To further develop our agriturismo, we will go in March to admire our lavender, which we ordered last year. There are many roads that lead to Rome and that apparently also applies to our garden nursery. The beautiful route with magnificent views, indicated by our navigation, suddenly changes from a considerable 'abbastanza' paved road in a kind of forest path full of craters and boulders that our car can barely drive over and, to enhance the survival factor, the road goes down fascinatingly steeply. Turning around on this narrow forest path is impossible. It makes me realize that if I had been on the Titanic at the time, I would probably have been the first to jump into a lifeboat, because I suddenly find myself, anti-socially enough, outside the car and noticeably continue on foot, while I watch Sander in the meantime. just let him plod along on his own. It is only thanks to him and his very good driving skills that he and the car finished after half an hour! reach the normal road without any wrinkles. And yes, such an adventure is also the charm of Italy!

At the nursery in Camerana we hear that our lavender plants have not started. This year it means no view of waving lavender fields. The journey is, però, not for nothing; we can purchase a variety of beautiful trees and shrubs. My grandfather's statement “tomorrow you will know what it is good for” becomes clear again when this summer is one of the driest and hottest summers in centuries and a third of our well-planted lavender does not survive (suppose we have thousands of lavenders). had planted…), while all but 1 of the newly planted trees survived. Like the older trees, they even exhibit an abundance of flowers and fruit. Fortunately, the lavender that survives the summer yields relatively high yields. After all the cutting and picking, we are left with two large wooden baskets with lavender. The baskets are made of mesh at the bottom, so that the picked lavender can dry thoroughly before I put them in bags. During the return journey from the lavender nursery, it suddenly turns out (once again on the advice of the navigation) that there is a very civilized route from the nursery, simply over comfortable asphalted roads and also with beautiful views.

Thanks to the help of good friend Leo, Sander managed to put all the new trees and shrubs in the ground in April. It is incredibly nice to see how attractive the new plantings are to birds and butterflies. In the garden around our house, due to the many extra hiding places, it has become a large happy gathering of wagtails, tits, robins and occasionally we even hear sparrows. According to our friend Hans van Oosterhout, the well-known butterfly watcher and bird watcher, the wide variety of butterflies and insects per lavender on Pian del Nasso is unique. Of course we hear the cheerful buzzing of the bees and see butterflies fluttering up and down. But which inhabitants that parallel world houses and feeds is unknown to us. Hans has created a description and photo collection especially for the nature lovers among us (you can see a few below), which can soon be found on our new website. A number of photos have been released on canvas and are now hanging in our holiday homes. And even more fun: the images can also be admired 'live' in the garden.

The renovation of our Rustico will start in June! With some delays here and there due to small 'dettagli' such as a permit that turns out not to be completely complete and 'Ferragosto' the holiday month in Italy, which means that all work comes to a standstill, the renovation has been in full swing since September. The new roof will be put on next week and we hope to celebrate 'Pannenbier' in accordance with Dutch tradition as soon as the highest point is reached. At times it has something of our renovation of our house in the Kerkstraat in Baarn (friends and family probably remember it). Only a facade remained and Sander and his father chipped away thousands of bricks so that they, complete with cutting joints, became worthy of a house from 1860 again and that is also how it is now with the Rustico. It has been demolished down to the facade, and is now being restored to its former glory by chipping off the plaster and restoring it in 'piètra'. We say: “to be continued” and “keep you posted”!

In the autumn the time of the famous 'tartufo' On! Around Pian del Nasso we encounter many foraging truffle hunters with dogs. They first look a bit startled when they see us walking with dogs (the competition here is literally fierce), but they quickly turn to some pity because ours have a great cuddliness factor, but very little detective instinct (read: put a piece of sausage in front of their nose and they won't notice anything. They also do very well in the car from NL to IT with a bag of dog food next to them. It doesn't go beyond using it as a pillow for their head). So there is little competition to fear from us.

Many culinary festivals take place in the region in honor of the truffle. There is the annual 'La Festa del Tartufo di Millesimo'. In the center of the beautiful town of Millesimo, also known for Ristorante Pantarei Cucina (we were there this summer with Sander's parents, who once again honored us with a very special visit), the streets are filled with stalls selling all kinds of local products. with the main theme of course being truffle, but also with all kinds of other products such as honey, cheese, salami, etc. . Of course you can taste everywhere. It is very nice and when Sander and I were still on holiday here in the Mulino we always came there! Recommended. We can now add another good restaurant to our list: Madonna della neve in Cessole. It is located in the mountains with a beautiful view over the vineyards. The kitchen is famous for its Piedmontese cuisine, its excellent wine list and its ravioli served in linen napkins; http://www.ristorantemadonnadellaneve.it