Agriturismo - Agritourismo

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Agriturismo (in English agritourism or agritourismo) is a style of vacationing in which hospitality is offered in farmhouses. If you wish, this may even include the opportunity to take part in farming tasks during the visit. Agritourism is often practiced in wine growing regions, such as Italy, France and Spain. Tourists can often pick fruits and vegetables directly from the plants, ride horses, taste honey, learn about wine, shop in gift shops and farm stands for local and regional produce or hand-crafted gifts, and much more. Each farm generally offers a unique and memorable experience suitable for the entire family.

Italian law has established strict criteria to guarantee that the tourist is dealing with a real working farm that also provides hospitality, not just a mere B&B disguised as a farmhouse. Rural Journey marks agritourisms with the icon on the left.

For an accommodation to be authorised to include the word "Agriturismo" in its name, it must guarantee that farming activities, such as cultivation of vegetables and/or cattle breeding, remain the primary source of income for the farm, with tourism being a secondary source of income.

The different Italian regions decide, according to the agricultural characteristics of the area, what the ratio must be between agricultural activity (revenue in relation to cultivated area) and tourism activity (revenue in relation to number of beds).

This also ensures that an agritourismo usually offer food and drinks produced on the farm, often using organic farming methods.

This kind of activity creates new opportunities for development in areas where agriculture is dwindling, and it offers new work prospects to young people, encouraging them not abandon country life.

The law cited is 730 from Dec. 5 1985 and may be downloaded here (PDF, in Italian only).