One more reason to visit the Amalfi Coast

What if one of the world’s most beautiful coastlines were to become largely self-sufficient in fresh fruit and vegetable production ?

Our dear friend Giocondo, Slow Food enthusiast and Furore resident, can envision this for the Amalfi coast.  He is the catalyst for a group of similarly committed farmers who have embarked on an ambitious  project of reclaiming agricultural lands that had gone fallow and replanting them with traditional produce.   His reasoning is simple : why can’t what was once one of the most florid agricultural areas of Campania — producing grapes, citrus fruits, herbs, nuts, legumes, grain and a plethora of vegetables — again feed itself ?

Giocondo and his farmers return to the area’s pre-War heritage too in farming exclusively organically. The initial market for the bounty will be hotels and local restaurants, where guests will find that vibrant local cooking will be all the more flavorful and more healthful with the use of produce that was picked that morning.  Travel time and CO2 emissions for produce is minimal,  as deliveries go from field down the hill and to cooks awaiting in coastal kitchens.  And farmers and unemployed youth find year-round occupation in a low impact, rewarding occupation.   Everyone stands to profit.

We will be visiting Giocondo and his farmers at year’s end, and will be blogging about this laudable project.

As you plan your visits to the Amalfi coast, please know that every accommodation mentioned in our Amalfi Coast E-Newsletter should be offering local produce by next spring.  If you don’t have a copy of that issue, please ask us for one. You may also subscribe on line to our Newsletter at www.insidersitaly.com.

In your 2010 Travel Plans you will find special trattorie and restaurants where you can be assured that much of what you will be enjoying is both organic and from the Amalfi Coast.  What a celebration !