Written By by Anne and Mateo
The Carpe Terra group has had a lovely and eventful week! After a quick stop in Sorrento for some much needed rest and relaxation, we ventured on to Matera where we began our time at La Fiorita. We got to see how the volunteers and staff at Fiorita ran their farm sustainably, and even participated in various jobs and activities around the farm! We spent the first few days cleaning the olive trees, picking olives, and making delicious pomegranate juice, all with the help of our new friends Birgit, Emy, and Andrea. On Sunday, we got to branch out and meet a new group of volunteers from all over Europe, playing games to meet each other and explore, followed by a tour of the Fiorita where we met all the animals around the farm. We even saw baby cows who’d been born about two weeks before we arrived at Fiorita! On Monday, we made our first visit to downtown Matera to see the Matera Olive Oil Museum where we learned about the original process of creating olive oil and about how professional olive oil tasters test it. The group was excited for our free day on Wednesday, and decided to spend it shopping and swimming in the salty Mediterranean waters at the city of Bari on the coast! We got back into our work on Thursday, making wax paper and soap in the morning before rejoining with the new volunteer group for our “Tandem night” in the city filled with games, gelato, and panzarotto, a traditional Italian handheld food. A few of our group members described it as a “savory donut” or a “soft-crusted calzone”. On Friday, the group explored a beautiful set of caves, learning about the history of the area. We closed out the day out by learning how to make traditional Italian pasta and cheese with Andrea. We spent our final day at La Fiorita.
