May

Early summer, full of promise. Milk from sheep grazing on fresh pastures makes the best pecorino cheese. Unripe farro, the primitive wheat of the mountains, ripples in its terraced fields. Silk worms are feeding on mulberry leaves before spinning their silk cocoons in June. And bees collect nectar from the creamy drooping acacia flowers which will become next month's honey.

Sample activities

Spend a day in a village where ancient and modern work together in harmony: bake Garfagnana potato bread with the village baker in his wood-fired oven, visit farro fields and state-of-the-art farro polishing machine
Visit a shepherd and watch her make pecorino and ricotta with milk from her own flocks
Learn to cook a soup that can only be made in May and local dishes prepared with ricotta
Join the locals at a strawberry festival
Glide silently in an electric boat among the reeds of Lago Massaciuccoli at dusk, seeing the now dilapidated fishing huts on stilts and watching the sunset over the lake as the water birds come home to roost
Feast at an olive oil festival and learn how to taste olive oil
Guided tour of one of the grand villas and its gardens near Lucca
Walk in spring wildflower meadows on a mountain top
Visit a silkworm breeder and feed mulberry leaves to the silkworms (they can't feed without human help)
Tour the walled town of Lucca with a descendant of one of the thirteen ruling families of the Renaissance
Meals in family restaurants off the beaten track

Ask us for our full menu of activities since we're always finding new interesting producers.