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Last replied
21 Apr 2025
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Description
Hello everyone, we are a family of five, myself Gea, my husband Lauro and three young kids (6, 4 years and 8 months old). We live on our small farm up the Pratomagno mountain, in a less known and wild part of Tuscany, in the central Appennines . Our farm's main activity is beekeeping, but we also have a flock of egg laying chickens and are increasing our currently tiny berry plantation. For our own family needs, we grow a vegetable garden.
Lauro works on the farm/homestead project 100%, he has been an organic beekeeper for 10 years, and is a talented handyman, with special skills in carpentry. He is always busy with some building, fixing or renovation work inside and outside the house. In addition to taking care of the children and helping out in our farm project, I work from home for national and international research and development organization in the field of organic agriculture and agrobiodiversity. I am bilingual Italian/English (my mother is South African), and the kids are too but we’d love them to get more English practice beyond what they get with me.
We have two cats and a lovely dog, Timo, who lives outdoors and can’t wait for someone to go on walks with him.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
Interests
Sustainability
Farming
Music
Plant care
Carpentry
Gardening
DIY & crafts
Cooking & food
Hiking
Outdoor activities
Yoga / Wellness
Nature
Mountain
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
By spending some time with us you could be immersed in a very different experience from that of post-card Tuscany, but possibly very rewarding in terms of contact with nature and small-scale farming. One of Lauro's sisters lives close by and runs an organic goat and cow farm which produces delicious cheese and yogurt. Other close friends of ours are opening a small farm-restaurant. We often have friends and visitors from the surroundings as well as from the city (I was born and raised in Florence). Our kids are always happy to have people to stay and to get to know new faces and names and they make friends very easily.
Au Pair Help
Further details can be found here
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
We are looking for one person (we could exceptionally host two, but to be agreed) to help with babysitting and creative play for our two older children during the summer months of July and August. We like engaging them in creative play, nature walks and activities, manual arts and crafts (no screen time!). We also like them to learn that there are times when they need to be able to play independently. However, more than a specific activity, what is important to us is a happy and spontaneous approach to spending time with the kids in and out of the house, talking to them in English in order to strengthen the language. We would mostly need help in the mornings until 2 pm, which are the mother's working hours (spent at home, in a small studio).
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
Accommodation
You will stay in a private room with a double bed, bedside tables and storage space at the top floor of the house. On the ground floor, there is a fully equipped second bathroom which can be for your private use and is only a few steps down from your room.
We like cooking but we are also very happy to taste new recipes if you also enjoy sharing your cooking skills! We have no dietary restrictions and prefer to host volunteers who are willing/able to eat a varied diet (ours is not rich in meat and mostly based on local/seasonal products) with not too many limitations. While we fully respect personal choices and needs, we wish to be able to share meals as easily as possible! We don't routinely drink alcohol but enjoy a beer or glass of wine every now and again or when we have friends visiting. We would prefer not to host smokers, even if they would be smoking out of the house.
What else ...
In your free time there are plenty of walks you could take to explore the mountain, the small towns which are scattered all around and the communities living here. A big plus in spring/summer (some brave visitors from the North of Europe have tried it in the winter too!) is the local Ciuffenna river, with lots of good bathing spots one of which you can reach on foot walking through the woods in 15 minutes. It has lovely cool water and pools to swim in.
Our house is connected to Loro Ciuffenna with a daily bus service but we can drive you down easily on your free time. It is a very cute town with the Ciuffenna river running through it in a spectacular way. Loro Ciuffenna is also connected to the towns of the Valdarno valley by bus and from these towns there are connections to different cultural sites of interest, including of course the larger cities of Florence, Arezzo and Siena. However, you should be aware that getting to places by public transport requires some time and forward planning, because we are located up a mountain, after all!
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
We are happy to find a good spot for your van around the house. This will more likely be a spring/summer option since winters are cold and often windy (snow too).
How many Workawayers can stay?
One
