.
I think Anna and Johnna are not really ready to experience something really different of what they have had already in their lives, but I can understand even that.
What made us feel bad is the feeling that they did planned everything even before entering in our family. Already the second day when they heard that there was an earthquake in Catania, they seemed to be terrorised. We said not to worry about that because, they still had time before going to Catania and then back to Finland. We are far from Etna so why to be so worried about. Now I know why. The thing is that they already knew that in two days they will leave Caltabellotta and go to Catania. What makes me not angry, it is more about being disappointed, they were not honest with us. It would have been really ok if they said us in advance that what they need is to stay only five days and then they would go on with their journey. The most beautiful and respectful thing is the honesty one to other.
Our mistake was to have trusted in them and did little communication before their arrival. Well as new in Woofering mistakes can happen. Hopefully we learn fast.

(Good )

9 Oct 2018

Left by Workawayer (Anna & Jonna) for host

We were originally supposed to stay with Alessandro and Edite for 5 weeks, but ended up staying only couple of days due to few misunderstandings about the place/conditions and communication problems.

They were welcoming and their little son was adorable. Edite's english was very good and with Alessandro we communicated mainly using mixed english,… read more italian and bodylanguage, but it went ok.

The main reasons why we wanted to leave so soon, were that the place wasn't what we expected and as we all are just beginners with Workaway, we should have communicated more before going there. First problem for us, was that we were told that it's summer there and we should take our swimmingsuits with us, but when we went there(obviously as foreigners and not knowing the town) we realised the town was so high up in the mountain, that it was about 10 degrees colder and much windier there than in the lower parts, something from 12 and tops 20 if the day was good (there was warm only in that day when we left). Winter was coming so it was only getting colder, which would have been ok, if they had honestly told it to us and we could have prepared for that with warm clothes. Our one main wish when choosing the host, was to find a warm place to escape cold Finnish winter, so we wanted to change to warmer climate.

Another misunderstanding was about their land and the location. Based on their profile, we did not realise their land and house had about 2km distance between them, which means that the land/farm was in the middle of nowhere. This itself wouldn't have been a problem, unless there would have been a possibility to use toilet during the workday. We asked if it was possible to use one during the day because of the hygiene (which might be important to many young women), but we were told to survive without one. So this we would have wanted to know in advance, because for us basic hygiene is important and we wouldn't have chosen the place. If you don't mind being in the wilderness, then go for it! The land itself was nice with many olive trees and beautiful scenery. Permaculture seemed very interesting. We also enjoyed picking the olives and Alessandros coworker was a nice and humorous italian man who seemed to know a lot about agriculture as well.

On top of these thigs, one reason why we wanted to leave was that we felt we had not enough privacy at their flat. We had a bedroom above theirs, but there was no doors in their flat, so we could hear everything from room to another. As young women, used to living by ourselves, we aren't used to waking up in the middle of the night when the baby is crying. Of course it's understandable and there's not much you can do about it (babies cry when they cry), but we didn't want to live like that for 5 weeks. We also felt like we have to be polite and stay quiet in the evenings, so that we couldn't talk with each other without whispering or watch a movie in peace without waking up the baby. It was also quite cold in our room, since it was close to the roof and we slept with clothes and socks on, under 3 blankets.

Lastly, the town was so far away from everything, that it wasn't possible to travel to the neighbouring cities without a car and the bus connections were bad. It would have been too expensive and time consuming to visit Palermo or Catania on our freetime and seeing these new places was also one our expectations.

All in all, the hosts were very nice people and Dario was a cute little kiddo. Their land was beautiful and Caltabellotta seemed safe and calm city to live in. Our expectations about the place and communication about the conditions just didn't match. We felt bad for leaving so early, but after we talked with them about some issues we just felt too uncomfortable and the atmosphere changed slightly awkward. After working in the land we also thought that they won't be left in trouble without us, since they were going to use some machine with what it was supposed to be very easy and fast to harvest the olives. So we made the decision to leave (eventhough it wasn't easy), explained our point of view to them, apologized and offered some money also as a compensation of our stay (which they didn't take).

If you want to experience Sicilian countryside, don't mind a little bit colder weather or rural conditions, love little kids and family life and don't need much privacy, go there! Edite is also a good cook, so you will get to know Sicilian cuisine as a bonus.

(Good )

View all 1 feedbacks

Photos

Scala dei Turchi, Realmonte

Stones around the olive trees for more humidity

Caltabellotta

Show all photos

While cleaning chickpeas

The view from our land.

Caltabellotta

Your room

Feedback

12 Oct 2018

Left by host for Workawayer (Anna & Jonna)

(Good )

9 Oct 2018

Left by Workawayer (Anna & Jonna) for host

(Good )

To leave feedback make sure you are logged in & your account is online

Homestays, Volunteering & Working Holidays in Italy Homestays, Volunteering & Working Holidays in Europe Homestays, Volunteering & Working Holidays in Sicily Family Italy Last minute Homestays, Volunteering & Working Holidays in Italy

Come on, help us to realise our dream of a permaculture oasis in Caltabellotta, Italy

Profile information

Host rating

Last replied

Feedback

Facebook verified

Email verified

Badges (1)

Find your perfect host

Availability

Details

Description

Types of help and learning opportunities

Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

Projects involving children

Help

Languages spoken

Accommodation

What else ...

A little more information

How many Workawayers can stay?

Hours expected

Feedback (1)

Photos

Feedback