On the farm
The agriturismo is one of Italy's better inventions: a working farm, obliged by law to still be a farm, that also feeds you.
40 things to book20 placesthe nearest is in Rome itself
The rule behind the word is worth knowing, because it explains why these days are good. An agriturismo has to be a real agricultural business first; hospitality is allowed only alongside the farming. So the vegetables on the table came from outside the window, and the person cooking them probably grew them.
For visitors, that produces a day that no restaurant and no attraction can copy. There are animals, there is something happening — a harvest, a milking, a pressing, depending on the month — and there is a table for as long as you want it.
It is also, quietly, the cheapest good lunch in Italy, and the best day out of Rome for a family with young children who have had enough of being told not to touch things.
What actually happens on one of these days depends on the month, and that is a feature rather than a nuisance. Spring is lambs, herbs and the first cheese. Summer is early mornings, honey and the vegetable garden. September and October are the grape harvest. November is olives and new oil. Winter is the kitchen — pasta, bread, pizza, and a long lunch that goes into the afternoon because there is nothing else to do.
Booking one is not like booking a restaurant. Many of these farms cook only what has been reserved, several do not take online bookings at all, and the person who answers is usually the person who will be cooking. Ring a day or two ahead, say how many and say if anybody does not eat something. It will be dealt with in about fifteen seconds.
One thing worth setting expectations on: a farm lunch in Lazio is not a light meal. The usual shape is antipasti that would be a meal anywhere else, then pasta, then meat, then whatever is in the orchard. Do not plan anything strenuous for the afternoon, and do not have breakfast.
Working smallholdings, dairies, apiaries and estates. Sorted by how close they are to Rome.
Closest to Rome first. Never by who pays us.
With your handsA morning in the apiary inside the Veio regional park: watching how the bees live and work, then a guided tasting of several honeys, millefiori, chestnut and honeydew, led by th…
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With your handsA working farm inside Rome, ten minutes from the Appia Antica park, with hectares of cultivated land and farm animals.
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On horsebackA riding centre on Via della Macchiarella in Rome that lists horseback rides among the services it sells alongside its riding school for children.
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With your handsAn organic farm inside Rome producing organic wine, olive oil and grapes.
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On horsebackThe riding school runs rides in the countryside on the edge of Rome, with the length set by the level of the riders.
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With your handsAbout two hours led by the brewer or one of the partners: a walk through the hop rows and the fields, the brewery itself, and a guided tasting of three beers chosen on the day a…
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With your handsThe estate sits in an eighteenth-century casale on a hill at Monte Porzio Catone, thirty hectares of Frascati DOCG vineyard in front and the skyline of Rome beyond.
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On the trailThe gardens of the Ville Pontificie at Castel Gandolfo are open as the Borgo Laudato Si', a working site of integral ecology.
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On the trailA ten-kilometre easy walk from Castel Gandolfo to Nemi between the two crater lakes, through woods and past the villages on their rims.
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On the trailDay one walks from Castel Gandolfo to Nemi between the two lakes, with a brunch stop at a farm bistrot and a floating aperitivo on the lake at the end; the night is spent in ten…
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With your handsA walk through the vineyard, then the cellar and the barrel room of an organic Frascati estate, ending with a guided tasting of four De Sanctis wines.
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With your handsThe short version: fifteen minutes by train to Tor Vergata, five on foot to the farmhouse, a walk among the vines with views back towards Rome, and three Frascati wines paired w…
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With your handsFifteen minutes by train from Rome: a walk through the vineyard with a local guide, then a hands-on class where you cook traditional Frascati dishes and the local wine cookies w…
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With your handsPick-up at Frascati station at half past four, a tasting of three Frascati wines with local snacks at the farmhouse vineyard, then a guided walk through the historic centre and …
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With your handsA beekeeper opens the hives and explains how the colony is organised and how honey is made, in an apiary inside the Parco Regionale dei Castelli Romani.
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In the airA tandem flight under a powered paraglider from the airfield at Fiano Romano, thirty-six kilometres north of Rome, over the hills and the wide farmland of the Tiber valley.
A sports club — you join them for the day
See the dayThe ones set up for small people: animals to meet, a job to do, and no minimum age that gets in the way.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
With your handsBe there for the 8:30 milking and the 9:00 curd: the timetable is the tour.
€15 per person
Books on agricolacirce.it
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With your handsA Sabina DOP oil producer that opens its mill and its centuries-old groves to visitors with a tasting.
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On horsebackThe farm runs teaching days for children, families and school groups built around its horses and its farm animals.
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With your handsA longer day at the farm: the history of the estate and its year-round organic methods, an extended tasting of a range of Italian oils, and lunch.
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With your handsA family farm below Caprarola on the Cimini hills that grows hazelnuts and makes creams, spreads, mostarde and biscuits in its own laboratory.
