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22 Dec 2024
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Description
We have a villa in Sicily on the lower slopes of Mount Etna, just outside a small town, and divide our time between UK and Sicily and are a bilingual household.
Our house is spacious, with beautiful views of Etna, the sea, and Taormina in the distance. Etna is ideal for nature lovers (spectacular landscape, donkey and horse riding, hiking, quad biking), and there are several pretty towns in eastern Sicily, vineyards, archaeological sites as well as beaches.
We've welcomed guests here from around the world for many years and value the exchange of cultural experiences and backgrounds that this affords. Our interests are the arts, travel and animal welfare.
Please note we can't assist with workawayers seeking Italian citizenship/residence.
Workawayers should be vaccinated against Covid.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Help around the house
General Maintenance
House sitting
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
There is plenty of sightseeing of both architectural and natural sites including Mount Etna, Taormina, beaches, etc. within easy reach of the villa.
Italy has the highest number of UNESCO listed heritage in the world and several of those are located in Sicily, including Etna itself where we are situated.
We also have a house full of books if travellers want a quieter stay, including many publications on Sicilian sites, history, cinema and literature.
We provide information sheets on places of interest to visit: historic and natural sites, restaurants, bars, festivals etc.
In the surrounding area, English is not necessarily always spoken if travellers want a fuller immersion into the Italian language.
In addition to sharing information about the local territory, when we are in situ we are happy to speak Italian if people are interested in learning the language. When we are not at the villa, in addition to providing the aforementioned resources, we are happy to put people in touch with local friends if desired.
Help
Garden maintenance: clearing leaves, cutting back growth, sometimes sweeping volcanic ash.
Experience of disposing of garden waste is important, eg shredding, mulching, composting etc.The garden is about 2000 sqm.
Cordless electric hedgecutter, reciprocating saw, cordless strimmer, sander and leaf blower available as well as a corded electric shredder. Familiarity with such tools would be a considerable help and makes gardening much easier.
House maintenance as required.
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The house, a little over 200 sqm, also needs a clean and check to see everything is in place.
None of the requested tasks are particularly complicated but attention to detail is important, as is responsive communication, including a willingness to exchange photos to facilitate completing tasks and handing over to subsequent guests.
*** At the moment you might be on your own for some of the time, though one of us will come for a few days.
When that happens, some help with grocery shopping is requested. Weekly grocery allowance provided whether or not we are at the villa.
Our pets are not at the villa so there is *no* pet care involved.
We are in regular contact to supervise the tasks when we are not there.
You would need to be quite self-sufficient, mature and responsible, able to hold the fort.
It might suit a couple wanting a more independent experience with very flexible hours and of course volunteers can engage in their own online work in their spare time.
Non-smokers only, and currently looking for couples/2 friends
* Minimum age of 26 strongly preferred.*
Having your own transport would also be a huge advantage, if you don't, a driving license is a must.
Travel Insurance strongly advised.
*** Please indicate your awareness that you might be on your own for some of the time though one of us will come down ***
*** Please also give us an idea of your familiarity with the requested help and tools***
*** Enquiries that are personalised and directed specifically to us rather than generic, copy-and-paste messages sent to multiple hosts are greatly preferred ***
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
French: Intermediate
Accommodation
A comfortable bedroom and private ensuite bathroom available in the house, suitable for one or two people.
We are very mindful about energy consumption and expect the same from our workawayers.
What else ...
There is a scenic vintage railway called the Circumetnea stopping at a nearby station, connecting various towns around Mount Etna including Catania.
That said, local public transport is quite limited though there are a few bus connections.
Many of our volunteers without a vehicle have found it easy to hitch a ride though having your own transport would be a bonus to enjoy the area as fully as possible.
The villa is very well connected to the motorway, about 2 km away, and is about a 45 minute drive from Catania airport.
Apart from the nearby world-famous resort of Taormina (20 minutes away) and stunning Mount Etna, further afield are the beautiful baroque towns of southeast Sicily such as Siracusa, Noto, Ragusa and Modica.
Several of these sites, including Catania, are UNESCO world heritage sites.
On Mount Etna you can hike or go donkey or horse back riding. Several local vineyards offer wine tasting tours.
Taormina holds international film and music festivals in its Greek amphitheatre with views of the sea and Etna and has upscale shops, hotels and restaurants, including two Michelin starred eateries. It was recently the main location for The White Lotus.
Our local village, in easy walking distance, is pretty and has basic shops, ATM, a handful of pizzerie, restaurants, trattorie, gelaterie and bars but is very quiet so not suitable if you want a very lively local town.
The next neighbouring village has a Michelin star restaurant, boutique hotel and spa.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
Plenty of table space to work from, *wifi connection via mobile hotspot*
Space for parking camper vans
Plenty of room to park within the property
Can possibly accept pets
well behaved dog or cat.
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Feedback (5)
They did plenty of garden clearing, including removing some tough growth on part of an outbuilding, and efficiently disposed of cuttings by burning and shredding.
They also nicely… read more
As Ama and Angeria would not be able to get to Italy we had the place to ourselves. This meant the cultural aspect of Work-away was a bit less but we really got the feeling we lived in Sicily for a week :)
The communication… read more
Photos
Feedback
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(3.8)
Communication:
(4.8)
They did plenty of garden clearing, including removing some tough growth on part of an outbuilding, and efficiently disposed of cuttings by burning and shredding.
They also nicely… read more
As Ama and Angeria would not be able to get to Italy we had the place to ourselves. This meant the cultural aspect of Work-away was a bit less but we really got the feeling we lived in Sicily for a week :)
The communication… read more
I believe it was a huge trust from them to let someone in their house who they haven't even met.
We were in contact via WhatsApp all the time. They were really nice and kind… read more
We also enjoyed some pleasant conversations, outings in the area, and dinners and it was… read more
