With Leonardo at an agriturismo: the happy union of art and nature in Vigevano - Part II.

The days when children believed that cows were purple or that fruit was born on supermarket shelves are increasingly far behind us, and the credit, in the Vigevano area, goes to the educational farm of the Agriturismo Carlo e Nadia. The trails such as Ortolandia, the workshops that introduce children to the sweet world of honey from discovering the hives to messing about with the golden nectar, the sensory garden among the aromatic herbs with which the children can make scented little soaps, are just some of the many activities that children, from nursery school up to the third year of primary school, can experience at the agriturismo. As this is the only educational farm in the Vigevano area, for the local school trips it represents an absolute point of reference; in fact, between April and June, about two thousand children spend a whole day on the farm.

“We go and pick them up directly from school with a fun little train, the same one that is normally used for the tourist tour in the centre of Vigevano and which also carries our advertising.” There is no shortage of initiatives, however, for the children who come here privately too, with their families. On the third Sunday of September, for example, RisOra is organised every year, a day during which you can enjoy free risottos – a different one every hour – and you can devote yourself to countless fun activities including carriage rides, archery, face painting and slides, as well as of course a visit to the farm, all accompanied by music and entertainment.

The parents of the children who have fun on the farm during these events often got married right here: the agriturismo is, in fact, an ideal location for weddings, parties and christenings, always laid out with refinement in the spacious and elegant indoor rooms of the house, made up of a central area and an annex, which can also be used for events and corporate meetings, to which the summer dehors is also added. After this lovely tour of the farm, both we grown-ups and our little farmers feel a tempting hunger that takes us straight to the table to enjoy a nice lunch based on the typical flavours of the area. The cooking is characterised by seasonality and the absolute freshness of the ingredients, whose availability determines the menu of the day.

Everything is set according to the criteria of zero-kilometre and typicality; for example, the farm only rears Varzese cows, a native local breed that is a Slow Food presidium. We start with a rich choice of starters, included in the fixed menu at 35 euros, including savoury vegetable and cheese pies, mixed cured meats produced by the farm with warm focaccia, and the agriturismo's hot fried foods (little rice croquettes, small meat balls and semolina triangles). We couldn't wait to taste the risottos, the real flagship of the farm, which prepares them according to the season, in a great many flavours. This time we choose the risotto with Bonarda and Trevisana, and, given the season, the one with strawberries. On the fixed menu we can often also find tasty ravioli, as well as little gnocchi, tagliatelle or crespelle.

We wash down these delights with the excellent wines from the Manuelina winery of Santa Maria della Versa. “Theirs is also a family-run business like ours and, even before work, a great friendship binds us; in some way we grew up together,” Barbara confides. Among the main courses we can always find various specialities based on locally produced meat, such as for example the fillet in a bread crust with mushroom sauce, the duck breast with balsamic vinegar or the oven-baked veal fesa glazed with Pinot. In the cold season the mixed boiled meats with green sauce are also popular, and it is a special sauce, prepared according to a recipe handed down in the family for generations. The “grandmother's” recipes are also the stars when it comes to the tasty desserts, such as the tiramisù with strawberries, but the pear and chocolate cake or the warm apple cake are also irresistible.

The children (and not only) love to snack on the homemade artisan ice creams, perfectly natural and healthy. Visiting an extraordinary city like Vigevano is a great pleasure: you breathe an atmosphere charged with art and creativity, which this time accompanied us into the countryside too. Here art and nature go hand in hand, and confirmation of this is the fact that during the summer evenings in the orchard of the Agriturismo Carlo e Nadia you can attend piano concerts: perhaps this is another reason why we will not be slow to return.

Francesca Bertha

FOR INFORMATION:

Agriturismo Carlo e Nadia Via Cararola, 105 Vigevano (PV) 0381/42060