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With your handsParticipants pick edible flowers — cultivated organically on the farm and wild ones in season — and turn them into two preparations, between drinks and cooked dishes, depending …
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With your handsA sensory walk through the farm's cultivated and wild medicinal herbs, then each participant picks a selection and blends tisanes with the grower — separating functional blends …
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With your handsA visit to a working medicinal-herb farm in which the plants are met through all five senses — smelled, touched, and tasted straight from the field — with a tasting of the farm'…
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On the waterAn hour on Lake Nemi on a stand-up paddleboard with a federal instructor, board and gear included.
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With your handsClay worked by hand and then fired, on a family farm running since 1986 twenty-five kilometres south of Rome.
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With your handsA guided walk through the fields of an organic farm at Cantalupo in Sabina, among ancient grain varieties and aromatic herbs, ending with a snack of local products.
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With your handsAn organic farm at Velletri producing wine, olive oil and fruit, which lists tasting and direct sales among what it offers on site.
See the dayThe ones that also make wine or oil, where the visit ends in a cellar or a mill rather than a shop.
Best fit for this section first, then whatever you can book today. Closest to Rome breaks a tie. Never by who pays us.
With your handsMake the pasta at a Frascati winery: 22 minutes by train, picked up at the station.
€109 per person
Books on farmexperiencestours.com
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With your handsA guided tour of a Frascati winery built around a 16th-century villa, including the vineyards and the historic volcanic cave used as a cellar, followed by a tasting.
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With your handsAn organic estate on the hills at Frascati working the native Frascati DOCG grapes — Malvasia del Lazio, Greco Bianco, Bombino.
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With your handsA driver meets you at Frascati station, takes you to a sixteenth-century family vineyard for a tasting of three boutique wines with snacks, then a guided walk through Frascati a…
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With your handsA guided walk through the historic centre of Frascati tasting slow-roasted pork and jug wine, then a pizza lesson with a master pizzaiolo: you make your own, eat it with antipas…
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On two wheelsA guided e-bike ride leaving the centre of Frascati, climbing gently towards Monte Tuscolo and continuing on dirt tracks and hill roads to one of the area's historic wineries, w…
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With your handsThe estate offers a visit that covers the vineyards, the production philosophy and the winemaking, and can be combined with the secrets of Roman cooking.
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With your handsThe estate produces Cesanese del Piglio DOCG and takes visitors for a tasting and direct sales on site.
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With your handsAn evening at an organic olive farm in the Sabina: a walk through the grove, a guided tasting of the farm's oils and a light supper with olive oil pairings and drinks.
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With your handsAn advanced tasting session led by an official tasting panel recognised by the Italian ministry of agriculture, ending in the tasting room at Castelnuovo di Farfa.
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In the airA two-kilometre zipline descent from Rocca Massima at over 110 km/h, over olive groves and karst country down towards Monte Sant'Angelo, packaged with a guided cellar visit and …
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With your handsTasting of three wines from the native Nero Buono and Bellone grapes, served with bruschetta, cheeses and cured meats, at the cooperative founded in Cori in 1947.
See the dayDriving time from the middle of Rome, on the road network and without traffic. It tells you whether the day stands up; it is not a timetable.
Getting there
The day stays yours: you leave when you want, stop where you want, and come back when the light goes.
Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Localrent, and anything about that booking goes through them.
See prices on LocalrentNo parking to find, no wrong turns, and you leave when the day is done.
Affiliate link — you pay their price, never more, and they pay us. You book with Welcome Pickups, and anything about that booking goes through them.
See prices on Welcome PickupsA farm that is legally required to keep farming, and is allowed to host and feed visitors alongside it. That definition is the reason the food is good: the farm came first and the restaurant is the side.
Yes, nearly always, and often a day or two ahead — many cook only what has been booked. The phone number on the card is the fastest route; several do not take online bookings at all.
It is the best day out of Rome for them. Space to run, animals at eye level, and food that arrives when it arrives. The section above lists the ones set up for it.
In the Castelli and the Sabina, easily — they are frequently the same family. Look for the cards that mention both.
It depends on what you want the day to be. The Castelli farms are the closest and the best supplied with wine; the Sabina ones are the oil and cheese country; the plain south of Rome is buffalo and mozzarella. The grids above are sorted by distance, so the first cards are the shortest drive.
Where an operator publishes a price we print it with the date we read it, and where they do not, the card says so rather than guessing. What is generally true is that it costs less than the equivalent meal in the centre of Rome and involves considerably more food.
Yes — almost everything on this page is a day visit or a meal rather than a stay. An agriturismo is legally a working farm first, and many of them open the farming part to visitors for a few hours without any question of a room.
Some do and say so on the card, and the ones near Frascati are the best supplied for it. Many are family businesses working mostly in Italian, which matters less than you would expect when the activity is feeding an animal or making pasta — but if it matters for your day, ring first.
The law. An agriturismo has to be a real agricultural business, with the hospitality allowed only alongside the farming. A restaurant with a field around it does not. That distinction is the reason the vegetables on the table came from outside the window.
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