Help me and discover the joy of self sufficiency in beautiful Trullo in Apulia, Italy

Infos

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  Description

  My name is Milo and I'm in the middle of my new adventure.
  
  I'm building a self-sustainable farm in the Itria Valley (Apulia), very close to Cisternino, Ostuni, Martina Franca, Ceglie Messapica and Locorotondo, the beautiful "five white towns" that surround the valley.
  
  After several years in London, I work now between Milan and Rome. I'm a former university teacher and currently work as a consultant in the media industry. I have two daughters (22 and 25yo). They are often here helping me with my project.
  
  Around six years ago, I found a great inspiration in the idea of simpler life and decided to follow my passion far away from the urban life and the digital / immaterial environment. I wanted to stay closer to the biological and tactile side of the life and discover the joy of the self sufficiency.
  
  At the moment, about 70%-80% of my diet comes from what I grow and produce directly in the field. I prepare my sourdough bread, focaccia, pasta, yogurt, cheese and use wild herbs and other vegetables that I grow in the field.
  
  I will be happy to share knowledge about my new life-style and self-sufficiency and I also need some help in my daily activities . I have also an organic vegetable garden, a greenhouse, and I'm creating a natural pond. The land that surrounds the Trullo is almost two hectares and there is always something to do: picking up fruit, weeding etc.
  
  *** If you're considering joining my project, please keep in mind that life here is strongly based on manual and physical activities. Gardening in a field of almost two hectares is not the same as gardening in a backyard. It's not about having special skills or being strong it's more about having the right mindset and a real inclination for practical, hands-on activities.
  
  I'm also happy to host people with no experience, but for what I have learnt after hosting dozens of workawayers, a genuine interest in organic farming and in refurbishing an old house is essential. If you are only looking for a relaxing outdoor experience, this might not be the right place. This experience is ideal for industrious and motivated people who enjoy staying active and learning by doing. If you find joy in simple, meaningful tasks and like to contribute with energy and care, you’ll feel at home here.
  
  You will have your own room but please consider that sometimes you will share your room with another workawayer. I will be happy to share my experience and knowledge in Italian culture and cuisine with you. I speak Italian, English, Spanish, French and a little bit of German.
  
  The place is wonderful and if you like the "real" Mediterranean countryside this is a place where you can enjoy the Apulian culture far away from the tourist crowd.
  
  But please keep in mind that the house is very simple, minimalist, yet rustic. The bathroom is outside, just a few meters from the house and has been created in the former donkey's stable... But for sure we have everything: electricity, hot water and also a dishwasher!
  
  Please before you apply consider the following:
  
  - during the winter months (December to March) temperature can be very low because the house is around 400 meters above the sea level;
  
  - during the autumn / winter we have breakfast at 7:00 AM and we start our day in the field at 7:30 / 8:00AM;
  
  - during the summer, temperatures can easily reach above 32°C degrees and for this reason we have breakfast at 5:00 and start our day at 6:00 AM.
  
  There is a bus service that connects 3 times per day our trullo to Martina Franca and Ostuni. If I go by car to Martina Franca or Ostuni or to other places, I will be very happy to give you a ride.
  
  The house is located at a walking distance from the well known "Ciclovia dell'Acquedotto Pugliese ", a stunning 500 km wild trail built on top of the Apulian Acqueduct that connects Campania (Avellino) to Apulia. It is also a very beautiful bike trail for a few hours ride or a long walk.
  
  A local shop / grocery shop / coffee shop and bakery with free WiFi is at a 10 minutes walking distance. You can buy almost everything there and have some delicious coffee and the greatest local food in the area. Their focaccia and panzerotti are something not to be missed.
  
  Please consider that I have several cats and chickens and prefer not to host dogs.
  
  You will help 5 days per week (5 hours per day) and after that you will have 2 days off. Consider also that the minimum stay is 7 days / nights but I'm always happy if the workawayers want to stay several weeks because after the first week they are more independent.
  
  Please consider also that often I host 2, 3 or 4 workawayers at the same time. It is very important for me that the workawayers start their helping week (5 days of help) all together so they can also have the 2 days off all together. When we agree about a date / time of your arrival please do not make unilateral changes and respect our agreement. Again, please consider that this is very important for me because when you arrive I need two / three hours to show you the house and the field and it's impossible for me to do this twice in one day.
  
