Il Rifugio del Contadino is located in Bosco of San Giovanni a Piro in the south of Cilento, protected by Mount Bulgheria and overlooking the Gulf of Policastro where the view extends as far as the Dino’s island of Scalea in Calabria.
We couldn’t wait to reach this paradise and finally after an exchange of emails, phone calls and messages, on a clear April afternoon we arrived at the farmhouse immersed in the dark and disheveled green of the woods and the silvery green of the centenary Pisciotta olive trees.
Il Rifugio del Contadino in Low Cilento
The road begins to descend on the side of the hill which seems to act as a launching pad towards the sea under oak trees so thick that they form a sort of green ceiling above our heads. Cesare and I had already arranged to meet in the village in front of Josè Ortega‘s mural and together we had visited the Museum and the House of the Spanish painter. Keeping us company is the lively and beautiful Rachele, who has just returned from the afternoon school shift.
Getting out of the car, Frida, one of the three big dogs in the house, came to meet us. All around the silence and beauty of this part of Campania. A magical place surrounded by nature with a large porch for eating outdoors and enjoying the freedom of country life in front of a spectacular sunset. This and much more, because it is the people who make places special and Isabella, Cesare and their family with their love know how to make you feel at home and at the same time in a dream.
The fire is already lit inside the farmhouse but it is the warmth of the welcome from Isabella and the little one of the house, Giulia, that warms our hearts. They are just as we had imagined them looking at the photos on the site: a wonderful family who has chosen to live in a splendid but not easy area. Cesare immediately betrays his origins from Romagna by his accent but his origins are local. Painter by profession, he is also President of the Accademia del Cilento which is based in Sapri and aims to pass on the cultural heritage, traditions, villages, history and even legends of this land already known for the myths linked to Ulysses and the Argonauts.
Isabella, after various tours in foreign lands, returned to Bosco to resume the path that her parents had undertaken with Il Rifugio del Contadino where mother Pina prepares delicacies with the products grown in the garden, with local grain flours and cheeses , cured meats and meats sourced locally. And Isabella’s tips on who to meet among the Cilentan producers and what to buy to bring home the flavors of the place were very valuable for us. Meanwhile, it’s aperitif time and you can’t say no to a glass of wine accompanied by a platter of salami, capocollo and pecorino while waiting for dinner.
The next day we spoke with Isabella about her Magarìe displayed on the table at the entrance to the large restaurant room, a place with an open kitchen with a frank charm that gives nothing away to the brightness of modernity at any cost and which is animated by the female nudes on the walls of Caesar’s paintings.
The surrounding countryside provides Isabella with everything she needs for her products, starting with olive oil. The olives are harvested by hand and those that end up in the nets are used for ointments and soaps. The oil is organic, no pesticides or chemical fertilizers are used. In recent years, Cesare has looked after up to 15 horses on the estate. Today a mare shares the large spaces with two very sociable donkeys.
During the summer, you can eat outdoors on the terrace overlooking the gulf or on the lawn below with a view of the beautiful amphitheater of hills that slope down towards the sea. In the large house where we were guests with our Otto there are the bedrooms on the upper floor which are accessed by an external staircase, while the room with the fireplace, the kitchen and the laboratory where Isabella prepares her “potions” are on the ground floor.
At dinner we enjoyed the delicious dishes prepared by mother Pina and her staff. The appetizer is rich with the inevitable cured meats and cheeses, vegetable fritters, new broad beans, vegetable terrines and frascatola, the southern polenta typical of the inland areas of Basilicata, Calabria and Campania. As a first course, Rigatoni with wild herbs Magarìe were served with a white asparagus sauce and as a second course, pork sausage in crock with broccoli and potatoes. Closing sweetly with a delicious and very light revisited caprese.
For those who love horse riding or just walking, the network of paths around Il Rifugio del Contadino offers wonderful panoramic views where the gaze is lost between sea and sky. Even those who decide to visit the area by car, entering the territory immersed in the intense green of the chestnut woods and olive groves that cover the sides of the mountains close to the sea, curve after curve discover real postcards in which villages from the medieval with stone houses on cobbled streets.
To be explored with curious eyes in the tangle of silent streets where you discover the most authentic face of these villages while the sea colors the horizon blue. Thus we arrived in Gioi, famous for its Slow Food product soppressata, but which we reached to meet Antonio Bianco in his cellar. This is another story we tell in #ViaggidiVini.
Il Rifugio del Contadino
Contrada Cavaliere, 1 – Bosco (Sa)
Info: +39 340 2526876 – +39 389 0078763
www.ilrifugiodelcontadino.it – info.ilrifugiodelcontadino@gmail.com
