Casa dell'Ulivo
THE HOST
Hello! My name is Francesca and Casa dell'Ulivo is the one place in the world that unites my otherwise scattered family. In this sense, even though we are not originally from this particular region and we are rarely all here at the same time, it is a family home. I adore it, and I would love to share it with you!
On paper, I am half Italian and half Dutch. After growing up in Belgium and in Greece, and then studying and working in the Netherlands for more than a decade, I figured it was time to explore my Italian side a little more, too. Where better to start with that than in Umbria? One of Italy's greenest and most relaxed regions...
Having spent most of my life walking on and between concrete, I specifically opted to move to a farm in the countryside to get away from the frenzy of 'the city'. The main downside of this choice is that traveling is now a bit more complicated as I cannot leave animals and plants behind whenever I feel like it. This while I was born and raised in an international environment, love to travel, and really enjoy meeting people from different parts of the world... But that is where you - dear guest(s) - come into the picture! Come visit, see for yourself all the beauty that Umbria has to offer, and, while you're at it, allow me to see bits and pieces of the rest of the world out there through you :)
THE VISION
As a human geographer and (former) scientific researcher, I spent (too) many years debating critical societal issues in class and conference rooms. Rather than helping me make sense of the world, I felt this was actually making me all the more clueless. So at some point I thought: maybe I should take on a completely different perspective in life...? A fairly sensible fella (Einstein) once said: “look deep into nature and you will understand everything better”. I see Casa dell’Ulivo as giving me the opportunity to do just that.
Although I have always profoundly admired nature's incredible coping mechanisms, I still have so much to learn about the ways in which we as humans can truly care for the land that we occupy on this planet. Staying at an organic olive farm in a small rural community is the perfect occasion - for me and hopefully for you too - to appreciate, understand and adopt ways of living that are both environmentally and socially responsible.
While Casa dell'Ulivo is already pretty amazing of a place as it is, the intention is to make it even better and especially, even greener - in every sense of the word. This not only requires a lot of thought and effort, but also, and perhaps above all, a whole lot of imagination and creativity. I really hope you will join me on this exploratory journey and contribute in your own way to this greenifying mission!