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Vacancies from February 2023, you are welcome to spend the winter with us.
Hi, the mission we wish to share is to transform a peace of land in a graceful garden, so we are looking forward to have magic, reliable and interesting guests to help us a lot (one at a time) ! Hopefully the aiders will be pleasantly willing to learn and help and with a good eye for details.
Do to the world situation and to our age, a Covid test is kindly required. We hope for a person able to understand the need to protect yourself, so please do not reach out if you are not fully vaccinated and not willing to take the test and show it to us just before you arrive.
Hi, my name is Carlotta (59). I live in the countryside 7 kilometres far from Tivoli and about 30 kilometres from Rome, in Italy. I share my life with Marco (64) and three dogs. Our home is a small country cottage with its four thousand meter of land. My job is to keep in balance the wellness and caring of myself, with my man Marco, my house, my animals, my plants and my land.
The property is divided into three, one part is house-courtyard-lawn-laboratory-patio and above and below, especially on slopes, there are olive groves and little paths among fruit trees, bushes, vegetable gardens and flowerbeds still in the making. Until 13 years ago when I bought, all the land was virtually abandoned and uncultivated. I, with great patience and like a good turtle (Tartarughina), slowly try to fix everything, working for the 90% by hand and alone. The terrain is steep and unmanageable for tractors or the like.
Please bring shoes and clothes suitable to help in the countryside; the weather in summer can be hot but rainy as well. It is better to do tasks dressed light but covered and safe. Be sure to have shoes with NOT slippery sole (plane good rubber boots are the best).
We do require our helpers to have personal travel insurance.
We do not provide support for obtaining Visas or Residential matters.
Unfortunately, we can afford to feed only one extra person at a time.
If you want to come in the winter the help will take place outside as described below every possible time, otherwise there will be wood to sandpaper or paint, plus other tasks to be carried out with the same rhythms and times indicated below.Types of help and learning opportunities
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
I am reasonably good at cooking, so you will be able to learn a bit about Italian food.
There is a tiny village at about 2 km with a bus stop; a bar/pizzeria and a 'piazzetta' where few people might meet in the evening.
Tivoli (that have two UNESCO sites, Villa d'Este and Villa Adriana) is at 7 km, Rome is at 30 km and the railway is at 6 km.
All around us you have nice walks among field of olive's trees.
We will be glad to teach you some Italian and you can borrow some of our Italian books.Help
No shorter staying than four weeks at a time. From our experience, the better working-cultural exchange is of about 50 days (6/7 weeks).
You will mainly help to tear off the wild weeds and keep clean and tidy the flowerbeds, the courtyard and the walkways, but you could be helping to build wood steps and fencing off my property, move stones and other heavy things, using the grass trimmer, the shredding machine and other similar things.
I usually need help with heavy tasks, with the cleaning up from weeds in my flowerbeds, with gardening in general, in hoeing (.. dig?) the earth, and in various specific tasks, such as building small dry terraces or building objects with wood. I need a great deal of help to fence off the property to take out animals that do damage (like a nightmare in previous years we have been plagued by wild boars (..pigs?) and hedgehog). By finishing the fence, our dogs will be able to run and play more and the property will be better defined.
It is important you are ok to work hard with your hands, like hammering while standing on a stair, hand hoe the vegetable garden, plant trees or build dry stone walls. You could be required to learn for example how to use a use a whisk to cut the iron.
In exchange for 25 hours outdoor help per week outside plus 1 hour every day as cohabitation contribution outside, we offer a cute small apartment not completely independent and meals. We hope for helpers that are not too picky on food, as we enjoy sharing our food with people who can and love to eat a little bit of everything (including meat).
For dinner, lunch and breakfast, preparing, sharing and cleaning is expected, not as work, but as normal education and a community duty. If from time to time guests may want to use their time to cook some special dishes, it will be much appreciated but not mandatory. We do not like guests that glue to the sofa or fall in the phone or their own business with zero help and conversation.
If you were good at taking pictures that would help me at tracking the working progress!
Please remember that the help we need is most to be done outside, so your free days will mandatory be the rainiest ones.
In addition to the 25 hours per week help in the fields, I will need daily help with the dogs’ needs, setting the table for meals tidying the courtyard and the lab, emptying the compost and ashes buckets and the trash.
Those who choose to live with us, in addition to the settled 5 hours of help in the countryside, shall participate daily in common life. You will take care of your assigned areas and have your part in the maintenance of the common ones, Carlotta will tell you what and how to do; please remember us to send you the list ‘To do for helpers’, knowing that it may be tedious as by its very nature is a summary memo. Many of the tasks and requests listed, although considered intuitive, are specified to coordinate the different ages, experiences and cultural backgrounds of our guests and for future correctness and quiet coexistence.
Good manners are welcome, for example during meals please do not use a lot your phone, not even for data, as it is rude to your guests.
No food is allowed in the guest floor nor around the house.
No smoking inside, ok outside only if you don't leave the cigarettes butts around but put them always in the trash.
