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Description
Livorno is a Mediterranean port city with a long radical tradition:
dockworker organising, anarchist printers, decades of social centres, mutual aid networks, and anti-fascist memory still alive in the streets. We live 10 minutes from a bus into the city and the sea, and this year we're opening our place to people who want to build something small and serious with us.
Who we are: Carlo (58) and Chiara (55), both working full-time; Francesco (31), just back from a decade abroad and a long stretch of volunteering and movement work around the world; and Marta (11), who will probably interview you. Plus Lea the dog and three cats.
What we're building:
A permaculture garden, not as aesthetic but as practice. Raised beds, hügel mounds, wattle, compost, low-tech irrigation, a herb lot, a small oyster mushroom station. Food sovereignty at a household scale, learning in public, sharing what we grow.
Small electronics and Raspberry Pi experiments.
We've just started tinkering and we're interested in the intersection of free software, repair culture, and low-cost tools: garden sensors, local servers, small hacks that could be useful at a household or community level.
Beginner energy, non-commercial, open to wherever curiosity takes it. If you've got experience with Linux, microcontrollers, or simple hardware projects, there's plenty of room to teach and experiment together.
A modest zine corner on organising, ecology, and political theory. Light cataloguing, folding, and occasional translation between Italian, English and French. Non-profit, low volume, more of a side thread than a main project.
We'd love a mix of people, with at least one volunteer who has some hands-on gardening or permaculture experience.
The rhythm: 4–5 hours a day, 5 days a week. Shared breakfast and dinner, cooked collectively (veggie/vegan-friendly, any dietary needs welcome), lunches on your own. Two days off, flexible. Mornings for the heavier work; afternoons free for the sea, the city, reading, or just resting. Evenings tend to drift into long conversations about organising, ecology, and whatever is on fire this week.
Accommodation: tents, mats, and sleeping bags provided. Shared toilet, shower, kitchen, and Wi-Fi good enough for remote work. Small cars and small campers okay; the road is too narrow for big vans.
Who we're hoping will come: people comfortable with manual work and close-quarters living, gentle with a kid and several animals, and up for treating daily life (food, translation, composting, tinkering) as part of how we organise rather than a break from it. Italian welcome, not required. 2 weeks minimum, 2–3 weeks ideal. We don't have the setup to host families this round.
To apply, tell us: your dates, your skills and interests (practical, political, or otherwise), dietary needs, and one thing you'd love to learn here. 🌿📚🔌
Solidarity,
Carlo, Chiara, Marta & Francesco
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Help with Computers/ Internet
Interests
Team sports
Sailing / Boating
Nature
Hiking
Camping
Beach
Gardening
Drawing & painting
DIY & crafts
Cooking & food
Carpentry
Books
Art & design
Animals
Technology
Sustainability
Politics / Social justice
Movies & TV
LGBTQ
Farming
Events & social
Culture
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Staying with us means sharing daily life in Tuscany as much as helping in the garden. You'll be part of an Italian household with three generations under one roof, plus a lively crew of animals who will make sure you're never lonely.
We cook together often and love swapping recipes. Tuscan food traditions run deep here, but we're just as curious to learn yours, whatever kitchen you grew up in. We speak Italian, English, and some French, and we're happy to switch languages at the table or while working if you want to practice.
Livorno itself is a port city with a radical tradition, right on the sea, full of music, art, and a particular kind of rough warmth that takes a day or two to read. We're happy to show you around: local markets, social centres, small events, the best places to swim. Our small zine corner and Raspberry Pi experiments also open up easy conversations about ecology, grassroots organising, free software, and repair culture, if that's your thing.
Mostly we hope volunteers bring their own stories and perspectives, whether about gardening traditions where you're from, organising experiences, tech projects, or just how daily life looks somewhere else. This kind of exchange matters to us as much as the vegetables we'll grow.
Help
Help
1. Garden and eco-build
Building raised, wattle, and hügel beds using our own branches
Laying paths, mulching, composting, and setting up simple low-tech irrigation
Sowing spring and summer crops
Starting a herb lot (rosemary, sage, thyme, lavender, annual herbs)
Setting up a small oyster mushroom station on straw and cardboard
General garden care: watering, staking, harvesting
2. Electronics and Raspberry Pi tinkering
Setting up our first Raspberry Pis and figuring out what to do with them
Experimenting with simple garden sensors, small home servers, or whatever else we can hack together
Total beginner energy on our side. If you've tinkered before, teach us. If you haven't, learn with us.
3. Zine corner (side project)
Light cataloguing, folding, stapling, and packing
Occasional translation or editing between Italian, English and French
Totally non-profit, more a way to share knowledge, practise printing, and translate together than anything else <3
We'd love a mix of people with different skills, and at least one volunteer with some gardening or permaculture experience would be great.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
French: IntermediateThis host offers a language exchange
This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
You can contact them directly for more information.
Accommodation
We provide tents & sleeping material (mat + bag).
Access to toilet, shower, kitchen, Wi-Fi/internet (good enough for calls and remote work).
No large vans/campers: the road is too narrow. Small cars/campers are fine.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.
Space for parking camper vans
This host can provide space for campervans.
Can possibly accept pets
This host has said they are willing to accept those travelling with a pet.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
My animals / pets
Lea
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