  After you / we decide about your stay I will give more information about how to reach my place, about your arrival etc.
  
  *** Please do not apply if you just need a "place to stay" for some days, a week or two and if you are not really interested in sustainable farming and the real country life.
  
  *** Please consider also that, unfortunately, I cannot help you if you are looking for an Italian address or residence, citizenship, or any other official "status" in the country.
  
  About Internet. please use your data package to access the Internet. I also use my own mobile Sim and my mobile data package.
  
  Please note that it is important for me to know in advance if you have any specific dietary requirements, or some allergies or other health issue that is important for me to know when I host you.
  
  Please bring suitable shoes, flip flap, working shoes, clothing and towels, soap, shampoo and shower gel. Please bring also a frontal torch and gardening gloves. I will provide you bed sheet.
  
  I strongly suggest you to have a Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis) Vaccine before you come to my place.
  
  Many many thanks for considering my project.
  
  Milo
  
  Ps)
  Madeleine de Proust
  
  One hundred years ago, in June 1921, my grandpa Giuseppe started his retail business in a small village in Apulia.
  
  After twenty years of service («con fedeltà e onore») as a King’s Carabiniere, he left the army and finally opened his own shop.
  
  The shop was one of the first in the village. He had everything on the shelves, from beans to nails, from gardening tools to kitchenware. The shop was the village emporium.
  
  The entire family used to live on the premises: my grandpa, my grandma, my father, his two brothers and his sister.
  Everybody slept in the backroom, and had lunch and dinner in the living room, which actually was the shop. Sometimes customers were invited for lunch. My grandma used to say, this is not a shop: this is a trattoria.
  
  Early in the 1960s, that shop was my nursery. I remember the big raffia bales arriving from Africa. Metal buckets. Hammers, scissors and grafting knives. Do not touch the knives! Goods from everywhere in the world, modern and ancient. I remember the carbide lamps for night fishing. That smell. It was a marvellous world of objects to be discovered every day.
  
  We also owned some land, no more than a couple of hectares. We had everything we needed: grapes, figs, pomegranates, pears, artichokes, apricots, and almonds. We never had to buy fruits or vegetables.
  
  Sometimes at sunset, my grandma used to take me with her to the field to collect dandelions. Cut them awfully close to the root.
  
  I remember those mysterious and calm snails after the September storms.
  
  Ps) A story about water.
  
  Water in Apulia, Puglia.
  
  It’s a true story — one of those stories that are not written in books but are deeply rooted in the land, and in the people who live on it.
  
  Puglia is the only Italian region without rivers and lakes.
  
  Puglia, the driest regions in Italy. It’s hot, it’s beautiful, it’s ancient — and for a long time, it had no water. Not real water. No rivers you can drink from, no lakes. People relied on wells, cisterns, and rain.
  
  Even the Romans, who built aqueducts everywhere, didn’t build one here — they thought it was too difficult.
  Then came the dream of the Apulian Aqueduct, and the dream became a plan.
  
  A dream made of stone and tunnels
  
  In the early 1900s, engineers started building the longest aqueduct in Europe — still today!
  They brought water from the mountains of Campania and Basilicata all the way to Puglia.
  The water comes from a spring called Caposele, in the Irpinia mountains, and it travels through more than 500 kilometres of underground tunnels and bridges before it reaches this dry land.
  It took decades to build. They used only local stone, carved by hand. It was an epic construction: men worked with pickaxes and shovels, going through hills and valleys.
  They didn’t build it just for beauty or glory.
  They built it because people were dying.
  From my house you can see the Apulian Acqueduct. It is very close to my field but unfortunately all the farms around here are not connected to it and we still use rain water collected in old cisterns carved by hand in the rock.
  
