We are a family olive mill, which lets us press the olives within an hour of harvest and so produce oil of the highest quality. Our winery, too, has offered excellent wines since times long past, and even today we approach them with special care, say the Badini family, whose winery and farm are led by the younger generation. It was founded at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries on a hillside in the village of Castiglion Fiorentino in eastern Tuscany. Sister and brother Elena and Tommaso are the sixth wine-growing generation of the family and are taking over the business from their father. They tend their vineyards, olive groves and fields – 150 hectares in all – guided by organic principles. 
In May 2024 they completed a modern cellar in the historic part of the village, an ideal spot to welcome wine lovers. Tommaso Badini is 20 years old and speaks passionately about the organic growing of grapes and the making of wine from the Italian varieties sangiovese, canaiolo, colorino, ciliegiolo, malvasia toscana and trebbiano, along with the French petit manseng and viognier. With the help of his charming partner Alessandra, Tommaso also serves home-made food. Beyond carrying on the family tradition, these young people delight in farming and live in harmony with nature.
Nature is the best teacher
The Quintosapore farm is an innovative agricultural story at the foot of the little town of Citta della Pieve, on the border of Tuscany and Umbria. It was founded in 2019 by twins Alessandro and Nicola Giuggioli, who fulfilled a dream of running a farm together even though they knew nothing about agriculture. Their sister Livia was their greatest support in building the farm, which they decided to run using a biomimetic approach – that is, inspired by nature. 
All the answers are around us. Nature gives us clear instructions; you just have to know how to listen to it and trust it. Let nature show you its very best, learn from it. It is definitely the best teacher and always has an answer for everything, says Alessandro Giuggioli. Guided by this philosophy, the brothers grow the most varied vegetables and fruit, which they sell at the farm gate while also supplying local restaurants and hotels. Using traditional methods, they also make the wine Malmaturo from an old Etruscan grape variety. Experts advised them to grub up the old vineyard in the valley, but they did not listen. They restored it and today – reportedly the only producers in the world to do so – they make a wine from the variety after which the vineyard is named, a variety long thought to have vanished back in the 17th century.
Only vegetables picked that same morning
A visit to two Tuscan family farms and wineries was part of a study trip for Croatian experts from the agricultural sector, organised by the organic-production company Lokvina together with the travel agency Travelego. The idea was to show our farmers what is being done, and how, right next door – and that quality products can more easily find a market when the producer reaches out to buyers in the right way and offers them products they can truly enjoy, said the trip’s organiser, Andrea Vugrinovic. Branimir Surbek of the Travelego travel agency stressed that study trips like this are special precisely because they bring together people of different profiles who get to know the countries they visit from the inside. 
The first stop on this journey was the Chioggia Ortomercato wholesale vegetable market near Venice. Organised as a public-private partnership, until the rise of the wholesale chains most of the region’s locally grown vegetables passed through it. Today, only radicchio – the traditional vegetable of this area – is traded there in large quantities, along with somewhat smaller volumes of pumpkins, carrots and beetroot. Yet the tradition of trading has survived as it was in the year 1500: prices are set by the cooperatives behind closed doors, and only vegetables picked that same morning are sold.
Vinegar that even suits ice cream
The Societa Agricola Acetomodena of the Vecchi family makes, from the grapes of its own vineyard, Aceto Balsamico di Modena with protected geographical indication and Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena with protected designation of origin. A visit offers a unique experience of tastes and aromas that many never dream exist – and the revelation that balsamic vinegar pairs remarkably well with ice cream. They also sell 12-year-old and 25-year-old aceto balsamico, which ages in small casks much like wine. 
The Bavicchi company from Perugia is renowned for distributing vegetable and flower seeds and a broad range of lawn solutions, whether for home or professional use. Founded in 1896, it owns the GEO brand for the production of organic seeds, sprouts and many other food-related products in keeping with the environment. Bavicchi also builds its business on networking a supply of microgreens and conventional seeds from as many as 33 countries around the world. Sprouts cannot be our only food today, yet no other guarantees such a high intake of vitamins, minerals and proteins with such minimal expenditure of time, energy and resources, said the host, Gianluca Mezzanotte.
The finest fruit and a one-of-a-kind bean
Anyone can have the orchard of their dreams. All that matters is which plants will grow in it and how they will be cared for. An orchard need not hold countless varieties. It is enough to grow one, two or three, but they must be grown with love, says Guido Favilla, whose Guido Favilla farm from the town of Lucca offers mostly traditional varieties of this region. He offers his buyers support from planting to harvest and teaches them organic cultivation. He is also one of today’s rare producers of the far-famed red bean of Lucca. 
In the town of Castelfranco Emilia, near Modena, stands the Bio Reggiani family dairy farm and cheese dairy, whose story began with five cows. Twenty years ago they turned to the organic production of Parmigiano Reggiano; today there are hundreds of head in the herd, and they are visited daily by many pupils, students, professionals and even families curious about this cheese. In the morning they milk the cows, cool the milk at once and leave it to rest at a controlled temperature. They offer parmesan aged more than twelve months, which pairs beautifully with fresh fruit and vegetables, dry white wines, balsamic vinegar and jams. The farm also has a well-stocked shop selling other home-made food products and souvenirs from local producers. 
Text and photographs: Tonka Hohnjec
03.11.2025.
