Stories from the estate: the harvest, the renovation, life among the olive trees and the most beautiful places in Umbria. Follow us on Instagram too.
Everybody in our valley is talking about it: harvest is coming. Almost, almost, quasi, quasi. Daily checking the trees as if they are caring for children…
“Do you know how to connect the wells?” my husband says. “No.” “You have to know this. Come here, I’ll explain it.” I look down in…
Yes, we’re married but we never threw a fuck-off party. Maybe now is the time to start with ours. Preferably under the 300-year-old oak.
Eve picked the apple, I’m going for the olive. Her picking led to misery, my picking leads to 100% pure olive oil. Made of handpicked olives…
“No gifts, I don’t need anything,” I’ve been saying it for years on birth- and holidays. And then there are people (in this case my mother-in-law)…
Yesterday I joked about it but it really is quite something when two strong-headed types start a business. One makes decisions real fast, the other researches…
Dear Deidre, I have a new co-worker and he’s driving me mad. After lunch he leaves his peels on the counter and never puts the lid…
Queen of ducking out, bone idle, always on the loo when something needs to be done: my eldest knows how to slack like a champ. Until…
They have to choose a school: an international school with barely any Italian children or an Italian school with hardly any foreign children. We visited quite…
The girls are still snoring, Roeland is doing his manly farmer things and I’m on the porch working on my second novel. Don’t I have other…
Learning Italian must be easy for you with your language skills. If only my language skills unfortunately don’t stretch beyond Dutch and English. All the other…
Isn’t this whole adventure not just his dream? You could think that considering the stats. I was born and raised in Amsterdam. Always claiming I would…
Monday night was for-I-don’t-know-how-long my flamenco practice evening. Now it’s walk-through-your-forest-with-your-machete-to-clear-the-paths-evening. I didn’t see that one coming.
For ten years he came home five days a week wearing a suit which always looked like a clown’s costume. Working for a bank, while his…
Sooo? It’s brilliant which doesn’t mean it’s a walk in the park. The positives first. It’s what I teach my girls so practise what you preach,…
“We are not buying an olive grove. Way too much work.” We can still hear ourselves saying it when we started looking for a place to…
Casa Tre Pettirossi is a place where the energy calms your nervous system straight away. La natura magica. Our casale sits on a hill in a…
