If you love food, if you appreciate farming, if you marvel at how the plant turns into pasta, the grape to wine, the goat/sheep to cheese, if you can handle a tough lesson in farm sustainability from a passionate family who has worked the land for 30 years, if you enjoy a view of the Italian countryside….this is the place for you. Of the 17 days I spent traveling throughout Italy in October, this was one of the top highlights. Attend the tour, eat the food, and above all, be OPEN to learning and watching and listening about how food is grown, nurtured, and loved. Foodies beware, you may never want to leave.

We were a group of ten who either did the cheese demonstration or the truffle hunt and we ALL loved what we did. Then we gathered as a group and had a wonderful lunch of organic foods produced there at the farm. The views from the terrace are exquisite and if the weather's good, that's where lunch is served. I can't recommend this outing enough. Just go! You won't be sorry. It was a wonderful experience.

Podere Il Casals, a pecorino cheese organic farm located in the Pienza valley which is a UNESCO heritage protected valley with amazing scenery. We learned a lot about the process of how cheese is made and saw some of it being made. Our wonderful guide showed us all their different farm animals and milking stations, showed and explained how and where their various cheese is stored and answered all of our questions. After the tour our group of 6 were treated to a wide variety of the farm’s cheeses beginning with ricotta and all of them were delicious as was the wine and their honey as well. The other 2 young couples in our group shared the same outside picnic table and we stayed an extra hour enjoying each other’s company before Taking group picture and saying goodbye.