It wouldn't be bad if boys learned to pee while seated, as etiquette and hygiene suggest.
We look for helpers willing to learn and respectful of our balance and love for details, even the seemingly minor ones. STRONG and delicate, honest and responsible people, curious and in need of knowledge, who are able to grasp the added value of good education, cleanliness, care and the search for beauty with the due respect of what surrounds us.Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Italian: FluentAccommodation
An internal staircase leads to a tiny loft on the third floor, with bedroom and bathroom for our guest.
The guests, in addition to daily work, are supposed to help fixing the table for meals and the clean after (breakfast, lunch and dinner), they are expected to keep daily clean and tidy everything around them, in the house and outside the 'To do list for helpers' will help you to better understand and then memorise what is expected.
No smoking nor food is allowed in the guest area.
We do not have air-conditioning.What else ...
We are surrounded by nature, the train station in Guidonia is at about 6 km, there is a bus stop at about 2 km so you will need to walk (maybe we could find you a bicycle). The train take you down town in Rome in 45 minutes, and the busses can take you to Guidonia train station or to Tivoli in 15/20 minutes (but please take note that unfortunately, their timing is not reliable).
We wish you realise in advance that this is not a place recommended if your need for tourism, socialising and partying is strong. We like to be quiet and live in a peaceful place far from the city.A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
How many Workawayers can stay?
One
Hours expected
5 Daily hours in the fields 5 days per week ++ (read above)
Feedback (16)
He's young and he seemed unusually deep to me, unlike other Americans I've met. We spent a good time together appreciating silences as much as sharing thoughts. He has helped us with many chores by turning and sieving the compost,
weeding and fertilizing the flowerbeds, chopping and stacking wood,… read more
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Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(4.9)
Communication:
(5.0)
He's young and he seemed unusually deep to me, unlike other Americans I've met. We spent a good time together appreciating silences as much as sharing thoughts. He has helped us with many chores by turning and sieving the compost,
weeding and fertilizing the flowerbeds, chopping and stacking wood,… read more
I hope you find a path to university that intrigues you while maintaining ties… read more
when i first arrived, i was naturally nervous because it was my first workaway experience... But i was instantly welcomed with open arms and welcoming smiles. i was calmly accommodated and had time to get acquainted with everything and unpack my things.
the work itself is all planned together with… read more
From turning compost to mowing the lawn, using the brush cutter and a lot of weeding, he was a quick learner and nice helper.
We hope to see you play cricket once, but above all we hope that you will be soon able to spend time with your… read more
La maggior parte degli ospiti ha aiutato in qualche modo, ma Jonatan, assieme a pochi altri, è stato eccezionale e spero sia possibile mantenere vivo il rapporto in… read more
Abbiamo lavorato a vari progetti, dalla raccolta delle olive alla costruzione di una scatola di cemento per la pompa della piscina.
Il posto è molto bello, in estate c'era molta ombra e aria fresca e in inverno la casa è molto ben riscaldata. La camera e il bagno privato per gli ospiti… read more
Unusual combination of rigor and irony, especially for such a young boy.
We miss you ..!
Once I arrived, Carlotta and Marco made me comfortable. Like It was my second home. Over the 3… read more
He is been an important, quite, reliable and powerful help to have around. We wish he will learn Italian or improve his English talking capabilities and we hope him shortly back for chatting a bit as well.
… read more
The work was always well explained, not difficult and very varied.
I hope you guys are doing… read more
As a good Brit, perhaps he is a little too… read more
I spent there 2 weeks and I have to say that I learned A LOT.
from cooking to gardening, Carlotta amazed with me with the skills she have, she know's well how to handle the big gardens and I found it very interesting to do it by myself, there is a… read more
Idan and I did the best to help eachother and he kept his word arriving and going away very… read more
WorkAway gives us the possibility of interesting cultural exchanges, an eye open to the world from this place. The young guests are strong, adaptable, vital,… read more
First of all, I really appreciate your sharing life with me.
It was completely amazing 3weeks. It can be said most meaningful, fruitful and unforgettable time ever.
Carlotta is thoughtful, philosophical and cool person, and also she is good cook. She really values the element of life one by one, and her lifestyle is kind to… read more
Enjoyed being in the kitchen with her, and learning and sharing… read more
I hope we will continue to write eachother about his experiences and also about his political studies.
My wild herbs will be afraid of his return and ... he will dream the compost piles to turn.
I already miss the magic about always set table… read more
It was an amazing trip for me as it was my first Workaway experience because they really live the spirit of Workaway. We found the perfect balance between work and free time, so I had the opportunity to see the magnificent sites of Rome, Tivoli and even Naples! Working in the… read more
We are confident that her exploration of the world will continue and will soon bring her back to Italy.
Ruby, our hope is to… read more
Their farm is a beautiful place, really calm with amazing view. The house is cosy and clean with all the comforts of a modern house.
I loved their… read more
In the garden, among other things, I had the opportunity to help in the automatic irrigation system, wedding, seeding, preparing the land to plant avocados and organizing the structure to help the tomatoes… read more