Casa Scaparone Azienda Agricola. Farm Holidays. In the town of Alba, 5 min from the center.
The only agriturismo in the city of Alba that serves lunch and dinner as well as rooms.
The only agriturismo in the city of Alba that serves lunch and dinner as well as rooms.
CROPS grown using the "Substantia" method (Anthroposophic Agriculture). Ten hectares of land cultivated with cereals, a vineyard, vegetables and an orchard. We produce typical Alba wines, Pasta from ancient wheat varieties, jams, preserves, flours and bakery produce, as well as honey www.cerealiantichi.it
RESTAURANT - OSTERIA with:
- Typical and traditional and seasonal Alba menus, farm produce and a traditional environment.
- Our own organic wines by the glass; other local wines to taste and buy.
OSTERIA OPENING TIMES: lunch on Saturday and Sunday. Dinner every night.
ROOMS in AGRITURISMO: double rooms with bathroom and rooms for four people to enjoy country life and meals made with our own products.
Open countryside, meadows, vineyards, orchards and woods. Aerial view of Alba, the Langhe area and Roero hills. Possibility of excursions, truffle hunting, bicycle hire, weddings, family celebrations, educational and recreational activities for children, solarium, farm work, bread-making courses, agriculture, , making pasta, a day with the bees, vegetable cookery courses. We speak English, Spanish, French and Piedmontese.Traditional live music. Children's playground.
CONTACTS: info@casascaparone.it - GPS: Alba, Strada Scaparoni, 45. Tel. +39 0173 33.946
Casa Scaparone is not a Hotel but our Home; we are happy to share it with like-minded people!
CONTINUED BELOW
A LITTLE HISTORY UNTIL... NOW!
Casa Scaparone came about as a dream-project of Battista and Alessandra in January 2000.
This new family began the restoration of a group of very old houses on a hillside near the city of Alba. From 1500 to 1950, they had been inhabited by the noble Scaparone family but thereafter were progressively abandoned until a state of uninhabitable and unsafe ruin was declared in 1999.
Then came several years of painstaking restoration work on these buildings to regain their former glory, rebuilding the houses with the same materials and methods used until 1900, and making room for several family homes, a dining room and some guest rooms.
At the same time, new vineyards and orchards were planted, as well as vegetables greenhouses, a stable for animals, workshops and a joinery; a laboratory for making cheese and preserves.
In 2002, Casa Scaparone became an "agricultural company" - a farm producing everything needed for human consumption following the dietary customs and habits of Piedmont: wine, goat cheese, milk, pork and veal, vegetables, plain wheat flour for animal feed and also human consumption, fruit and jams, vegetable conserves. A farm restaurant was opened in December 2002. Some rooms were completed in June 2003. A great deal of work is always needed in the countryside and the stables. We mainly sell our wine, cheese and preserves.
In 2005, Alessandra began to apply the principles of Biodynamic agriculture through the Alba Homoeopathic Association of which she was a member. This was followed by long and challenging years of studies into Anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner's Spiritual Science, with the curiosity of finding out man's true role on a farm, and the relationship with other forms of life existing on the Earth - in other words, the complex Mineral and Soil Kingdom, the powerful Plant Kingdom and the perturbing and difficult relationship with the Animal Kingdom - the Companions of Man who often also become "food" for his sustenance.
In this moment and in this way, the path of esoteric spiritual searching and the practical realization of work-life converge and can give a meaning to Man's permanence in the countryside and among other people!
The success of the organic farming method, thereby excluding chemical fertilizers and herbicides and increasing humus in the fields, and the end of the battle against wild plants (formerly known as "weeds") that have progressively become a help to the farmer, are the inspiration for changing farm output and the diet of people living here, with the production and dietary objective of "nourishment" that initially excluded animals and subsequently products derived from animals.
By significantly reducing the physical "effort" that farmers once had to expend to produce their food, we turned to study and plan a diet based exclusively on plant products.
Casa Scaparone has seen the search for Sustainability become the driving force of work and life. One begins to realise that perhaps we do not need to consume petrol, electricity and water, nor industry, transport and especially human toil to produce "food" and that with a little commitment one can produce "less" to obtain more! And keep the petrol for motorbikes and sports cars for the next five centuries!