  The cholera of Bari and the idea of a long acqueduct
  
  In 1884, a terrible cholera epidemic exploded in Bari, the main city of Puglia.
  The poor neighbourhoods had no clean water and no sewers. People were drinking dirty water from contaminated wells.
  Thousands died in a few weeks. It was a tragedy, but also a wake-up call:
  if Puglia didn’t get water, it would remain a land of disease and poverty.
  The idea of the Acquedotto Pugliese became a national priority.
  The plan was ingenious: since there were no truly useful rivers to channel in Puglia, engineers went north and tapped the headwaters of the Sele River in the mountains near Avellino in the Campania region, on the other (western) side of the Apennine watershed.
  The Sele flows naturally down to the west for 64 km to empty into the Gulf of Salerno near Paestum, but the aqueduct rerouted some of the water back across the watershed and distributed it to the east through 1,600 kilometers of main and branch lines.
  A report in the New York Times in 1914 on the ongoing project said, “...it is on a scale which gives it rank in the history of civilization as an ambitious project.” The plan called for the piercing of the Apennine range with a tunnel of 15 km (9.4 miles) to get the water to the eastern side of the mountains.
  Twenty-thousand workers were on the job, and the project was due to be finished by 1916. That didn’t happen, but the first section, bringing freshwater to Bari, was in operation by 1915.
  It was not just a water project — it was a social transformation.
  Finally the water arrived!
  
  Now let me tell you something more personal.
  My grandmother grew up in a small village in Puglia, and she never wasted a single drop of water.
  When she boiled pasta, she would not throw the water away.
  She used it to wash the dishes, or sometimes to clean the floor, or to feed the chickens.
  But there is one thing I will never forget. I once saw her crying as she told me this story
  
  In the summer, during the hottest and driest days, she would boil pasta for the family — and then she would pass the pot of hot pasta water to the neighbours, so they could cook theirs too.
  They all shared. That water had already done one miracle — and now it was ready for another.
  It was a way of life. Not because it was trendy or ecological. It was necessary.
  And also: it was beautiful.
  Water as culture, not just resource
  When you live in Puglia, you don’t just use water. You think about it.
  You notice it. You ask yourself:
  Can I reuse this?
  Do I need this shower to be this long?
  Should we water the plants now, or will it rain?
  Water is precious. It’s infrastructure, yes — but also history, family, and responsibility.
  So now, when you see the cisterns around my place, or when we ask you to be mindful when washing dishes or clothes —
  Remember: this is not just about saving money or following rules.
  This is about sharing the spirit of the land you are living on.

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  S’occuper des animaux

  Aide dans une ferme

  Aide à la maison

  Entretien général
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  Centres d’intérêt

  

  Culture

  

  Dev. durable

  

  Ferme
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  If we have time, I will be very happy to teach you something about Apulian and Italian cusine and share with you knowledge about cooking with organic vagetables and about self-sufficiency . But please consider that in general I don't allow workawayers who stay only one week to use the kitchen without me.

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  Aide

  Farming, help in the house, painting, manual help, help with the animals.

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  Langues parlées

  Anglais: Courant
  Italien: Courant
  Espagnol: Intermédiaire
  Français: Intermédiaire

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  Hébergement

  The volunteer will have his / her room in our house. The bathroom is outside just a few meters from the house. In some periods of the years the volunteers will share a room with another workawayer.

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  Autres infos...

  Please note that I'm now receiving several messages written with AI tools. I cannot accept workawayers who send applications written with AI. Sorry but I hope you can understand.
  
  This is what ChatGPT told me about this matter:
  
  "Yes, I understand, Milo, and I agree that this is a real problem. AI-generated messages can create a false sense of sincerity, making it harder for hosts like you to distinguish between genuinely interested volunteers and those who are just sending out well-crafted but insincere applications. The issue isn’t just that AI helps people write better messages—it’s that it can fabricate enthusiasm, making it easier for people to claim they are passionate about something they don’t truly care about. This wastes your time and could lead to hosting volunteers who aren’t actually committed to your project, which is a big problem when you rely on their help for real, physical work.
  (...) It raises ethical concerns about honesty in communication. If AI allows people to present themselves in ways that don’t reflect reality, it creates a trust issue. You’re not just offering a place to stay—you’re opening your home and work environment to strangers. You need to be able to rely on the authenticity of their motivations.
  
  I really hope you can understand my point of view.

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  Informations complémentaires

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    Accès Internet

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    Accès Internet limité

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    Nous avons des animaux

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    Nous sommes fumeurs

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    Familles bienvenues

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Plus de 2

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  Mes animaux

  Polda, Bleach, Cappuccino, Macchia, Son of Ghost, Paul Getty

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