The kids are up before breakfast to feed the chickens. Lunch is pasta made that morning, eaten at a long table under the vines. Nobody has to tiptoe down a hotel corridor. It's not hard to see why more families are trading the city hotel for an agriturismo.
Italy's farm stays welcomed around 4.7 million guests in 2024, up more than 4% on the year before, and more than half of them came from overseas. Farms are building for kids, too. The number running fattorie didattiche, hands-on programs that teach children about animals, crops and food, grew by 12% in a single year.
For parents, the appeal is practical. Many farms rent out self-contained apartments with a kitchen, so a family of four or five isn't paying for two hotel rooms. There's space to run, often a pool, and many farms cook dinner for guests. That means no hunting for a restaurant with tired kids at the hour most Italians are only just sitting down to eat.
It's a working farm first. The olive oil on the table was pressed down the hill. The wine came from the rows outside your window. And the bill at the end of the stay is often settled the old-fashioned way, in euros.
That's the part city trips don't prepare you for. Rome and Milan run happily on tap-and-go. An agriturismo in Italy, forty minutes from the nearest town, is a different arrangement.
Italian rules require an agriturismo to be a genuine working farm, with farming as the main business and guests on the side. Much of what you eat comes from the property or the surrounding area. Rooms range from a simple bedroom in the farmhouse to a converted stone barn with a pool.
You'll find them all over the country, with plenty in Tuscany, Umbria, Puglia, Sicily, Piedmont and Le Marche. The usual approach is a few nights, a hire car, and the farm as a base for the towns nearby.
The Italian currency is the euro (EUR), which replaced the lira in 2002. Notes come in €5, €10, €20, €50, €100 and €200. The €500 is no longer issued, though it's still legal tender. Coins run from 1 cent to €2, though Italy stopped minting 1 and 2 cent coins in 2018, so cash totals are usually rounded to the nearest 5 cents. Australian dollars aren't accepted, so buy euros in Australia before you fly. For more on notes, coins and where cash matters most, see our Italian currency guide.
Italian businesses are required by law to accept card payments, and most agriturismi do. In practice, plenty of small family farms still prefer cash, and a card terminal in the countryside is only as reliable as the mobile reception.
Cash tends to come up in a few places:
The nearest bancomat (Italian for ATM) may be in the next town, and small-town machines can run dry over a weekend. Arriving with euros means you're not planning your day around one.
Enough euro cash to cover anything your agriturismo won't take by card, plus a daily allowance for the small things. To work out the number, ask your host before you go how they take payment for the balance, the tourist tax and dinners. Then add a daily amount for meals out, coffees, markets and tastings, plus a buffer for the driving days in between.
If the property asks for the balance in cash, that becomes the biggest line in the budget. Better to find that out at home than in the driveway.
Rural Italy is generally better value than Rome, Venice or the Amalfi Coast. A coffee drunk standing at the bar costs less than the same coffee at a table, which holds true almost everywhere in the country. Expect a coperto, a per-person cover charge, on many restaurant bills. Tipping isn't expected, though rounding up for good service is appreciated.
For today's AUD to euro rate, check our live rates or ask in store. We charge zero fees and no commission.
Take small notes. Handing over a €50 for a single espresso in a village of a few hundred people won't make you friends. Ask for a mix of €5, €10 and €20 notes when you buy euros in Australia.
An agriturismo is about slowing down. Long lunches. A walk through the vines. Nowhere urgent to be. Sorting your money for Italy before you go keeps it that way.
Pick up your euros before you leave Australia.