Your hosts
Potenza Picena. Le Marche. Italy.
Tom and Annemarie run Agriturismo Scala, a four-room B&B and organic farm in the hills of Le Marche.
The people behind Scala
We are Tom and Annemarie, from the Netherlands. After years of city jobs behind a screen, we wanted work that was practical and tied to the land. In the hills of Le Marche we found a slightly forgotten agriturismo, and started there.
Annemarie grows organic food: vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruit. Tom cooks, cures and ferments. Together we run the B&B, the farm and the products.
The farmhouse
Scala is a farmhouse near Potenza Picena that we renovated step by step, with natural materials, solar panels and a heat pump. The four guest rooms are on the first floor.
The house was originally called La Scala di Seta. Scala is Italian for staircase: a stone staircase leads up to the rooms, and the name stayed.
The farm and what we make
The olive grove is about one hectare, with around 180 trees of six local varieties. We harvest by hand in October, and the olives are pressed the same evening at a mill in a nearby village. The oil is filtered, then bottled and labelled at the farm.
Our raw millefiori honey comes from our own hives. The lip balms and calendula skin cream are made by hand, in small batches.