The decision to set up a group in 2010 involving friends and companions, that then became a family community committed to understanding and implementing the concept of harmony between Man and Earth, Plants and Animals: this was the starting point for the www.cerealiantichi.it project, a line of products made using to ancient varieties of cereals, rediscovered thanks to Rural Seed Network and the research of Massimo Schellino, the Rural Civilisation Association with Antonio Grasso and studies with Pietro Gallo and Enzo Nastati into Homoeodynamics.
Casa Scaparone cooperates with Maurizio Pallante's Happy Degrowth movement, and was among the first to sign the "Stop the consumption of agricultural territory" Movement set in motion by Gino Scarsi.
Starting from a handful of grain seeds "forgotten" by "consumer-driven" agriculture and the search for "quantity", we now cultivate 10 hectares with new-old cereal varieties!
Casa Scaparone sells its produce to shops and restaurants in northern Italy, France and Switzerland. E-commerce will also be available for product purchases directly through our website.
Our studies continue and the "Substantia" group of friends-association has been set up. It seeks to define an agricultural cultivation method based on various other agricultural methods but outside certification organisations which, according to "Substantia's" members, tend to constrict companies to a method only written on paper. The intention of the members of www.substantia.it is to cultivate and transform food in accordance with a constantly evolving and open-minded method that welcomes experimentation and research without necessarily having to belong to the so-called "churches of thought" but free to express itself in relation to the results obtained and the skills of individual operators.
The Substantia method... involves continual evolution and always will, year by year, with every production cycle.
January 2014 saw the launch of the www.cucinavegetale.it project, following a year of theoretical and, especially, practical preparation: Cucina Vegetale (cooking with vegetables) is a way of cooking WITH all the wealth of the plant world.
In parallel, the restaurant serves a traditional menu with many organic foods alongside Casa Scaparone's own produce, as well as the 100% Vegan Cucina Vegetale menu.
No one at Casa Scaparone has ever wanted to "teach" others something but we are all very willing to share our discoveries and experiences!
Casa Scaparone cooks all types of foods, for anyone who wishes to dine with us, from traditional Piedmont menus "onwards". In this way, EVERYONE can come to the Restaurant and learn about and share what we are doing!
The taste for beauty and goodness is the main reason inspiring cuisine at Casa Scaparone which, together with the concept of Health and Respect, mean that every guest is welcome!
It is a pleasure for Casa Scaparone to serve foods for people having problems of intolerance to various foods, coeliac disease or allergies!
Casa Scaparone has NEVER used freezers or chillers...
Casa Scaparone offers the chance to take part in daily activities and share these houses and common spaces; there is also an "osteria" or tavern where traditional Piedmont music is sometimes played, as well as 9 guest rooms, an off-the-beaten-track sightseeing project and a series of training courses involving agriculture, bakery and diet lasting a week for residents in the Alba area as well as in "weekend" format.
Casa Scaparone:
does not have televisions: there's just You and Us and hundreds of books we have already read on hand... as well as free Wi-Fi;
there is no Mini Bar in the rooms (for drinking alone...) but there is a Bar where you can stay up late into the night and taste everything available;
despite 14 years of hard and exciting work, we still like to celebrate in an intelligent and carefree way!
Casa Scaparone is the Home and the Life of everyone working here with Love to build their own way of life.
Casa Scaparone is open 12 months a year because work is shared among everyone and nobody has to work like a madman every month of the year to survive!
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"After 12 years of guests arriving here from all over the world, sharing their holidays with us, often when saying goodbye I still feel that "end of vacation" melancholy when sharing greetings, making appointments to meet somewhere else, another time, like old friends, invitations, "come and visit us", we will come back... perhaps yes, like an incurable romantic or an visionary, but what can be done...
At night when I go to sleep, tired of a day of intense and rewarding work among the fields, bricks, computers, accordions and the "osteria", I feel that this little world we call "Home" powerfully and magically returns all the Love that we have sincerely and increasingly unconditionally tried to give, a pure Faith in this life that we happily chose and that has already repaid us since we are still Here and Now to talk about and enjoy it."
Battista, profession: visionary, co-founder of the Casa Scaparone Agricultural Community.
