What is Agriturismo?
Basically it is where agriculture and tourism come together; whether that is by holidaying on a farm in the country to experience a slower, healthier pace of holiday. Perhaps horse riding or taking a cookery course. Or eating local food that is sustainably reared or grown, freshly prepared and offered in the peak of condition.
Agriturismo encompasses everything that I most like about food and travel, which is to say I enjoy eating local food, that is sourced locally and made using traditional recipes. Whenever I travel I enjoy finding the local markets, looking for those huge, misshapen tomatoes that you never find in the supermarkets at home, but which are full of flavour!
During our recent holiday to Sardinia I wanted to try an agriturismo restaurant, so having researched on Tripadvisor I decided I wanted to try Agriturismo Sa Figumorisca, a restaurant outside of Pula in the foot hills of the mountains, close to where we were staying. It is currently ranked at number 3 in Pula on Tripadvisor and has a certificate of excellence, yet our hotel didn’t seem to know much about it.
Dinner is served from 9pm so we booked a local cab and arrived at dusk, the setting is beautiful, rustic and very charming. Antipasti was already laid out on our table with a large carafe of red wine. There is a sign on the wall saying that their ethos is that only locally sourced ingredients are used, therefore coke and lemonade were off the menu – not a problem as far as we were concerned, and not for our 13 year old either thankfully! While we were eating the cold antipasti, hot dishes were also bought out followed by pasta and then the main courses including the Sardinian specialty, roasted sucking pig. To finish we had fitters with ricotta cheese followed by homemade liqueur!
During our stay in Sardinia we booked a local tour to explore some of the local beaches. The tour culminated in lunch at the farm where the tour guide lived. Her and her husband prepared a simple, yet delicious meal of local cheese and cured meats with olives and bread. It was interesting to learn about their main farmed produce, pomodori, grown early in the year due to the extreme temperatures in the summer. This was a pleasant afternoon where we got the chance to meet other holidaymakers also interested in discovering more about the local food and culture.
Another restaurant where we enjoyed good local food was in Pula town. Ranked number 2 by Tripadvisor was Su Furriadroxu. The restaurant seemed to be the place to try the pork. Not for the squeamish as the suckling pigs are cooked over a spit right at the entrance to the restaurant and as it is ordered and carried through to the kitchen you can hear the meat being chopped into portions for serving. Our son refused to try it, but I have to say it was amazing! We ate at this restaurant twice during our stay in Sardinia and came here for our final night when we were lucky to be entertained by a traditional band. Other dishes we tried here were mushrooms in a tomato sauce, cured mutton with lemon and goats cheese as well as the suckling pig, which is simply served on a bed of fragrant leaves!
