Aussie in the boot: Campania

I am spending six months travelling around Italy. I am staying with hosts around the country, WWOOFING (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). Learning, sharing and creating great connections. There will be ups and downs, but I have my yoga mat packed and a 560g jar of Vegemite, so I’m ready to take it all on. 

Region: Campania

Host: Ecovillaggio Ciucciochevola

“A very short stay…”

After catching an overnight train, I arrived in Naples at 6:00 am. From there I met my French friend (from Australia) Lea! We spent the morning wandering around Naples in the heat with our big bags.

We found 3 vegan restaurants in a row! We ate some delicious food from them and then headed to the town to meet our new host.

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We were picked up by our host, Raffaella, at the station of Roccarainola. She was shocked as she was expecting two guys. My Google translate messages clearly weren’t super effective!

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The farm is more of a backyard garden but still very beautiful. Raffaella showed us our room which is in a separate little house. We spent the afternoon cleaning it as it was quite dirty and infested with ants. We did some rearranging and made it much better. Raffaella also made us a yummy dinner before she headed out. Lea and I took the chance to catch up on each other’s lives before getting some much-needed sleep.

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We were all tired and had slept-in, but we shared a breakfast together. Raffaella had made a yummy bread! She set us some tasks of clearing weeds in the garden and we got some good work done while she was out. When she returned she made a yummy lunch for us. We all had an afternoon rest and later helped Raffaella pack the car. She left in the afternoon for another location — we are not really sure about a lot of things.

Raffaella had told us that there is another location/farm that she is going to buy. She said that there is a lot of work to be done there and that is where we will go. Lea and I were not too sure about this and after some talking about our options, we decided that we would head to my next farm in Rome, early.

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I am starting to feel very flakey — all of these quick plan changes are testing my flexibility.

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We walked around the village and Lea got some pizzas and gelato. I had to remember the reason that I chose to come to Naples — the pizza! So we decided to squeeze it in before we leave.

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India feels to be approaching so fast. I felt that my pack was very heavy and decided to do another clothes drop. I left a few clothing items and two pairs of shoes at this house.

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Lea and I had our last day at this location. We spent the morning finishing tasks that Raffaella had asked us to do in the coming days. We felt like we had done what we needed to do before leaving.

We spent the afternoon sleeping, staying out of the crazy heat that practically immobilises everything that isn’t in air conditioning.

When it began to cool down, we headed out to the town and Lea wanted to embrace her time in Italy so she bought a giant pizza for dinner!!

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When we returned home we decided it was time to call Raffaella to inform her of our decision to leave. We wanted to do it in person but she was at the other location and we had already notified the Rome farm of our arrival.

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Before going to sleep I saw a firefly on my pillow! A little light of hope.

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We did a little bit more cleaning before walking to the train station at 9:00 am. The train station attendant was the same lady we met when we arrived. We had a big chat with her in Italian and French. She is now going to be Lea’s penpal!

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We took the train to Napoli to spend the morning in the city. I felt that the only way I could be content with moving regions so quickly would be to again indulge in what I came to Naples for — to eat the pizza!

So we decided to go to the pizzeria from the movie, Eat Pray Love. I felt that it was very fitting as I am almost following in her foot steps: Italy, India and then Taiwan (not Bali but still an Asian country). We waited in line for outside the famous Pizzeria da Michele for about 30 minutes. There are two things on their menu: pizza margarita and pizza marinara. I got marinara. It was absolutely delicious and the perfect closing meal for Naples.

It’s been a short trip to Naples but once again my comfort zone has been tested.

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We walked back through the city and boarded our train for my final Italian stop (perhaps) … Rome!

See ya, arrivederci.
Kindly, Steph.